Garage (house) - United States Residential Garages

United States Residential Garages

Many garage doors open upward using an electric chain drive, which can often be remotely controlled from the resident's vehicle with a small radio transmitter. Garages are connected to the nearest road with a driveway. Interior space for one or two cars is typical, and garages built since the 1960s typically have a door directly connecting the garage to the interior of the house (an "attached garage"). Earlier garages were often detached and located in the back yard of the house, accessed either via a long driveway or from an alley.

In the past, garages were often separate buildings from the house ("detached garage"), almost resembling modern sheds. On occasion, a garage would be built with an apartment above it, which could be rented out. As automobiles became more popular, the idea of attaching the garage directly to the home grew into a common practice. While a person with a separate garage must walk outdoors in every type of weather, a person with an attached garage has a much shorter walk inside a building.

Garages are often found where the attic entrance is located. Also used to store tools, bicycles, lawn mowers and other such items, most garages have unfinished concrete floors. Since they are heavily used for storage, and as work space for home improvement projects, some home owners do not use their garage to store their car at all, preferring a carport as an alternative solution. Some garages include a separate storage room to partially alleviate this problem.

Around the start of the 21st century, companies began offering "portable garages" in the United States. Mostly, these garages are made of metal and do not attach to the house or other structure, much like the garages built prior to the 1960s. Many homeowner's associations frown upon the installation of these nonconforming buildings, but still, their popularity is growing.

Garage flooring companies can install flooring products that are not generally available to the homeowner, providing a coating system that will last may years. Theses include epoxies, polyurethanes,polyaspartics and modular garage tiles to name a few.

Garage door companies often install or repair garage doors, as the process can be dangerous and requires a great deal of technical skill to complete safely and correctly. Garage doors come in manual and automatic variants. Both manual and automatic garage doors operate on spring tension. With time and extensive use, these springs weaken and break. Replacing the springs is a very dangerous procedure for homeowners due to the large force these springs carry.