Beyond the Trivia-Use of Two-Car Garages
Statistics show that the majority of new homes and those being built include two-car garages. For homes between 1600 and 2000 square feet, the percentage is about 72%. Today's trivia question is about those two-car garages. For people with a house with a two-car garage, what percentage of them only park one vehicle inside and what percentage don't park any vehicle inside their two-car garage? See how close you can some.
Answer:
A Wall Street Journal survey found that about 70% of the average garage is available for parking; the rest is used for storage or a working area, maybe a laundry area. An Impulse Research survey says 55% of Americans spend one to two hours each week in the garage doing hobbies and other activities, although, in another survey 74% of homeowners list parking as the most important function of their garage space. That pretty much fits with some other surveys. They show that about a third of homeowners only use one side of their two-car garage for a vehicle, largely because of clutter and that a fourth of them don't park in them at all.
In addition to clutter, 25% of homeowners surveyed by the Wall Street Journal say they use their garage for vehicle maintenance. A home organization study done by plumbing fixture company Moen found that the garage was the most cluttered space in homes. The National Association of Professional Organizers found that 50% of homeowners named the garage as the most disorganized area of their house. In addition, a survey of real estate agents says that a disorganized garage has a negative effect on potential homebuyers. Those people with messy garages seem to want to make changes. More than 50% of homeowners plan on reorganizing their garage within the next two years and "removing junk” is the top answer from people who were asked how they could enjoy their garage more. That could be because, according to a Braun Research survey, garages ranked higher as a desirable storage space for homebuyers than basements or attics.
Statistics about garage usage vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. A UCLA study of 32 Los Angeles-area families found that 75% of them didn’t use their garages for parking. It seem that in most upscale areas, residents are more likely to use garage parking. They're less likely to be among the 24% of homeowners who say they're embarrassed to leave their garage doors open.
