Park Yourself In Style In A High-Tech Garage

Many of today’s garages have granite-like floors, cabinets that would be at home in pricey kitchens, and audio and video that can rival home theaters. / Provided/Whirlpool

Jayne O’Donnell of USA Today discusses the innovations and uses that today’s garages have. Garages are no longer just for your cars or the storage place that never sees the light of day. They are becoming functional and organized. Maybe it’s time for you to get your garage in order and renovate. Let HomeServicesLink help you do just that.

The garage is going more high-tech, high-gloss and high-end at many houses.

But it doesn’t have to be upscale to be functional or fun.

Forget dusty gray concrete, exposed wall beams and a broken down TV in the corner. Many of today’s garages have granite-like floors, cabinets that would be at home in pricey kitchens, and audio and video that can rival home theaters.

Garages offer a way to expand a house’s living area and storage space without new construction. The home storage and organization market will total about $9 billion in 2015, and about $2 billion of that will be products purchased for the garage, which represents the fastest growing segment, according to a 2011 report by the the business research company Freedonia Group.

Whirlpool-owned Gladiator GarageWorks, which sells products including storage cabinets and garage floors, sees room for growth, because only 35 percent of garages made for at least two cars have room for more than one, says Tim Keaton, the company’s marketing, brand and product chief.

“Man caves have always been popular, but with the ever increasing size of rec rooms and kids’ playrooms, the man has nowhere to go,” says Todd Shuster, the custom audio and video manager at Abt Electronics. “Enter the garage, a place that can be a shrine to your favorite football team, your Harley, or sports car.”

“The place where you park has become a living quarters,” says Phil Berg, author and photographer for the book series Ultimate Garages.

The growing attention to garages started, not surprisingly, in Detroit, says says Tim Keaton of Whirlpool-owned Gladiator GarageWorks. First, garages were strictly functional as a place to store tools. Then came “form and function,” before it became what’s increasingly a family hangout.

“When people need space, it’s the only place to go,” he says.

Garage uses range from the mundane – like storage – to transformations that turn the space into art-like galleries featuring cars. Somewhere in between lie the more traditional man caves with refrigerators, couches and wide-screen TVs, or studios for homeowners who love to paint, sculpt or garden.

Men with renovated garages often tell Phil Berg, author and photographer for the book series “Ultimate Garages”: “I would live in my garage if my wife let me.”

Garage, sweet garage
For John Weinberger, that would hardly be a hardship. His 3,500-square-foot garage in Naperville, Ill., is the same size as his house. It’s so comfortable, in fact, that he and wife Lisa lived there for five months recently while their home was being renovated. Lisa says she misses it.

It helps that the couple share a love of cars. John, the retired founder of the Continental chain of Chicago-area car dealerships, used to race cars and still fixes them. He recently taught a grandson to rebuild an engine. Lisa has worked in dealer promotions and races cars as well. The couple actually met at a toll booth. John was scrounging around for change and Lisa lent him 40 cents.

The Weinbergers regularly host car clubs and parties in what’s really a series of garages that includes a party room filled with automotive memorabilia that sits on a black-and-white checkered floor. That room leads into the part of the garage that houses Weinberger’s collection of 30 classic and exotic cars that he, like many other auto enthusiasts, got tired of being separated from.

“Instead of reading the paper, I go out in the garage and tinker,” says Weinberger. “But it’s more of a museum than a mechanic’s shop.”

Livable garage space can include cars — or not. When people room is in short supply, less valuable cars usually move outside. The transition from junk-filled eyesore to high-tech hangout can be a gradual one. The first step, says Keaton, is to organize what’s there. Recognizing the trend toward garage living, the company has been making their storage cabinets more similar to the styles and finishes used inside houses.

Housing codes in many areas of the country require that garages have drywall of a certain width to help keep any car fires from spreading into homes. That gets homeowners partway toward having an enclosed living — or, at least, entertaining — area. If they have to add drywall anyway, Mike Gacek of LaMantia Building and Construction in Brookfield, Ill., recommends spending the extra $900 or so to add insulation. Then, the addition of a small heating unit and ceiling fans can make it a four-season room in much of the country.

Because well-heeled car enthusiasts like the Weinbergers often collect cars like others might collect art, they don’t want their masterpieces hidden away. But even those with just one classic — or simply old — car that they enjoying looking at will sometimes renovate their houses and garages to offer a better view.

While Berg was building a replica Porsche in his garage in the ‘90s, he added a glass door in the back of the house so he could pull the car out of the garage and admire “the fruits of my labor” while standing in his kitchen.