In PR, why do most of the houses not have enclosed garages?

ReyP wrote:

Like adlin20 said, a place to hang the hammock and get some breeze, but also a place to dance. Easy to clean after the party specially if it has been tiled. Some people put a TV there also, good to bring a group of friends to get some cold beers or rum or Coquito during the holidays, some wings or Cuajo and watch a baseball game in a cooler place than the house. You can also set your grill there with out getting all the smoke and smells in the house. The Marqesina is outside covered living space.

Notice that most of them are long/deep so the car can still be there at either end and there is space for other activities. When it is party time remove the 1 car or 2, wash/hose the floor and you are almost ready for the party!!!!!!

A place to send the kids when they are playing, specially with paints and crayons. You can use a broom to push all the toys to one corner after they get done and not step on them and hurt your foot (Duoplos).

All these activities keep the rest of the house clean and ordely. Less house work specially when hot.

By the way, these are REALLY some good questions!
Most things have a practical reason that you learn by observing or asking questions about the purpose.

Oh 1 more thing, some people may also put a bathroom at the end of it so people can use it and never go into the house and see your messy house.

Rey,

The bathroom outside is for the guys when they get too drunk and can't aim right!!

adlin20 wrote:

ReyP wrote:

Like adlin20 said, a place to hang the hammock and get some breeze, but also a place to dance. Easy to clean after the party specially if it has been tiled. Some people put a TV there also, good to bring a group of friends to get some cold beers or rum or Coquito during the holidays, some wings or Cuajo and watch a baseball game in a cooler place than the house. You can also set your grill there with out getting all the smoke and smells in the house. The Marqesina is outside covered living space.

Notice that most of them are long/deep so the car can still be there at either end and there is space for other activities. When it is party time remove the 1 car or 2, wash/hose the floor and you are almost ready for the party!!!!!!

A place to send the kids when they are playing, specially with paints and crayons. You can use a broom to push all the toys to one corner after they get done and not step on them and hurt your foot (Duoplos).

All these activities keep the rest of the house clean and ordely. Less house work specially when hot.

By the way, these are REALLY some good questions!
Most things have a practical reason that you learn by observing or asking questions about the purpose.

Oh 1 more thing, some people may also put a bathroom at the end of it so people can use it and never go into the house and see your messy house.

Rey,

The bathroom outside is for the guys when they get too drunk and can't aim right!!

and or decide to throw up, you can hose it down easily. One of those floor squeegees, come handy when cleaning the car port. Specially if your drunk friend never quite reaches the outside bathroom.

ReyP wrote:

By the way, these are REALLY some good questions!
Most things have a practical reason that you learn by observing or asking questions about the purpose.

Wouldn't it be true, one downside is, that thieves might be helped in knowing if you are home or not, if they see your car is gone, could assume you are gone, and thus safer to break in to steal?

I came from the states, and miss the way things are done in the states, for the most part.  I'd like to buy a home with an enclosed garage to park the car, whereas people don't know if your car is in the garage or not, for extra security.  I'd guess only about 1-2% of the homes here have a garage with a garage door in PR.

csmi wrote:

ReyP wrote:

By the way, these are REALLY some good questions!
Most things have a practical reason that you learn by observing or asking questions about the purpose.

Wouldn't it be true, one downside is, that thieves might be helped in knowing if you are home or not, if they see your car is gone, could assume you are gone, and thus safer to break in to steal?

I came from the states, and miss the way things are done in the states, for the most part.  I'd like to buy a home with an enclosed garage to park the car, whereas people don't know if your car is in the garage or not, for extra security.  I'd guess only about 1-2% of the homes here have a garage with a garage door in PR.

Not everyone in a household works, so the car does not necessarily means there is nobody home, wife, cousins, uncles, may all be there.

Some may never park in the car port. You can add a garage door if you like and keep it open during a party and close it the rest of the time.

In heavily populated areas people with more than 1 car, they may park 1 in the street and another in the car port. So you may be home but your car is parked a couple of houses away. The front of your house is not reserved parking, anybody can park there and you may have to park elsewhere.

Some bad guys don't care if you are home or not and some prefer if you are, that way they can get your wallet, credit cards, the combination from the safe from you or take you and drive you in your own car to the ATM machine to get money out then take your car and leave you in the street.

Lsantana wrote:

When movng to a new country, one must investigate the laws and traditions of the place moving to and adapt. Not saying you didnt but it requires adaptation. That is why it must be investigated and tried out for a while before making a decision to move. Not the same to see a place for a week cacation that living there without knowing the laws and how it all works.  Is like with beef very hard to find in the island and expensive and there is reasons for that. There is not enought space to raise and feed cattle,anything imported will be more expensive. As you said maybe 1% has closed garages ibthink that proves is fine. Is a matter of perdonal choice and you can always enclose it. But guarantee it will be a very hot place not able to use for anything else snd will require additional maintenance $$$ due to humidity and great place for centipeds and other creepy crawlers. PR is all about practicality everything has multiple purposes as spaes are generally small. Hope that helps

I will agree, my brother house in the city have the garage closed, it is an oven. He can't even used for parties since is so hot and humid.

melendezki wrote:

Our laundry room is also located in the open garage, with rejas (iron bars ) to lock down at night.  As others have commented, the open garage is a great place to entertain in the shade or rain, and also to play dominoes.

Playing dominos require at least 1 bottle of rum, after a while one is not sure what the score is.

Sitka wrote:

if I wanted to use the garage / car port area as a part time work shop, should I set it up with large windows that can open for the trade winds? 

It would need to be secure for storage of tools and stuff.  Suggestions??

There are concrete blocks that have holes on them forming designs, it can look good, provide security and still let air in.
There are also solid glass cubes to let light in that you can use in the bottom of the wall or anywhere else in the wall, they allow light in and provide privacy.

Sitka wrote:

if I wanted to use the garage / car port area as a part time work shop, should I set it up with large windows that can open for the trade winds? 

It would need to be secure for storage of tools and stuff.  Suggestions??

Please let me know what you come up with! We are tentatively scheduled to move in 1.5 years or so from St. Paul, Minnesota to Rincon. My boyfriend is the handy & mechanical type with lots of tools and would like a work space. We hope to rent a house.

ReyP wrote:

How paranoid are you?

Not at all.

Now here things are a little different. We're in a little barrio on a dead-end road. Everybody knows everybody and we look out and check on strangers who enter the area.

Also, here in El Campo it's well known that everybody is armed. The only incident we had in the barrio with people trying to steal something was a couple of years ago when some idiots were trying to steal a four track from a guy down the road. The bad guys can be glad that they came away alive after the owner got out his guns and started shooting.

I spread the story that I have hidden security cameras all over the place that record everything in and around the house and store it in the cloud. I told one neighbor (the right one) and now everybody knows.

Having a dog that starts barking at everything unusual and at every stranger helps, too.

So far, so good after 14 years and counting.

Jugadero1 wrote:

I'm interested, can you post photos. I'm recently retired military and looking to relocate to PR.

Not sure who you are addressing. You are looking for photos of what?

Jugadero1 wrote:

No problem. I was only responding to the post.

Look in clasificadosonline dot com for rentals.