Should the garage be included in a Feng Shui analysis of the interior of a house or office?

In Feng Shui system such as The Eight Mansions and Flying Star, the energy distribution chart is mapped to the interior areas of the house to determine the auspicious and inauspicious sectors. Normally, the bedrooms, kitchen, dining, living, stores and bathrooms are part of the internals while the garden, verandah and backyard are parts of the exterior.

I am frequently asked if the garage should be considered a part of the house or not? The answer is that it depends on the design of the garage.

In the tropics, the garage is usually nothing more than a parking space with a roof supported by columns and exposed on most sides. In this case the garage is obviously an external feature much like the verandah or backyard and should not be considered.

In colder countries, the garage can be a separate building enclosed on all sides by walls and the garage door. It is linked to the house by a walkway that may or may not be covered. As a separate building with its own entrance, sitting and facing, it will have it own energy distribution chart. However since the function of the garage is to house your car or cars, you do not have to worry too much about the Feng Shui there. This is unless you plan to emulate the founders of Hewlett Packard and start your own company from the garage!

In some designs the garage is enclosed and share one or two walls with the house. In this case you should see if there is an opening from the garage directly into the house, say via a door or enclosed passageway.

If there is an opening, the garage is considered to be part of the house and it should be included in the homes energy distribution map. If there is no opening between the garage and the house, meaning that you have to exit the garage and then enter the house using another door, then the garage is not considered a part of the house and should not be mapped into the energy distribution chart.