You have come across the term ‘apartment surface parking lot’. But what does an apartment surface parking lot mean? It’s not as complicated as it seems once you understand it.
Apartment Surface Parking Lot Definition
An apartment surface parking lot refers to an outdoor parking lot that is uncovered. There is no garage or overhead cover – it is just a normal striped parking lot outside on a surface (concrete, gravel, or asphalt). This (surface parking lot) is in contrast to garage parking or partially covered (carport parking). Apartment Surface Parking is most common in garden-style apartments.
Things To Consider
There can be straight spots, angled spots, double tandem spots, or parallel spots. This usually depends on the layout and space available in the apartment building. Angled spots tend to work best for limited spaces.
Double or tandem spots are spots where you park 2 cars in the same spot and one car blocks in the other. This works well if you and your roommate have 2 cars and one person always leaves first.
Advantages of Surface Parking
- Easier to get in and out of the parking lot
- Can often see your car parked to keep an eye on it.
- Save time because you don’t have to wind up and down levels in parking garage.
- Usually a cheaper option (assuming your apartment building charges for parking)
Disadvantages of Surface Parking
- Your vehicle is not covered, which means it is not protected from the weather elements (snow, rain, sleet, sun)
- Can accelerate the deterioration process of your vehicle if you live in an area with extreme temperatures and conditions.
How to Protect Your Car Outside?
If covered or garage parking is not an option, you can protect your car with these simple steps –
- Use a car cover that can withstand the elements.
- Use a windscreen sunshade.
- Wash and maintain your car regularly.
- Keep an ice scraper in your car if you live in a winter weather climate
Surface parking is very popular. Usually, you don’t have a choice between which type of parking you can use at a particular building as it’s common for a building to have either covered parking -OR- surface parking and not both, but that’s not always true.
