Why do people use their garages as living rooms?

It is much like porch gatherings. Mostly the southeast is the porch party people. Having the gathering outdoors is common. It makes it easy for friends to come and go, because it is informal.
Yes, these gatherings can get boisterous.

By using garage as party place they are not messing up the house so that garage can be cleaned up little later. And as mentioned above due to this arrangement guests can easily come in and out. I don’t think they are much concerned about privacy here.

If the weather is good, I can see how a garage would be nice to be in. As opposed to being cooped up inside. They really should be respectful towards their neighborhood tho. Especially after a certain hour.

As for privacy they are not violating anyone elses, just their own. They obviously don’t care.

I imagine you can open the garage doors and let the air though and if people spill stuff on the garage floor, it doesn’t matter.

Around here it is not uncommon but most people don’t. Where it happens people don’t exactly have a patio, porch or yard suitable for entertaining outside. My side of the garage I have decked out with “toys” and tools and throwing an old couch in the corner is not out of the question. The “man cave” phenomina is another reason this is done.

Where I live a lot of people have screens on their garage. I think most people do it so the garage stays aired out, or on cool days that’s how they get a cross breeze through their house. Most houses have the garage in the front, I assume many houses in CA are like that too, since land is so expensive, so in many houses there is no front window directly across from the back windows.

Having the garage up if you’re in there, might also be inviting for neighbors to come by and hang out.

My husband would love to have an air conditioned garage with a sofa and TV AND the cars. He would never turn his garage into a living room and keep the cars outside—he thinks that’s a very strange American practice.

My dad, would convert his garage to living space if he had a garage, so he would have another room for his books. It’s usually cheaper to buy a small house with a converted garage than a bigger house if you want more living space.

New neighbors just enclose half of the garage in their big house and made it a complete other indoor room. However, they have a pool and a fire pit in their backyard so that’s where they hang out with their friends late – right under my bedroom window.

I asked this question years ago. I can’t find it now, but I still don’t get why people do this. They have decks, front porches, and 2 living areas, but hang out in the garage.
An ex boyfriend of mine had parents that did that and they lived alone and didn’t entertain, but went out to the garage where they had a couch, TV and mini fridge and watched TV out there.

I think a lot of it has to do with smoking. More people smoke, or want smoking outside. Where I live, it’s illegal to smoke indoors, in any business. Lots of people have become aware of the dangers of second hand smoke too.
People who smoke cigarettes, and drink, are kind of used to smoking outside now, I think.
When we have parties at my house, we usually have 2. One inside, and one outside. I usually start up the fire pit,to keep the bugs away. It’s not uncommon for there to be people outside until 3 or 4 AM. Mostly because we don’t allow smoking in the house.

I would add that we usually are grilling too. Another outdoor activity…

I have two neighbors that turn their garages (with roll-up doors open) into a Man-Cave for sport events:
65 inch plus flat screen TV’s
BBQ grill on driveway
Smoking allowed next to grills
Large refrigerators for cold beers
Plenty of canvas folding chairs
Bring your own appetizers (10 servings) for other guests

I live in the Southeast USA

^Yup. Sorry. I’m in the South East US…

^I’m in South East too…

I’ve never seen this, perhaps because I’m a lifelong northeasterner.. The practice doesn’t seem to happen in this part of the country (at least not that I’ve noticed).

My best guess – the houses don’t have comfortable porches or patios, but the people want to entertain in the semi-outdoors. Nice weather does bring folks outside, and I guess they go with what’s available.

Maybe it upsets the cat to have strangers in the house.

Ha ha ha ha! It is VERY common for folks to hang out in their garages here! It seems to be a fine mix between camping and having great shelter. Plus an upscale bathroom just a few yards away. But yeah. Lots of hanging out in garages here.

I’ve owned several houses that were plenty big enough for an office, but in each case I transformed a detached garage into personal workspace complete with WiFi, TV, stereo, large walk-in closet, and a built in credenza that served as a desk. I did that because I loved the separation and isolation of work and play space that I could call my own.

I’m in the northeast too, like @Love_my_doggie. I don’t see this phenomenon here. I see people storing junk in their garages while the car is in the driveway. A comedian made a joke about it once – “Only in American do people put the junk in the garage and the $40,000 car outside in the driveway.”

My guess for the garage parties was what was said above – it’s easy for guests to come and go informally, and it’s easy for the smokers to have their cigarettes. Maybe the garage has a mini bar and stereo stuff – easier than hauling it in and out of the house every night.

Umm, Aussies do that too. I bet poms do too.