Some garages are small, just large enough for one car with enough room on either side for the car doors to open. Other garages have enough room for two or three cars in them. Sometimes a garage will have a room or small apartment above the parking area. This extra living space can be used as an office, a workshop, a guest room or a bedroom for one of the children in the family. Older garages often had wide doors that swung open to the side or slid sideways on tracks to allow cars to get in or out.
Most newer garages have overhead doors that lift up and slide back along metal guide rails.
These overhead doors can be operated by muscle power or by electric motors. Many electric doors are raised or lowered by pushing a button on a little gadget that looks like a television remote control. The little road that leads from the street to the garage is called a driveway. A family tries to sell all of the old furniture, appliances, unwanted gifts, out-grown clothing and odds and ends that had been accumulating for years to some other family that doesn't have enough old stuff yet. Allison, put your bicycle in the garage before you come in for dinner.