A door is nice if you can think that you'd want to enter (or exit) without opening the big door. For example:
parking on the driveway rather than IN the garage (all the time, or for quick trips on sunny days)
small yard work equipment
any quick trip type of stuff

To me it saves wear and tear on the overhead door opener for taking out trash, watering plants, etc. Also, if you have a power outage it's simpler entry/exit.

Having the door would also allow you to enter and exit during bad weather such as rain or snow without it getting into the garage.

If it were left to me I would put in a garage entry door that has a window so your getting the best of both worlds.

Thanks to everyone so far. The door that is offered is a 9 lite steel door.

As I said before, the majority of the time when we are at home, the front or the back door would be used to get outside. The majority of the time we would exit the garage would be to back the cars out. Lawn equipment will go in a storage building in the back yard. Getting the trash cans out was one reason we had for having the door, but I'm not sure if that's enough, since trash is put outside only once a week.

While I would never say we would never have the cars outside for any length of time, we currently don't have a garage and I hate leaving the cars in the elements. The only time I can see them not being in there would be for short periods of time and then the overhead door likely would be open.

I truly appreciate everyone's comments.

Mine has come in very handy for power outages. I don't have battery back-up for the overhead doors. If you've got another entry door close by then it's less of an issue - but for me, my front door is a long haul from the garage, and it seems the outages always happen in downpour.

It might depend on the layout of your lot. We have a door on the side of our garage. At that side, we have a little paved utility area. Our giant city provided bins are out there. We regularly go from the house into the garage and out the side door to dump the garbage/recycling into those bins. It also allows us to access the back yard from the garage without opening the big door and walking around, or walking through the house.

If you have the option and it's not a major difference in cost, I don't see why you wouldn't put it in.

I'd still put it in. You don't foresee parking your cars in the driveway but... the garage gets used as indoor space sometimes. For projects, for temporary storage, for...

Do you have children? What ages? If young, there is a lot of coming and going. If older, when they start to drive, will you have enough interior garage space to house their car too?

I'd put it in. Mine has one out the back to the yard, but I wish it also had one on the side for just people entry.

We lived in our prior home almost 15 years and I bet we didn't use the garage entry door 6 times. When we built our home last year we left the entry door out and don't miss it a bit and probably never will.

I like your floor, LOTO.

That's quite a garage, LOTO. I can only dream of one that nice. :)

Kirkhall, we have no children. It will just be us. I understand where you're coming from in terms of usage of the space, but I still think the overhead door would serve our needs just as well.

Amberm145, the cost in one factor. To have that option will run about $800. That cost not only includes the door, but an outside light plus a concrete sidewalk from the driveway around to the door. A 3x5 window there would cost $150.

Another factor is the size of the garage. The home we like has a garage that is 20 by 22. We will add two feet both laterally and depth-wise to that (and believe me, I realize how small even that will be, but bigger will cost too much) but even then I can't see that it would have enough room to use the door that much.

I would vote for the door as well. All in sounds like a good price to me. A good idea above -- you can put a half-lite in the door to get a window effect. Where would the man door be in relation to the rest of the yard?

We park our cars in our 20x22 garage. We did not have a man door at first; did not know what we were missing until I came home one day and my visiting father had put one in. Best thing is the proximity to the garden, so we can get there directly rather than have to carry tools out of the front of garage and all the way around the back.

The door would empty into the side yard. It wouldn't be able to be located at the back of the garage because that's where the entrance to the house is located. The door would be located at the front of the garage on the left side as you are looking at the attached floor plan. Just a note...the stairs lead to a bonus room over the garage.

Here is a link that might be useful: House

This post was edited by NotBobTheBuilder on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 12:22

NotBob, so the door would be located where the garage window is shown on the floor plan? Depending on your plans for the side yard, perhaps it would be nice to have a half-lite door on the side towards the back of the garage (where the "8:12" arrow is pointing). Might that be a good spot for a kitchen garden? Good luck.

Actually, no. I put the window there myself. The door (as it's located in the builder's plans) would actually be toward the front nearer to the overhead door. Of course, given our customization options we could put a door anywhere on that wall we wanted, but I imagine it would add to the cost given that the sidewalk to the driveway would be longer.

Oh I see. Well, if you don't see yourself using the side yard, I'd be inclined to pass on the door as well. If you would use the side yard, I'd still put the door towards the rear of the garage but would be tempted just to put in a landing pad. If you wanted to connect to the driveway you could later add stepping stones in lieu of a sidewalk.

I wouldn't bother with a door near the front. Maybe if you were willing to pay the extra to move it further back.

Do you own SUVs or cars? If SUVs, you might not be able to even open the door when they are parked inside.

Oaktown,

If we did decide to go with the door, the landing pad option would be one to consider. One other note. The terrain border on the floor plan is to scale. In other words, that is how much yard we would have on any side.

We don't own SUVs. We have looked at the size of the garage as it's offered and our cars would fit, but not much else. That's why we're adding the two feet to the depth and the width.

This post was edited by NotBobTheBuilder on Fri, Aug 15, 14 at 13:04

If those are your lot boundaries, I could see not doing it. I might ask to have the window framed with a header height that later, should you or another person want the door, it would be easy to change it out without redoing a lot of framing.

2 extra garage feet in each direction will be nice for that garage.

i vote for the door i move things to and from the backyard (plants, charcoal for the grill etc) through our door, but if i had to take out the door or the windows we have, i would have a tough time choosing

I was just doing some searching on the web for some of the houses in the subdivision we want to build in, and I discovered another reason that the door (or window) has to be toward the front. On the left side of the garage is where the electric and gas meters as well as the condenser unit for the air conditioner are located. It's been a while since I had looked them up and I had forgotten that was the case. So either choice will have to go toward the front. At this point, it still seems like the window will win out.

I have a similar layout as you, and the door is at the back of the garage. My gas and electricity go in there, but they go into the HOUSE, not into the garage. So the garage door doesn't interfere with those at all. You'd probably want to pave that area anyway, as your meter readers are going to be walking through there. At least with gravel or patio stones.

And like I said, our big garbage cans are out there. I use that door a few times a week to put out garbage/recycling.

A "man door" is a great option for a garage. It's great to be able to just walk out and get a package from UPS or carry out something without having to open the garage door each time. Small safety benefit. if no space it's not hte end of hte world but I for one would want one on any house I live in and would consider it a negative if I were shopping a home that didn't have one.

This type of door is nice but not necessary.

Whether it's worthwhile needs to be considered in relation to the whole project. Few of us can afford ALL the "oh, that'd be so nice" items that are available to us, and it's all too easy to ask, "Do I want it?" . . . When the real question should be, "Is this small addition worth the cost?" I'd say consider all those other extras -- built-ins, upgraded lighting, artisan tile, extra large closets, vaulted ceilings, whatever else -- and ask which of these things will bring you the most enjoyment and the most value for your dollar.