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Comment by bbarn | Hacker News Reader

The hate for attached garages.. Doesn't the author realize how incredibly useful, and unsightly, they are at the same time? I have a rented garage a half block away in the city, and a basement full of all my random projects, that I would only dream of being able to stick in a garage next to my house.

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There's an entire post on the attached garage:

http://www.mcmansionhell.com/post/148669026046/notes-on-atta...

I think the author is fully aware of what you've just said: "To be completely honest, the garage is a necessity in America, and to be even more honest, it’s very hard to properly incorporate a garage into a smallish house without there being some kind of architectural awkwardness."

I live on a street of houses built no more than 20 years ago where every single attached garage has been converted into an extra room. I guess here in the UK the extra living space is just too valuable. I've ended up building a shed for random projects and the car can sit outside.

We've been looking at buying a house for the last few months and probably have viewed 15 houses or so - only one house (which nobody was living in) had a car in their garage - and that bizarrely was a Lamborghini.

NB This is in the area of Perth/Fife in Scotland.

Yep. My cars move out of the garage in the summer and I have all sorts of sports equipment and in-progress projects there. The cars need to go back in (for plowing reasons) in the winter and stuff gets packed away or winched up. But garages are pretty much essential for a lot of people.

It does not have to be attached though.

Useful though in the winter.

Or visible from the street.

While I don't like garages that dominate the front of a house, paving a route around you section is wasteful and potentially dangerous in terms of small kids playing etc. I'd far prefer almost anything to acres of concrete.

The street is where you're typically driving in from though. So, barring a garage at a lower level at the side of the house or something along those lines, moving a garage around to the back (non-streetside) of the house probably involves building more driveway and otherwise dedicating more space to cars.

I have a detached garage facing the alley behind my house. It's about the best possible arrangement for a garage, imho.

Ditto. A garage to me is a utility building. I'd no more have a garage on display at the front of my house than I would a toolshed.

No necessarily better: if I picture your example correctly, there is a lot of space wasted as road (alley).

Alleys "waste" about five feet at the back of everyone's lot, and they are very useful. In a sense, alleys and sidewalks are what differentiate civilization from everywhere else people choose to live.

I also like attached garages, but I hate when the garage is the main feature of the house. Basically when it is pushed out in front and/or the garage doors are facing the street. Many times this is done because the lots have become so small. Luckily I found a neighborhood where front face garage doors were not allowed and the entire neighborhood looks so much better.

Also the usefulness when living somewhere cold.

When it's -40 out, it's exceptionally nice to know your car will start, and you didn't have to plug in three 1000W heaters 5+ hours beforehand.

I've lived in place where it can be -40°F, and nobody parks his car in the garage. All cars sleep outside during the 4-6 month below 0°F. The cars (engines) are plugged and start without any problem (less problems than in my place where it goes rarely below 15°F). Bringing the car in the garage is a whole set of problem with packed ice melting, re-freezing, re-melting, etc.

I lived in the Yukon for 4 years. It's not just "can be -40F" it's "doesn't go above -35F for 4 months".

-45F is common overnight.

Up there, we have a block heater, battery blanket and oil pan heater - MINIMUM. If you've got a diesel you want at least two oil pan heaters, three if they fit!

These are not typical conditions for human habitation. If you're saying that attached garages in the Yukon are beautiful, who would argue?

...That's precisely what my parent comment says.

Also note there are millions of people living in colder conditions than I.

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