A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport

Carport

A carport is a covered structure used to offer limited protection to vehicles, primarily cars, from the elements. The structure can either be free standing or attached to a wall. Unlike most structures a carport does not have four walls, and usually has one or two...

", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.

British residential garages

Those British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 homes that have a garage have a single or double garage either built into the main building (thus subtracting from the living area), detached within the grounds, often the back garden

Back garden

A back garden is a residential garden located at the rear of a property, on the other side of the house from the public street-side entrance and front garden.-Number and size of back gardens:In Britain there are over 10 million back gardens....

, or in a communal block. As the typical size of a family car

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 has increased significantly over the past thirty years some garages can no longer be comfortably used to park a car and increasingly the garage is used as a general storage space.

The common term for these structures in the first decades of the Twentieth Century was motor house. Traditionally, garage door

Door

A door is a movable structure used to open and close off an entrance, typically consisting of a panel that swings on hinges or that slides or rotates inside of a space....

s were wooden, opening either as two leaves

Leaf (disambiguation)

Leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis.Leaf may also refer to:-Various:* Leaf , a single sheet, the left-hand page of which is the verso, and right-hand page is the recto...

 or sliding horizontally. Newer garages were fitted with metal up-and-over doors. Increasingly, in new homes, such doors are electrically operated.

Traditionally a small British single garage is 8 by 16 ft (2.4 by 4.9 ), a medium is 9 by 18 ft (2.7 by 5.5 ), and a large single garage is 10 by 20 ft (3 by 6.1 ). Family saloons are bigger on average than was the case 3 years ago, so the larger size is now preferred. A typical large family car

Large family car

A large family car, also known as a D-segment car, is a European automobile classification which is larger than a small family car and smaller than an executive car. Multi-purpose vehicles based on a large family car design are often called large MPVs, while similarly-priced models from luxury car...

 like the Ford Mondeo is about 15 by 6 ft (4.6 by 1.8 ), so even with the larger size garage it is necessary to park to one side to be able to open the driver's door wide enough to get into it.

United States residential garages

In most American single family and town houses featuring a garage, the garage has a door on the side of the building for vehicles to enter and stay. Most garage door

Garage door

A garage door is a large door on a garage that can either be opened manually or by a garage door opener. Garage doors are necessarily large to allow passage of automobiles and/or trucks.-Description:...

s open upward using an electric chain drive, which can usually be remotely controlled from the resident's vehicle with a small radio transmitter. Garages are connected to the nearest road with a driveway

Driveway

A driveway is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group....

. 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

Alley

An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane found in urban areas, often for pedestrians only, which usually runs between or behind buildings. In older cities and towns in Europe, alleys are often what is left of a medieval street network, or a right of way or ancient footpath in an urban setting...

.

In the past, garages were often separate buildings from the house ("detached garage"), almost resembling modern shed

Shed

A shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop....

s. On occasion, a garage would be built with an apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

 above it, which could be rented out. As automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s 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 any type of weather, a person with an attached garage has a much shorter walk inside a building.

Garages are often where the attic

Attic

An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...

 entrance is located. Used also to store tool

Tool

A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...

s, bicycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

s, lawn mower

Lawn mower

A lawn mower is a machine that uses a revolving blade or blades to cut a lawn at an even length.Lawn mowers employing a blade that rotates about a vertical axis are known as rotary mowers, while those employing a blade assembly that rotates about a horizontal axis are known as cylinder or reel...

s and other such items, most garages have unfinished concrete floors. Since they are heavily used for storage, and as work space for home improvement

Home improvement

Home improvement, home renovation or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home.-Types of home improvement:...

 projects, some home owners do not use their garage to store their car, preferring a carport

Carport

A carport is a covered structure used to offer limited protection to vehicles, primarily cars, from the elements. The structure can either be free standing or attached to a wall. Unlike most structures a carport does not have four walls, and usually has one or two...

 as an alternative solution. . Some garages contain a separate storage room to partially alleviate the problem.

Notable garages

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

, in the Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

, started its business in a garage, that is now a landmark.