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Here are some interesting and fun facts and stats about garages, like how garages are used by homeowners, etc.
- When purchasing a home, 80% of buyers factor in the garage when making their decision. (Impulse Research survey)
- The average garage door opens and closes 3-5 times each day (approximately 1,500 times per year). (or about 13,500 to 15,000 open and close activations in an average home).
- 55% of Americans spend 1-2 hours every week in the garage among hobbies and other activities. (Impulse Research survey)
- “Removing junk” ranked as the top answer from people who were asked how they could enjoy their garage more. (Wall Street Journal survey)
- A 2-car garage in an average-sized home comprises approximately 13-15% of the home’s square footage.
- 82% of the 500 realtors surveyed said that a disorganized garage has a negative impact on the first impression of anyone looking at potential homes. (Braun Research survey)
- 90% of realtors believe anyone buying a home wants their garage to provide more functionality than just parking vehicles. (Braun Research survey)
- The American Housing Survey shows that 80% of owned houses and condos in the U.S. have a carport or garage. A Health Canada study found that more than half of Canada’s single-family homes have an attached garage.
- Only 11% of homeowners say they’re satisfied with their garage and wouldn’t want to improve it. (Wall Street Journal survey)
- Moen’s home organization study (North America’s top faucet brand) found that the garage was the most cluttered space in homes. Another survey conducted by the National Association of Professional Organizers found that 50% of homeowners named the garage as the most disorganized area of their house.
- Many famous companies started in the garage: Apple, Amazon, Disney, Google, and Harley-Davidson.
- 52% of homeowners want to have a garage their neighbors envy. (Thompson’s Company study)
- The garage, kitchen, and home office were named as the most cluttered spaces in homes. (Moen survey)
- 71% of homeowners use the garage as their house’s main entryway. (Chamberlain Group study)
- A survey of realtors reveals that garages ranked higher as a desirable storage space for homebuyers than basements or attics. (Braun Research survey)
- As much as one-third of a house’s front exterior can be taken up by its garage doors.
- About 9% of Americans rent storage space, even though 65% of those homeowners have a garage. (Self Storage Association stat)
- 25% of people with 2-car garages don’t park in them at all. A third can only park one car, mainly due to garage clutter. (U.S. Dept. of Energy study)
Find more statistics at Statista
- A Wall Street Journal survey of 900 homeowners found that only 70% of their garage space allows for parking.
- 25% of the 900 homeowners surveyed by the Wall Street Journal use their garage for vehicle maintenance.
- Of 1,500 North American respondents to a Garage Living poll, 20% said they could not park in their garage. A Sparefoot survey of 1,000 Americans found that 47% of them admitted to encountering problems with parking in their garage. And another UCLA study of 32 Los Angeles-area families found that 75% of them didn’t use their garages for parking.
- The word “garage” is derived from the French word “garer” (meaning to protect, shelter, or store).
- Disorganization (not lack of space) causes 80% of household clutter. (Soap and Detergent Association study)
- More than 50% of homeowners plan on reorganizing their garage within the next two years. (Peachtree Consulting survey)
- Our vehicles sit parked 95% of the time.
- Running a fridge or freezer in your garage manufactured before 1990 can add $250-300 a year to your hydro bill.
- When it comes to home improvement projects, a new garage door delivers one of the best investment returns. Typically, 80-90% of your costs for a new garage door are recouped.
- Of the 500 realtors surveyed, 79% agreed that garages deserved as much attention as any other space in the home when it comes to organization. 88% believe that maintaining an organized garage reflects an owner’s pride in their home. (Braun Research survey)
- 74% of homeowners polled named “parking” as the most crucial function of their garage. (Wall Street Journal survey)
- A 2-car garage was one of the top 10 assets valued by 12,000 Canadian homebuyers surveyed by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association.
- Due to high spring tension, installing or repairing a garage door can cause severe injury or death.
- If you’re looking for a sound return on investment, you can recoup 80% to 90% of the cost of a new garage door when you sell your home.
- Modern garage doors can make your house more energy-efficient. You can also save electricity with a new garage door opener. Modern openers use up to 75% less power than older systems.
- The average life of a garage door torsion spring is about 9-10 years.
- By installing a new garage door, your property’s value can increase by up to 4%. If your home is worth $175,000, this means it can increase by $7,000.
- The most common garage door injuries are caused by pinched or crushed section joints (59.5%), followed by falling doors (16.5%) and someone working on a door (12.7%).
- An Impulse Research Survey found 24% of garage owners are embarrassed when they leave their garage doors open. This percentage isn’t only because leaving the door open invites danger, including burglaries, but also because of a lack of storage or organization in the garage space.
- A survey of 1,000 Australians found that under half of them had problems parking in their garages because they were too disorganized. (Australia Institute study)
- About 20,000 Americans suffer garage door-related injuries every year. The garage door’s weight (it’s the heaviest moving object in your home), springs, cables, and other attached hardware can seriously injure children and adults.
Find more statistics at Statista
- If you have an attached garage, the garage door may take up as much as one-third of your home’s exterior.
- When buying a new home, 80% of buyers consider the garage when determining which house to purchase.
- Electric garage door openers have been around for a long time. The first one appeared in 1926, invented by C.G. Johnson. However, they did not become popular until after World War II when Era Meter Company of Chicago launched one that could be operated with a switch from the garage or a keypad in the driveway.
- According to a survey by American real estate investment firm Crescent Communities, three-quarters of homeowners believe having a garage was “extremely or very important.”
- Garage doors have a typical life span of about 20 years or potentially much longer if maintained properly.
- Replacing your current standard garage door with an upscale garage door can increase the appraised value of your home by 1 to 4%. (StrataMark national study)
- 92% of all garage door manufacturers offer online garage door designers on their websites.
- According to the newly released 2015 American Housing Survey, 63% of all occupied housing units have a garage or carport.
- 2-car garages were the most common garage size among 1,500 North American respondents to a 2017 Garage Living poll. 18% had a 1-car garage, 61% had a 2-car garage, and 22% owned a 3-car garage.
- 27% of people use the garage for hobbies. In comparison, others use it to work on cars (23%), do projects such as woodworking or carpentry (19%), or as an area for exercise or sports (13%).
- There are more than 82 million American homes with a garage. That’s enough garages to provide shelter for every single car made worldwide in 2013!
- Compared to other home improvement projects, a new garage door yields the highest return on investment (97.5%) when selling your home.
- Garage door openers with “rolling codes” automatically change the transmit code with every use.
- These 3 bands are among the most famous for starting their careers in the garage: Nirvana, Metallica, and The Beatles
- In 1915, the average garage comprised only about 8% of the square footage of a house. After 1960, garages have an average of 45% of the square footage of the average home.
- 3 million: the value of a vintage car found in a garage unopened for 50 years.
- The first garages were stables or carriage houses that provided shelter for horses and their gear. Today, they have evolved into storage for our modern-day possessions and vehicles.
- Garages are getting bigger. Nearly 20% of all garages built are large enough to cover at least 3 cars.
THE OLDEST EXISTING GARAGE
A motor house in Southport, Lancashire, U.K., is thought to be the oldest garage still in existence. It appeared in an issue of ‘The Autocar’ in October 1899.
