Garage, hard-standing or carport
Garage, hard-standing or carport: Advantages and disadvantages in summary
When you’re looking for a new home, lots of questions arise: house or flat; buy an existing property or order a new-build; in town or in the country. All in all there are no generalised answers to any of those questions. It all depends on your own preferences, financial circumstances, career situation, or family planning. However, a garage is a key element of a home in many instances nowadays, but the choices relating to it are similarly wide. The question is: What do you want, and what can be done? Garage or carport, or maybe just a hard-standing parking space? Below we summarise the advantages and disadvantages of all three options.
Garage
The first garages were built around the turn of the last century, and were initially the preserve of the wealthy who were able to afford a car in those early days of motoring. A lot has happened since then. There are now brick-built garages, underground garages, and prefabricated garages made of aluminium or steel. What has remained the same is the fact that a garage is still the first choice for keeping a vehicle – and for good reasons, as the following advantages and disadvantages of garages make clear:
Advantages of a garage:
Good protection: A garage offers the best protection for your vehicle – not only against all kinds of weather, but also against thieves and animals. And you don't have to brush snow off your car or scrape the windscreen clear when setting off in a cold winter morning. Crucially, the garage must be lockable and secure. So be sure to choose high-quality and durable garage doors that meet all safety and security standards. Nowadays you can choose from a wide range of designs, door types and operator systems, allowing you to optimally adapt your garage to the overall look of your home.
Long life: A prefabricated garage will last at least 30 years. A brick-built garage will last even longer, provided it is regularly maintained. So garages are winners in terms of durability. That makes them the ideal investment if you’re planning to live in the same home forever – and perhaps even for the next generation too.
Versatile usage: Garages aren’t just places to keep vehicles anymore. Instead, they serve as a workshop, pantry, storage space for bicycles and gardening tools, or as a wintering refuge for plants. Versatility and additional storage are further advantages of a garage. A double garage, in particular, can hold a lot. Garages are especially convenient if you have direct access to them from the house. And you can also install a photovoltaic plant on top of it, which will benefit your energy supply.
Disadvantages of a garage:
A lot of space and money needed: The crucial requirement is that you have the necessary space on your property – especially if you are thinking of building a double garage. Garages are also more expensive than carports.
Consent required: All garages require planning consent. And that brings its own additional cost. By contrast, small, unenclosed carports do not need consent in many areas. You also need to comply with local regulations when building a garage. For example, if the garage is located very close to the line of your neighbour’s property, or is going to be located directly fronting onto the road.
Risk of damp: Many garages have no heating and poor ventilation. Something that doesn’t seem particularly important at first glance can turn out to be a disadvantage. When a wet car is parked in the garage, a lot of moisture is brought in with it. As a result, vehicles might be prone to rust more quickly, or puddles might form that can freeze over at low temperatures.
Carport
Carports are a very popular alternative to garages. Historically, they originated from the sheds of earlier days where horse-carriages, trains, wagons and carts of all kinds were parked to shelter them from the weather. Today's carports accommodate everything from cars to motorbikes and trailers. Carports are either built on to a house in the form of a lean-to, or are free-standing elsewhere on the property. The following summarises the advantages and disadvantages of carports.
Advantages of a carport:
Quick assembly: In most cases, carports consist merely of a wooden frame and a roof structure. That means they can be assembled quickly, and can be erected on a small footprint. The open construction of a carport provides even more advantages: They are more airy than garages, and let in a lot of light. That makes them also suitable for dark corners of property sites.
Customisable: Thanks to its quick assembly, a carport can be quickly extended or equipped with additional components, such as privacy screening, or a small, lockable wooden shed. As an eco-friendly enhancement, the carport can be greened with climbing plants or grass on the roof.
Little risk of corrosion: A carport provides less protection from rain, snow and ice than a garage. On the other hand, with an open carport construction excess moisture can dry up more quickly. So there is generally less risk of corrosion than in an enclosed, poorly ventilated garage.
Disadvantages of a carport
Little protection: A carport is not a fully-built garage – and that distinction is particularly marked when it comes to protection. Vehicles parked under carports are not protected from the elements, or from animals. And they will need to be cleaned more often, because they are directly exposed to pollen, leaves and insects. It is also easier for thieves to get at them.
Shorter life: If you want to enjoy your carport for a long time, you need to maintain it regularly. Otherwise it will steadily wear out. You can extend its service life by using durable, weather-resistant materials however.
More time-consuming in winter: Consider that a carport will only protect your vehicle from snow and ice to a limited extent in winter. So you will have to clear snow and ice from it more often than if it was parked in a garage for example.
Hard-standing
If you don’t have room for either a garage or a carport, you can simply create a hard-standing area to park your vehicle on. This option also has its advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages of a hard-standing parking area:
Low cost: If there is on-street parking in front of your property, you won’t incur any expense of course. If there isn’t, you might have to pay a small amount for levelling a suitable area, a base slab or grass pavers, for example.
Less complicated: Creating a hard-standing parking area is of course far less complicated than building a garage. You won’t have all the detailed planning, picking of components, and potentially lengthy planning consent procedure.
Eco-friendly: A hard-standing parking area is the best option environmentally, because there is no soil sealing and no hazardous building materials can penetrate the ground.
Disadvantages of a hard-standing parking area:
Little protection: A simple hard-standing parking area is practical because it eliminates the hassle of searching for a parking space. However, your vehicle will have no protection from rain, snow and ice, or from animals or thieves. So it will be exposed to all those risks and threats.
No wider usage: A hard-standing is just a simple surfaced area – no more and no less. You won’t have the luxury of turning it into a workshop or food pantry, and you won’t be able to install a photovoltaic plant on its roof.
Needs care: Although a hard-standing has no roof or door to keep maintained as in the case of a garage, there are some other aspects to consider: For example, if you only use grass pavers, or have laid individual slabs, you must regularly clear the area of weeds in summer and snow in winter.
Space, money and preference are the deciding factors
Each option – garage, carport or hard-standing – has its advantages and disadvantages. The choice depends on a number of factors. Some questions you should therefore ask yourself are: How much space do I have available? How much money can I afford to spend? How long do I want the garage to last? And will I also want to use it as a workshop or for storage? Other than that, it’s all about your own preferences. What do you like better, and what suits your house better: a garage, carport or hard-standing? If you opt for a garage, our professional staff will be on hand to advise and help you find the perfect garage door for your home.
