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Best garage design: Attached or detached?
Results so far:
| Attached | 57% | 332 votes | Total: 578 votes | |
| Detached | 43% | 246 votes |
Attached
by samuel samson
Created on: July 29, 2010 Last Updated: July 30, 2010
Attached garages are by far the better way to go. Although detached garages can have specific applications where they are preferable, the majority of designing situations would have the attached version as being better. This conclusion is reached by several different reasons.
One reason for attached garages being better design options is the fact that detached garages along with the home create a huge footprint. The combined space they take up is much more than attached garages. This is because, even though the two may be the same square footage, you have that mandatory space in between the house and the garage. This space has to be large enough so that the definition of a detached garage applies. Lots are often so small that a detached garage causes the designer to decrease the size of the house just to be able to fit it in.
Another reason for detached garages being less desirable is the space between the two structures. How does the grade or slope of the land lend itself to a smooth transition between house and garage? If the garage is much lower than the house, you may have to design a way to step up into the house. With an attached garage these steps can be "hidden", but in a detached garage they will be open for everyone to see. Therefore these issues must have a design of their own.
In any home design, drainage is always an issue. By detaching a garage from the main body of the house you have created another structure that needs water to flow away from it. This can often become a hassle especially if the two buildings are close and the land is flat. The area between the two buildings can become a place where water stands creating a haven for insects. Worse than that, one structure may have water running toward it, beginning an issue that will be very costly to someone down the road.
Cost is also an important consideration. By detaching the garage, two sides, one on the house and one on the garage, have been exposed. These sides have to be covered with the exterior materials that cover the rest of the house. This can be extremely costly. It also takes more time and leaves more room for error. A transition between the house and garage also has to be considered. Will there be a walkway or porch? Will it be covered or open? All of these issues raise the cost significantly.
Attached garages are a far easier to design for and have huge advantages to detached garages.
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Detached
by Rex Coker
Created on: May 02, 2008 Last Updated: June 15, 2009
Deciding which is best when adding a garage to your home or leaving it detached should have you considering the building and insurance cost to do so. When you have your property appraised you may find that your homes living space could expand with an addition of a garage attached to your home, thus making a attached garage more costly. Building a garage separately from the home can off set the cost by being a separate part of the home or structure. Saving you thousands of dollars in insurance cost. A separate structure such as a garage will still be a part of your property but will not be added to your structure insurance cost.
Some people might disagree with what I am saying but living space is what is looked at by appraisers in the home markets. A detached garage how ever can not be considered in to the over all floor plan of living space. Insurance companies love the attachable garage for this reason. You insurance rates will be higher when you have an attached garage to your home. The reasons are that so many flammable products live in attached and detached garages. Paints and thinners with power tools and mowers all find themselves parked on shelves and stored in the extra spaces in our garages.
The best for the money and safety of the family is a detached garage. Being a separate structure away from the home will save you both money and insurance cost. Most attached garages have simply been turned in to storage and rarely used for parking our cars. The fire hazards of using your garage as a storage collection place for stuff that never makes it to the attic or a rented storage facility makes a attached garage a bad design.Attached garages for this reason make the house look cluttered and unkept, plus it takes away from the beauty of the home. Granted a detached garage has the same qualities but it is not attached to your home. A detached garage serves the purpose of what it is there for. Your cars!
A detached garage can be just as beautiful when designed in to the flow of the homes structured lines. The detached garage makes your home look much bigger than it is perceived from the road or street. There is less noise and pollutants that will invade your home and that is a safe reason to build a detached garage design.Covered walk ways or breeze ways to your home can still give you shelter from the elements when taking groceries from the car to the home. The other reason a detached garage is safer to the home owner is security. Most people that have attached garages leave their back doors unlocked, thinking that the garage door opener will keep the house secure. This is a false sense of security.
Garage door openers operate on radio frequency. A burglar only has to find out which frequency opens your garage to enter it. The detached garage does not let an intruder in to your home. It does not provide cover while the intruder gains access to breaking in your garage home back door.
In closing a detached garage offers much more in over all design and security to your family. Along with insurance cost and appraisal rates, you could come out much cheaper by building a detached garage for your home.
Learn more about this author, Rex Coker.
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