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How To Choose Garage Cabinets For Your Storage Needs

July 24, 2012 by Rick Scully

When it comes to recommending cabinets for people, we recommend three different suppliers: Hercke, Onex and Ctech. All three will do the job and choosing one depends on a number of factors that are personal and garage specific. Take into consideration the space available, budget and aesthetic preferences.

We don’t offer wood cabinets because in this climate, the materials need to be water resistant. I’ve labelled the brands ‘good’, ‘better’ and ‘best’ because all three companies build solid products that will offer similar storage solutions.

The difference is in the details:

Construction
Hercke and Onex are both made of steel, but Onex offers a lower gauge, which is stronger. Ctech uses aluminum and offers a strength between the other two, but again, all three are very durable and made for heavy residential use. Car enthusiasts would likely see the Ctech in racing trailers.

Cabinet Type
The space you have available is the key to which kind of cabinets will fit you best. Hercke cabinets are modular and the lower units come in 30 inch widths. If your garage accommodates this modular width, Hercke can be a good option. I’d also recommend it if you have a lot of space, because you don’t need to maximize every square inch of your garage. The upper units are also 30 inches wide, but they offer depths of 12 and 24 inches. Unfortunately, if they don’t fit into the space available, there’s not a lot of opportunity to customize the cabinets.

Both Onex and Ctech provide completely custom cabinets with neither company carrying any inventory. These cabinets can be ordered to fit your garage precisely which is important when you need to optimize the use of space available.

Colours
Hercke cabinets come with black cases (sides, top, bottom and shelves) and offer either stainless steel or brushed silver doors.

Onex offers 21 basic colours and Ctech offers 9 basic colours. Both companies can create a custom colour for you, for an additional cost. Depending on your priorities and budget, it can make a significant difference. One of our clients had a Ferrari and wanted his cabinets to be Ferrari red as well. The results were phenomenal.

Flexibility
Hercke cabinets aren’t very flexible in terms of finishes, measurements or hardware. Both Onex and Ctech offer full customization and are built to order, which means that we can customize the cabinets to fit your unique needs, whether it’s lockers for specialized equipment, a work station or anything else you may want.

Cost and Design
Hercke cabinets are the lowest price because they are modular and can be manufactured in bulk. Onex cabinets cost 25% more than Hercke, and Ctech cost 25% more than Onex . Some people prefer the Ctech cabinet style over the Onex cabinet style and vice versa.

Both Hercke and Onex are a basic square shape, but Ctech offers a little more flair with the rounded edges. Ctech also come with MotionLatch™ doors, which operate in a similar fashion to self-closing cabinets. It’s not a necessity, but it’s a good feature to have in order to prevent your own and other unwanted small critters from accidentally entering the cabinets as well as for safety.

Options
All three companies make cabinets with adjustable legs or castors. You can also choose different kinds of handles for the Hercke cabinets but that’s where the options end.

The Onex steel cabinets offer custom the hardware options, finish and colour to complement the other aspects of your garage. Finally, the Ctech cabinet options are even more upscale with radius edging on the closets, along the bottom, and MotionLatch™ doors.

There are situations where I would recommend Onex over Hercke when placing garage cabinets along a side wall. Onex provides cabinet legs at any length because we have to ensure the cabinets are level. Hercke may be a good option where there are other ways to level the unit because the legs adjust only a small amount. However, these other solutions may not be as aesthetically pleasing a solution.

Lockable
All Hercke cabinets lock while Onex and Ctech offer locks as options. Depending on what you are storing, you may not want or need locks on all your cabinets. Locks can provide security against vandalism and can protect dangerous items from children.

Paint
All three brands of cabinets have a powder-coated finish which makes them scratch resistant and easier to clean.

Safely Storing Garden Equipment

July 10, 2012 by Rick Scully

Safety is one of the key benefits to having a proper storage system for your gardening equipment and supplies. Without a system, it’s not uncommon to find tools big and small lying around, presenting a hazard.

A garage outfitted with slatwall and professional hooks allows you to hang more than one tool on each hook and know that when you pull one tool off, the hook and the other tools will stay put. For homeowners who have small children or animals, proper storage of sharp gardening equipment and poisonous chemicals is especially important. You can bang a nail into a wall but tools are not very secure.

Different tools require different storage solutions. I find that garden tools fall into three categories:

The first is long-handled tools like rakes and shovels. You can lean them against a wall but they fall over each other and present a serious safety hazard if stepped on.

Putting these tools on hooks and pointing anything sharp towards the wall makes it much safer for anyone entering the garage. Plus, once you give it a spot, you tend to put it back in that home. If it doesn’t have a spot, people are apt to put it anywhere there’s a space. Another thing to consider is the height of the hook; tools should be hung at eye level and not overhead.

Second is smaller hand tools like shears, claws, trowels, etc. Tools that are used for digging often have sharp edges and present a danger if they’re not stored properly. To keep them out of curious hands, they can be stored on hooks or in baskets that are six feet off the ground.

The third category is electrical tools such as hedge trimmers and leaf blowers. When both the equipment and their extension cords are left on the floor, they present a tripping hazard. When they’re hung on a hook, they don’t have a chance of being wrapped around someone’s ankle.

Supplies, fertilizers, items for pest control and plant food can also be dangerous if they’re not stored properly. Lockable cabinets are one solution for keeping them safe, but baskets and shelves are also an option as long as they can be installed out of reach.

Having a garage that’s properly organized will result in peace of mind because you know that everything is safety stored.

What to Expect When You’re Organizing Your Garage

November 22, 2011 by Rick Scully

In the last several blog entries, we discussed clearing the clutter out of your garage. In today’s blog, you’re going to find out about the process of a garage transformation, getting an estimate and what questions you should be prepared for.

When I’m called in, the decluttering should be nearly complete. Only the stuff you want to keep should be in the garage. When we can see the space we’re working with, it makes planning a whole lot easier.

You may also find that there’s stuff in the house such as seasonal decorations that you’d like to store in the garage as well as boxed items like clothes, or tools that are currently in the basement.

Some people have a good idea of what they want or need, such as shelves for storage, tools they want to hang on the wall, cabinets to keep things out of the way. Most people show me what they want to store and ask for recommendations.

The main questions I need answered are:

What’s your objective?
What do you want the garage to do that it’s not doing today?
How many cars do you want to fit in the garage?

The answers to these questions and the initial visit can last up to an hour. I get a sense of how the client lives and what they are looking for. I try and understand their aesthetic priorities versus their functional needs.

Some people like to be able to see everything at a glance. In this case it could be mostly hooks and shelves. Other people are a little messy, and I understand that. Cabinets are great for hiding messes, as well as keeping things like chemicals out of the reach of small hands, for people who have kids.

Within two days of the visit, I’ll send a detailed drawing, proposal and itemized estimate. It’s not something I can do on the spot as each job is custom, which is one of the benefits of using Garage TailorsGarage.

The transformation can be done in as little as two days, if all we’re doing is getting the garage organized. If we’re drywalling, that will add another two days and flooring will add a day.

Once you’ve had a chance to look over the proposal and estimate, you have a chance to ask any questions you might have, give me additional suggestions and make the decision to move forward and have the garage that you’ve always wanted.

Spring ahead – a place for everything and everything in its place

April 19, 2011 by Rick Scully

In keeping with the spring clean theme, let’s move from floors and talk about wall organizers and shelves. Spring is here, and you need your garage to be functional.

First, purge. Go through the contents of your garage and if you haven’t used it in three years – get rid of it. Have a garage sale, or donate items to a local charity. Make sure you take items such as paints or chemicals to the hazardous waste disposal facility in your area.

Spring forward – Move the winter shovels, toboggans and bags of de-icer to allow everyone in the family easy access to garden tools and supplies, bicycles, golfing equipment and other summer items. Have a look at our specialty storage solutions to make sure even the kids can easily grab their bikes and sports equipment.

Organize items in zones, putting like items together in one easy-to-reach area. That’s the beauty of the slat wall system. It’s easy to add baskets and hooks to keep gardening tools and supplies, sports equipment, etc. in their place. One basket can hold windshield wiper fluid and other car needs, and another can hold potting soil and fertilizer, while yet another can neatly organize golf shoes. Keep visual clutter to a minimum with one of our cabinet storage systems.

Next month, we’ll talk more in depth about these effective storage solutions.

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How To Choose Garage Cabinets For Your Storage Needs

Safely Storing Garden Equipment

What to Expect When You’re Organizing Your Garage

Spring ahead – a place for everything and everything in its place

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