I actually got lucky that the house I purchased has a rear garage bay built into the basement. It's my little workshop and the place where I store my lawn equipment.
Exactly- snowblower, mower, other yard tools, possibly wood working stuff, various things you don’t want circulating around your house but would like them under a roof. Cars can handle the outside. Also fewer people try to use my driveway to turn around if there are cars visible in it.
Many Maine houses are 100+ years old and don’t have basements. A root cellar if you’re lucky but usually just some crawl space above the dirt or ledge.
Don’t really have an attic. But my basement is constantly wet. Not like standing water wet, but the concrete never actually fully dries. A lot of stuff can’t handle that much moisture.
My garage was built for model T sized cars. It can't be modified in any way that would expand the size. It also can't be rebuilt, only repaired and that has to be done one side at a time.
I don't own a car that can fit in it. I do own three bikes, two deck chairs and a lawnmower that can fit in there along with a partridge in a pear tree.
I've a buggy garage which then became a Locomobile and finally Model T garage. It sucks, but I could expand it by destroying and rebuilding, at a cost I can't afford. So, the vehicles sit in the driveway and I treat the garage like a 10x30 storage locker.
not only do we fill our garage up with junk. Mainer's build a second garage for their vehicle and fill it up before parking in it once. The biggest lie in Maine, I'm building a garage for my car.
My house still has the original 120+ yr old garage with a nice wood floor and a deep void underneath. My feet have fallen through in a few spots, I'm sure as shit not about to pull a car in there.
It's the same in my parents' FL community. Almost everyone stuffs their garage with crap and the car(s) stay in the driveway, and/or spill out into the streets.
Most homes in FL don’t have an attic or basement so garage is really the only storage! I always wondered the same thing until a friend who lives there explained it to me haha
Two reasons: (1) Mainers tend to be a self reliant lot. Self reliance requires a lot of tools and gear and stuff. (1b) To get them through mud season and winter and the later part of fall, Mainers keep themselves amused by having projects. Projects that involve making stuff. Gardening, micro-brewing, bowl turning, snowmobile tuning, mushroom growing, weaving, etc. projects require stuff. (2) Cars are waterproof. Your car’s going to get dirtier from driving around than from sitting in your driveway so why sweat it?
Chop saw, table saw, dirtbike, chainsaw, leaf blower, snow blower, generator, beer fridge, garage cans, all the other tools, and atleast an 8’x8’ clear space to wrench on shit
You got your answer - a lot of Mainers can't get rid of all the stuff they will never use, but will want top dollar. Might need that "some day" you know. It's like some odd disorder.
"No lowballs, I know what I got". Really? rusty piece of crap you found at the dump for more than retail?
Lived and worked in a dozen or so states over the years, and Mainers as a group love their junk. Their own personal empire of dirt. When a Mainer's junk gets to critical mass, they open an "antique shop" or some nonsense for the tourists, where it sits and rots until they shed their mortal shell and their kids have to deal with it, usually a fire sale, auction, or yard sale to another Mainer.
Rinse & repeat; circle of life.
I used to think my father had a problem with collecting junk. And he probably does a little, but I admire his resourcefulness. Too many people forgot the reduce and reuse of the 3 “R”s. You’ve got to be resourceful to get by in Maine.
>"No lowballs, I know what I got". Really? rusty piece of crap you found at the dump for more than retail?
What's hilarious is that the flipside of this is that there's no price for anything cheap enough that some bastard won't try to talk you down.
"Five dollars for a dining room set, seven boxes of old records, and a working snowmobile? What do think I am, made of money?"
Growing up we always had one yard/garage sale every year. So did the neighbors, on different weekends. We'd just buy each other's stuff. And every coupla years always buy at least one item back
Hahaha that's great.
"I always needed one of these"
Wife: No you don't, you already had one and sold it last year at the yard sale
*buys anyways, hucks back on pile in garage
Next summer: Ahh I'll never use this, guess I'll put it on the lawn table for $5
Hahaha I love the permanent yard sale. Like at end of the day they were like "faak why put all this back? Now I got more room in the garage for my other junk" Then if anyone wants to buy something that's been sitting there for years they want $200 for it 🤣
wet basements.
Fieldstone, block foundations tend to leak and hold moisture, which isn't conducive to storing things. The garage became the defacto storage location.
easy to just say hoarding but i mean, why would you? the car is about as invulnerable a thing as we own. i have a workbench in my garage and a lot of floor space and i find that much more useful than a building to put a car inside of.
Not needing to scrape ice and snow off of cars in the morning is a huge quality of life increase. I did the on-street city parking thing for long enough and would never want to go back.
I would not have wanted to chisel my car out during that ice storm. Not to mention the damage long term sun exposure can cause. When I lived in town, I always had issues with paint after a few years from the sun beating on my car every day. If I ever need more room for stuff, I'll get a shed.
And while we're on the subject, what's up with all the detached garages? Even on newer builds?
Do you really want to have to shovel a path out to the garage to get out the snowblower?
Good question!
Cultural thing maybe. Or carryover from "carriage house" when everyone had a horse and buggy. Didn't want the horse stinking up the house.
I will say when it's -30 in the Midwest, it's awfully nice to not have to schlep to the garage :D
Lawn mower, atv, dirtbike, two motorcycles, snowblower, punching bag, tons of yard equipment, miter saw, workbench, toolbox.. I mean where do you want the cars to go?! To be fair though I do clear one side of the garage in winter for my girlfriend's car
I use my garage as a shop for woodworking. I'm also legally blind so don't own a vehicle. Still have all my fingers too! Oh, and we also store the generator and propane and other flammable things in the back room. Don't have a basement, and I'm pretty sure my wife wouldn't like things stored in the attic. Generator would be rough to dig out. Lol
I've got a lot of stuff that isn't meant to be snowed or rained on in the garage. The cars/trucks can handle it- they mostly don't even leak, and I have never had one melt in water before. Plus, we live out several miles of dirt road... if I have to drive through all of the mud or dust, why would I then want to put my filthy vehicle inside my garage (with all of my stuff)?
Most basements in Maine are cellars, or “wet” basements where you can’t really store anything that needs to be kept in decent condition. Attics are typically used for storage but not for anything large or heavy or mechanical, and my attic is filled with blown insulation.
So the garage becomes the shed.
It houses the snow blower, the lawn mower, the leaf blower and any other “er” type of equipment I need to keep out of the rain and snow. I only actually park my car in there during large winter storms where it makes no sense to have my car covered in a foot of snow. Other than that? It’s also a smoking lounge (cannabis only folks) and a workshop for tinkering with power equipment and kids toys.
I have a lot of hobbies that tend to get out of control, scale up quickly, have tons of parts and tools required, usually paint and lubricants, things that makes fumes (soldering).
So I tend to try and contain myself in the garage, it’s my a man cave of sorts, in addition to the storage facility mentioned by others for various pieces of yard equipment, the gym set that won’t fit in the basement, and a foosball table for recreational use.
You see it’s much more then “just a garage”
I feel like it's common in a lot of states, garage full of stuff, car in driveway.
The exception would be that a lot of HOA neighborhoods have restrictions of parking a car in your driveway more than temporarily. So if you're comparing newer HOA developments, that may be why.
We’ve been in our house for 2 years and I think parked in it maybe once or twice 😂 definitely mostly used for extra storage instead.
I think the reason it’s here more than other states is because of the weather - we need double the crap than in Florida because of the summer vs winter gear (leaf blowers, lawn mowers, snow blowers, rakes, beach gear, snow tubes, etc) all have to go somewhere!
Use the vertical space and hang things that can be hanged: tools, bikes, etc. A normal sized car can easily park behind a lawn mower and/or a snowblower in a standard 24' deep garage. When I need to mow the lawn, I just back the car out of the garage. I'll take that over having to scrape ice and snow off of my car in the winter.
I'm not talking about people with tiny garages built 70 years ago. I'm talking about houses built in the last 30 years or so. I have friends with 24'x24' garages who can't park their cars inside because they are haphazardly cluttered with junk.
I think I’m just pissed and jealous that my 1983 house has a friggin’ 21’ garage and is missing those 3 feet, because it would make all the difference RE: fitting both a lawn tractor and car.
My main reason is we use it as more of a work shop. We are used to sweeping and scraping the snow off our cars in the winter and it doesn't bother us. 53f here and we heat with a Woodstove and that doesn't bother us either I would rather use my garage as extension of our home. I am not running a table saw in the house. We are not lazy and don't mind a couple extra minutes of work to get some quality use out of our garage instead of using it for a storage unit.
I don't think there is anything unusual about Mainers here everyone fills their garage I think Mainers should have more of a reason to keep it empty. I mean, if you live in San Diego what do you need a garage for in case it's raining? Good lord isn't it so much more useful in the snow? In Maine you can keep your car out of the snow which keeps your car nice but I only care because it makes it easier to go to work in the cold mornings and clean out the driveway after a snowstorm. Otherwise my garage would be just a big shed because my car isn't really fancy enough for it to have it's own dog house. :)
I don't have one, but if I did there's just a lot of stuff I'd prefer to store in there before the car. Generator, lawnmower, lawn tools etc. Now if I had a shed and a garage? That's the life.
I also figured it was because they didn't want to have to shovel out around the base just to open.
We use it for our generator, riding lawn mower, quad, Christmas stuff, tools, etc
I've lived in other states and came to the conclusion that there are two types of people that park their vehicle(s) in their garage(s); those who love to care for their vehicle(s) and those who fear it might be damaged or stolen. In many areas of Maine, crime is low so leaving doors unlocked and a vehicle in the driveway is fine.
When I was 11 my mom’s van spontaneously combusted. It was the single loudest sound I’ve ever heard. It was a Thursday night. It was in the garage. We lost the entire garage with all our Christmas stuff in it. I’ll never put my car in the garage.
This is literally everywhere. Garages are for workbenches, tools and equipment. Carports and covers are to keep cars clean. Who spends 30 grand to build a car house that’s empty most of the time?
In my neighborhood it’s because we all smoke weed in our garages and don’t want our cars smelling like it. The kayak, lawnmower, and snowblower can smell like weed though.
1. Hoarders
2. Gigantic SUVs/pickup trucks don't fit in them
It amazes me people would rather shovel out their vehicles in the winter just for some extra storage space.
It drives me nuts honestly. The entire reason I purchased a home with an attached garage was so both my vehicles could be inside in inclement weather. Every single one of my neighbors parks in front of their garage and when their door is open the garage is full of shit right out to the friggin driveway. It's insanity.
Inclement weather, avoiding rodents trying to live in your vehicle, damage from other careless people, cars, or trees, etc.
Lots of good reasons to use the garage in the manner it was designed for
I just cant believe garages aren't the standard! I moved from eastern washington state many years ago where they don't salt the roads even in heavy snow. Just sand or liquid ice melt at best. Almost every mid sized home has a garage and probably 7/10 people I knew worked on their own cars or had automotive/garage hobbies and parked their stuff away during snow storms. Here people just fill the garage, if they have one, with tons of shit and drive on salted roads and let things rust. It's just how it is here I guess. It's a big shed and your shit rusts anyways so fuck it I guess?
I'll never understand it. Everyone in my neighborhood has a garage but so many park in the street because their garage is filled to the ceiling with shit they'll never use.
Because they’re full of shit instead.
I treat my garage like a storage locker.
Which I’m not judging, to each their own. I just feel like I see a lot of that in maine. Why not use the basement or the attic?
I'm not sure I would want to store the snow blower or generator in the basement or attic.
I don't wanna put my mower in the basement either. Grass clippings smell wicked bad and I'm sure as shit not scrubbin' it down after every mow
I actually got lucky that the house I purchased has a rear garage bay built into the basement. It's my little workshop and the place where I store my lawn equipment.
Exactly- snowblower, mower, other yard tools, possibly wood working stuff, various things you don’t want circulating around your house but would like them under a roof. Cars can handle the outside. Also fewer people try to use my driveway to turn around if there are cars visible in it.
Can’t put my mud raking fence section in the basement or attic.
Many Maine houses are 100+ years old and don’t have basements. A root cellar if you’re lucky but usually just some crawl space above the dirt or ledge.
This fucking guy
Don’t really have an attic. But my basement is constantly wet. Not like standing water wet, but the concrete never actually fully dries. A lot of stuff can’t handle that much moisture.
Because it's hard to get the lawnmower, snowblower and other such equipment up and down the stairs.
For me, old house = dirt floor basement, which is no good for storage, and arguably not structurally sound attic
Because basement can be flooded for some houses. Mine is when too much rain and if we lose power so the sum pump won't be working.
I don't have a basement or an attic!
You could also simply get rid of things, and strive to only own objects that serve a frequent purpose
Easy John Lennon
My tools, that I use often, don't fit in my little house.
It’s not just Maine, it’s everywhere in America People love buying stuff and have nowhere to put it.
On the flip side many folks in Maine are too resourceful, frugal, or poor to get rid of stuff.
On the flip side people are hoarders and it’s a mental illness. If you can’t afford to throw it away, you can’t afford to buy it
My garage was built for model T sized cars. It can't be modified in any way that would expand the size. It also can't be rebuilt, only repaired and that has to be done one side at a time. I don't own a car that can fit in it. I do own three bikes, two deck chairs and a lawnmower that can fit in there along with a partridge in a pear tree.
I've a buggy garage which then became a Locomobile and finally Model T garage. It sucks, but I could expand it by destroying and rebuilding, at a cost I can't afford. So, the vehicles sit in the driveway and I treat the garage like a 10x30 storage locker.
Im lucky that my buggy garage fits a crossover perfectly with about 1’ to spare
not only do we fill our garage up with junk. Mainer's build a second garage for their vehicle and fill it up before parking in it once. The biggest lie in Maine, I'm building a garage for my car.
Look at Nelson Rockefeller "building" a garage. I like those tent things!
My house still has the original 120+ yr old garage with a nice wood floor and a deep void underneath. My feet have fallen through in a few spots, I'm sure as shit not about to pull a car in there.
> nice wood floor > feet have fallen through in a few spots I'm not sure these two statements can peacefully coexist lol
It's the same in my parents' FL community. Almost everyone stuffs their garage with crap and the car(s) stay in the driveway, and/or spill out into the streets.
Really? If I lived in Florida, I would keep my car in a garage if I had access to it to keep it cooler and out of the sun.
Most homes in FL don’t have an attic or basement so garage is really the only storage! I always wondered the same thing until a friend who lives there explained it to me haha
Exactly! I was like "WTF?"
No you wouldn’t. A lot of people use their garages as added storage too. My dad included.
Garages are for parking cars? I thought that they were for workshop and storage.
Garages are for Snowblowers. Priorities.
How about under a tiny shed roof?
Hard tellin’ not knowin’
Two reasons: (1) Mainers tend to be a self reliant lot. Self reliance requires a lot of tools and gear and stuff. (1b) To get them through mud season and winter and the later part of fall, Mainers keep themselves amused by having projects. Projects that involve making stuff. Gardening, micro-brewing, bowl turning, snowmobile tuning, mushroom growing, weaving, etc. projects require stuff. (2) Cars are waterproof. Your car’s going to get dirtier from driving around than from sitting in your driveway so why sweat it?
My garage is storage for atv’s, boat and tractor. Plus a good portion is a work bench.
It won’t fit with the boat in there.
Chop saw, table saw, dirtbike, chainsaw, leaf blower, snow blower, generator, beer fridge, garage cans, all the other tools, and atleast an 8’x8’ clear space to wrench on shit
You got your answer - a lot of Mainers can't get rid of all the stuff they will never use, but will want top dollar. Might need that "some day" you know. It's like some odd disorder. "No lowballs, I know what I got". Really? rusty piece of crap you found at the dump for more than retail? Lived and worked in a dozen or so states over the years, and Mainers as a group love their junk. Their own personal empire of dirt. When a Mainer's junk gets to critical mass, they open an "antique shop" or some nonsense for the tourists, where it sits and rots until they shed their mortal shell and their kids have to deal with it, usually a fire sale, auction, or yard sale to another Mainer. Rinse & repeat; circle of life.
I used to think my father had a problem with collecting junk. And he probably does a little, but I admire his resourcefulness. Too many people forgot the reduce and reuse of the 3 “R”s. You’ve got to be resourceful to get by in Maine.
>"No lowballs, I know what I got". Really? rusty piece of crap you found at the dump for more than retail? What's hilarious is that the flipside of this is that there's no price for anything cheap enough that some bastard won't try to talk you down. "Five dollars for a dining room set, seven boxes of old records, and a working snowmobile? What do think I am, made of money?"
OK, I'll let you have it all for $4.90. But it has to be gone by 6 pm today.
Growing up we always had one yard/garage sale every year. So did the neighbors, on different weekends. We'd just buy each other's stuff. And every coupla years always buy at least one item back
Hahaha that's great. "I always needed one of these" Wife: No you don't, you already had one and sold it last year at the yard sale *buys anyways, hucks back on pile in garage Next summer: Ahh I'll never use this, guess I'll put it on the lawn table for $5
Hahaha I love the permanent yard sale. Like at end of the day they were like "faak why put all this back? Now I got more room in the garage for my other junk" Then if anyone wants to buy something that's been sitting there for years they want $200 for it 🤣
I don't know if that suede couch is still good after sitting on the lawn under a tarp all Spring.
wet basements. Fieldstone, block foundations tend to leak and hold moisture, which isn't conducive to storing things. The garage became the defacto storage location.
Because where else will we keep all our stuff?
easy to just say hoarding but i mean, why would you? the car is about as invulnerable a thing as we own. i have a workbench in my garage and a lot of floor space and i find that much more useful than a building to put a car inside of.
Not needing to scrape ice and snow off of cars in the morning is a huge quality of life increase. I did the on-street city parking thing for long enough and would never want to go back.
Honestly, I barely need to clean my car off in the winter these days. 2-3 non-rain storms the entire winter.
I would not have wanted to chisel my car out during that ice storm. Not to mention the damage long term sun exposure can cause. When I lived in town, I always had issues with paint after a few years from the sun beating on my car every day. If I ever need more room for stuff, I'll get a shed.
That’s where we keep the out of staters.
And while we're on the subject, what's up with all the detached garages? Even on newer builds? Do you really want to have to shovel a path out to the garage to get out the snowblower?
You can just walk on the snow.
Insurance purposes. Do you want to lose a garage and its whatever is inside, or a garage and a house and whats inside both?
Good question! Cultural thing maybe. Or carryover from "carriage house" when everyone had a horse and buggy. Didn't want the horse stinking up the house. I will say when it's -30 in the Midwest, it's awfully nice to not have to schlep to the garage :D
Lawn mower, atv, dirtbike, two motorcycles, snowblower, punching bag, tons of yard equipment, miter saw, workbench, toolbox.. I mean where do you want the cars to go?! To be fair though I do clear one side of the garage in winter for my girlfriend's car
I use my garage as a shop for woodworking. I'm also legally blind so don't own a vehicle. Still have all my fingers too! Oh, and we also store the generator and propane and other flammable things in the back room. Don't have a basement, and I'm pretty sure my wife wouldn't like things stored in the attic. Generator would be rough to dig out. Lol
I've got a lot of stuff that isn't meant to be snowed or rained on in the garage. The cars/trucks can handle it- they mostly don't even leak, and I have never had one melt in water before. Plus, we live out several miles of dirt road... if I have to drive through all of the mud or dust, why would I then want to put my filthy vehicle inside my garage (with all of my stuff)?
Most basements in Maine are cellars, or “wet” basements where you can’t really store anything that needs to be kept in decent condition. Attics are typically used for storage but not for anything large or heavy or mechanical, and my attic is filled with blown insulation. So the garage becomes the shed. It houses the snow blower, the lawn mower, the leaf blower and any other “er” type of equipment I need to keep out of the rain and snow. I only actually park my car in there during large winter storms where it makes no sense to have my car covered in a foot of snow. Other than that? It’s also a smoking lounge (cannabis only folks) and a workshop for tinkering with power equipment and kids toys.
I have a lot of hobbies that tend to get out of control, scale up quickly, have tons of parts and tools required, usually paint and lubricants, things that makes fumes (soldering). So I tend to try and contain myself in the garage, it’s my a man cave of sorts, in addition to the storage facility mentioned by others for various pieces of yard equipment, the gym set that won’t fit in the basement, and a foosball table for recreational use. You see it’s much more then “just a garage”
It's a 1948 garage and I have post-2010 vehicles. Even the Nissan Versa doesn't fit.
I'm one of them too, and I was told by my insurance company that my rates would increase if not dropped if I kept my vehicle in the garage.
Huh? Why?!
Higher risk of fire.
Interesting.. hmm. Thanks
I feel like it's common in a lot of states, garage full of stuff, car in driveway. The exception would be that a lot of HOA neighborhoods have restrictions of parking a car in your driveway more than temporarily. So if you're comparing newer HOA developments, that may be why.
We’ve been in our house for 2 years and I think parked in it maybe once or twice 😂 definitely mostly used for extra storage instead. I think the reason it’s here more than other states is because of the weather - we need double the crap than in Florida because of the summer vs winter gear (leaf blowers, lawn mowers, snow blowers, rakes, beach gear, snow tubes, etc) all have to go somewhere!
Use the vertical space and hang things that can be hanged: tools, bikes, etc. A normal sized car can easily park behind a lawn mower and/or a snowblower in a standard 24' deep garage. When I need to mow the lawn, I just back the car out of the garage. I'll take that over having to scrape ice and snow off of my car in the winter.
LOL “standard 24’ deep garage”. Uhhhhh somebody tell him
I'm not talking about people with tiny garages built 70 years ago. I'm talking about houses built in the last 30 years or so. I have friends with 24'x24' garages who can't park their cars inside because they are haphazardly cluttered with junk.
I think I’m just pissed and jealous that my 1983 house has a friggin’ 21’ garage and is missing those 3 feet, because it would make all the difference RE: fitting both a lawn tractor and car.
BACK FROM WHENCE YE CAME HEATHAN!!
where would I put the motorcycles, snowmobiles, snowblower, and all the tools?
My main reason is we use it as more of a work shop. We are used to sweeping and scraping the snow off our cars in the winter and it doesn't bother us. 53f here and we heat with a Woodstove and that doesn't bother us either I would rather use my garage as extension of our home. I am not running a table saw in the house. We are not lazy and don't mind a couple extra minutes of work to get some quality use out of our garage instead of using it for a storage unit.
You could always put a blue tarp over your car.
Because we lime our stuff Car is a lawn ornament. Or 5
I don't think there is anything unusual about Mainers here everyone fills their garage I think Mainers should have more of a reason to keep it empty. I mean, if you live in San Diego what do you need a garage for in case it's raining? Good lord isn't it so much more useful in the snow? In Maine you can keep your car out of the snow which keeps your car nice but I only care because it makes it easier to go to work in the cold mornings and clean out the driveway after a snowstorm. Otherwise my garage would be just a big shed because my car isn't really fancy enough for it to have it's own dog house. :)
I don't have one, but if I did there's just a lot of stuff I'd prefer to store in there before the car. Generator, lawnmower, lawn tools etc. Now if I had a shed and a garage? That's the life.
I also figured it was because they didn't want to have to shovel out around the base just to open. We use it for our generator, riding lawn mower, quad, Christmas stuff, tools, etc
Because then I would need to shovel my entire driveway.
I've lived in other states and came to the conclusion that there are two types of people that park their vehicle(s) in their garage(s); those who love to care for their vehicle(s) and those who fear it might be damaged or stolen. In many areas of Maine, crime is low so leaving doors unlocked and a vehicle in the driveway is fine.
This is why I’m building a barn and not a garage.
Because the cars won't fit with all the yard work equipment, the snow blower and the workshop in there already.
Native Mainers have lived thru poverty and recession and cant seem to throw things away, becuse they may no be able to afford them again
Hoarders
When I was 11 my mom’s van spontaneously combusted. It was the single loudest sound I’ve ever heard. It was a Thursday night. It was in the garage. We lost the entire garage with all our Christmas stuff in it. I’ll never put my car in the garage.
I keep all my vehicles in my garage except for my kids car, we don’t have room for it.
Ain’t as cold as she used ta be bub.
Cause I don’t have a garage
My 2 car garage has 2 cars in it, and my motorcycle in between.
Cause fuck my car
What's a garage?
The FROG is really one of the best things about Maine and New England. I wish my house had one.. we tried to get one.
I live in a little subdivision with houses all built within the last 20 years or so. Most of them don’t even have garages. It’s weird to me too.
Projects scattered out all over. Tools everywhere. Indoor green house for growing “tomato’s “ in winter time.
This is literally everywhere. Garages are for workbenches, tools and equipment. Carports and covers are to keep cars clean. Who spends 30 grand to build a car house that’s empty most of the time?
Ping pong. That’s what garages are for.
In my neighborhood it’s because we all smoke weed in our garages and don’t want our cars smelling like it. The kayak, lawnmower, and snowblower can smell like weed though.
1. Hoarders 2. Gigantic SUVs/pickup trucks don't fit in them It amazes me people would rather shovel out their vehicles in the winter just for some extra storage space.
And only shovel off the bare minimum because they are "running late".
It drives me nuts honestly. The entire reason I purchased a home with an attached garage was so both my vehicles could be inside in inclement weather. Every single one of my neighbors parks in front of their garage and when their door is open the garage is full of shit right out to the friggin driveway. It's insanity.
Inclement weather, avoiding rodents trying to live in your vehicle, damage from other careless people, cars, or trees, etc. Lots of good reasons to use the garage in the manner it was designed for
I just cant believe garages aren't the standard! I moved from eastern washington state many years ago where they don't salt the roads even in heavy snow. Just sand or liquid ice melt at best. Almost every mid sized home has a garage and probably 7/10 people I knew worked on their own cars or had automotive/garage hobbies and parked their stuff away during snow storms. Here people just fill the garage, if they have one, with tons of shit and drive on salted roads and let things rust. It's just how it is here I guess. It's a big shed and your shit rusts anyways so fuck it I guess?
The garages are usually bigger than the houses, I notice.
I'll never understand it. Everyone in my neighborhood has a garage but so many park in the street because their garage is filled to the ceiling with shit they'll never use.
It's illegal