Having a garage on your property in any form is a big win. Whether it’s being used for parking, storage, projects, or some combination of those functions, garage space is a big advantage. Garages on residential properties tend to come in two forms – attached and detached – and we’d like to explore the pros and cons of these options in the article below.
Here at American Carports, Inc., we specialize in building beautiful, durable detached metal garages for our customers. The journey toward adding a detached garage starts with our Build & Price tool, which is a quick and easy way to customize one of our standard buildings to make it fit your vision perfectly. Need help along the way? No problem – just contact us at your convenience and our team will jump into action.
Two Quick Definitions
There probably isn’t much confusion regarding these two types of garages, but just in case there is, we’d like to take a moment to define them accurately.
- An attached garage is a garage space that is physically attached to a house. In other words, it is built into the design of the house, and there is a door (or two) from inside the house that allows residents to access the garage space. In many cases, the garage will be a part of the lower level, with some of the upstairs living space being located on the top of the garage area. While it’s possible to add an attached garage later on after a house has been built, these types of garages are usually included as part of the original floor plan.
- A detached garage is any type of garage structure that is not connected to the house. It could be located only a few steps away from the house – or it could be on the other end of a large property. As long as it is not connected to the home, it is considered a detached garage. This type of structure can be built from a variety of different materials, with wood and metal being the two most popular options.
For the most part, what you can do inside of an attached or detached garage is going to be pretty much the same. The space inside the garage is what it is, and you can use your creativity and imagination to put it to use for your needs. With that said, one of these two styles is going to be the right choice for your situation, and we’ll help you get to the bottom of the matter with the pros and cons below.
The Benefit of Distance
One of the immediate benefits that we can point to as a pro in the favor of a detached garage is the distance that you’ll have between the garage and the house. This is a great thing when you are going to be doing things inside that garage that make a lot of noise and might disturb people trying to sleep, study, or just relax. Getting away from the house will free you up to make noise without feeling bad about bothering people inside, and that should immediately mean more enjoyment while doing your work.
For example, if you are into woodworking – whether as a hobby or a profession – you may have plenty of tools that make a lot of noise. Routers, saws, sanders, and more can all make quite a racket when they are turned on. In an attached garage, you might not make people in your family happy if you are working on a project early in the day or late at night. By having a garage space that is detached from the house, this concern will be a non-issue, and you can get to work whenever the time is right for you.
This same concept applies well beyond woodworking, as many things that are done in a garage come with some level of noise. Working on cars often means turning on an air compressor, which is out of the loudest pieces of equipment around. Or, even if you don’t have an air compressor running, you might be banging on things with a wrench or hammer. No matter what it is you’ll be working on in the space, it’s likely to make some noise – and that noise won’t bother anybody when you go with the detached arrangement.
Detached Is Easier to Add Later
There is no way around the fact that it’s hard – and expensive to add an attached garage to an existing house. If you have been living in your home for years and have always wanted a garage space to use for storage or projects, the thought of attaching one to the house might be too much to take on. First, there is the design challenge, as it could be hard to properly integrate the new space into the existing house, especially if the house has been standing for decades. And, even if you figure out the design part sufficiently, the cost of the project might be prohibitive.
None of these things are a problem when you decide to build a detached metal garage with the help of American Carports, Inc. As long as you have a suitable building site somewhere on your property, you’ll be ready to get started. And, since you aren’t trying to get the new building to attach nicely to an existing structure, you won’t be limited in any way in terms of the design of your new garage. Whatever features you want to include, you can do so – just establish how much space you have to work with on your land and get to work designing a garage that will suit your needs nicely for years to come.
Convenience Is a Factor
So far, we’ve been saying a lot of nice things about a detached garage, and that is for good reason. However, the convenience factor is one point where you might give the edge to an attached design. Since you can walk into the garage directly from the house, it is easy to use the room in the garage for storage – you can just hop out there without even putting on your shoes to retrieve some supplies.
That’s a nice benefit, to be sure, and it’s something you’ll appreciate if you do have a house with an attached garage. But that doesn’t mean a detached garage has to be a hassle. In fact, it can be nearly as convenient as the attached version, as long as it is designed strategically. If ease of access is one of your primary concerns, place the new detached garage relatively close to the house and add a covered walkway to connect the two. You’ll still technically need to go outside to get to the garage, but the walk will be short and covered.
Detached Garages Can Make Home Shopping Easier
Are you currently in the market for a new home? If you have been house shopping for a while, you already know just how hard it can be to find the perfect property for your needs. It seems like every property you look at has 90% of what you want, but that last 10% can be extremely difficult – if not impossible – to find.
Keeping the idea of a detached garage in your back pocket can go a long way toward making your search a little simpler. Instead of being hung up on the need to find a property with the perfect garage, remember that you could always build a detached garage on a property that you purchase. So, for example, if you find a house that you love but doesn’t have a garage – or it has a small attached garage that isn’t enough space for your needs – you could plan on building a metal garage apart from the house to finish off the property.
Keep the Mess Away
Let’s face it – garages are often messy places. The types of projects you are likely to work on in a garage will often lead to a mess, and some of that mess might get carried into the house if the garage is attached. Whether it’s sawdust from woodworking, oil from caring for a car, or anything else, you’d probably prefer to keep that mess as far away from the house as possible.
This is another point you can place in the “pro” category for a detached garage. The distance between the garage and the house will create a reminder that you should clean up before going back inside. You’ll probably even get into a habit of changing out of some messy clothes before you go back inside, and you might add a sink to your detached garage, so you can wash up regularly.
Consider the Impact on Landscaping
This isn’t a point that will fit neatly into a pro or con category, but it is an important topic to discuss related to garages. If you like to take care of your property and you want your landscaping to look beautiful throughout the year, the placement of your garage is going to be a factor in that process. With an attached garage, you might not be able to plant right in front of your house as you would like, because you’ll need to keep that area open for vehicles to drive into the garage space. In that sense, having an attached garage could be a negative for landscaping purposes.
Yet, at the same time, you could turn that point on its head and argue it in the opposite direction. If the only space you have available for your detached garage is right in front of the house, you will again be impacting your landscape design options. Of course, this won’t be a problem if you can put your garage somewhere out of the way in a corner of the property that wouldn’t otherwise be used often. So, how a detached or attached garage plays into your landscaping is highly variable and needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
American Carports Has You Covered
We’ve covered a lot of ground in this article, and we hope the value of a detached garage is clear to you at this point. Of course, there is nothing wrong with an attached garage, but if you find yourself in the position of needing garage space added to your property, a detached garage is the best solution. Explore the options available here at American Carports, Inc., and get in touch with us directly if you have questions or are ready to start the project. We hope to serve you soon!
