Hey all,
Bit of a rant here, What are they thinking when they design modern garages?
At my house I have a detached garage and it is so small that it could be considered "unfit for purpose".
Ill be the first to admit that I have a LOT in my garage but even if it were empty apart from a 18" deep bench at the end, there would barely be big enough to work round the car. The walls are covered in shelves and the rafters are full.
I feel sorry for the people with an integral garage built into the house because they are even smaller.
How does everyone else cope? I know i could get a lockup but i think knocking through to the neighbours garage would be easier
My garage is 18' x 9'6" and at one time I used to park a car in it every night.
It was tight with other things in there as well so dread to think what a 16' x 8' must be like for regular use
I've two lock-ups I rent at that size and even my A35 seems to take up most of the room.
My "dream" home would home would have a basement garage around 20' square with extra storage room, small work area and toilet as well
With land being so expesnsive I'm surprised basement aren't becoming back into fashion.
Well my garage is about one and a half width so it means it's not quite wide enough to park two cars in it but with one it's plenty wide enough to work on the car and store the huge collection of unused bikes down the side
I remember in our old house my dad decided he'd give it a go at trying to park the nissan in the garage, he thought he'd succeeded when he got the car in but soon realised he couldnt get out the door and had to reverse back again!
Andy W____________1961 2-door 948cc (Sidney)_____________1963 2-door 1275cc (Emily)_______
My garage is quite narrow too. Fortunatly, its a flat run in so i simply reverse the car up to the garage, get out and push it in. The 'handle' on the bonnet comes in very handy. (the garage is narrow, i am not):D
paulhumphries wrote:so dread to think what a 16' x 8' must be like for regular use
Paul Humphries
For the few houses that are now built with garages 15' x 7' seems to be the norm !
I was quite lucky with my house as its first owner built a 32' x 12' garage at the side - I still find it difficult to work in at present though due to its many contents
i rent a council lock up when im i put the saab in there it just fits in with 2 inches either side of the mirrors.i have to back in as i cant drive in and close the garage door because of the angle of the tailgate
I have a scaffold board down one side of my garage, so when I put the morris in the front tyre goes against it, then I put a trolley jack under the axle and push the rear of the car sideways untill the rear tyre is also against the board. This leaves about 2 inches gap which maximises the room the other side!
I don't think I've ever had a house with a decent size garage. All the built in ones (and Nikki's in her newbuild coachhouse) were width of a minor plus a couple of feet at best. My mum's garage however is awesome. It's 2 and a bit cars wide, 2 cars deep although you can only get one car through the door, so really it's a 3 car garage. Or it would be were both sides not lined with junk and my motorbike not plonked unceremoniously at the end
Pyoor Kate The Electric Minor Project
The Current Fleet:
1969 Morris 'thou, 4 Door. 2010 Mitsubishi iMiEV. 1920s BSA Pushbike. 1930s Raleigh pushbike.
The Ex-Fleet:
1974 & 1975 Daf 44s, 1975 Enfield 8000 EV, 1989 Yugo 45, 1981 Golf Mk1, 1971 Vauxhall Viva, 1989 MZ ETZ 125, 1989 Volvo Vario 340, 1990, 1996 & 1997 MZ/Kanuni ETZ 251s
Desires:
Trabant 601, Tatra T603, Series II Landy, Moskvitch-401, Vincent HRD Black Shadow, Huge garage, Job in Washington State.
My garage is just big enough to work in. I wish it was bigger as its not big enough to roll a car on its side, but with careful parking, its possible to work comfortably on restoring a car, cutting and welding one side at a time and have space at the end to get to work bench and tools.
Ideally, I would like a workshop like you see on the telly, Boyd Coddingtons etc, we can all dream, lottery win etc! Its going to be tight spraying the whole of a Minor body shell.
!!!!! 
