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Five Ways to Maximize Garage Storage

May 27, 2014 by Rick Scully

There are a few basic steps that will help you create a neat, organized garage. Last time we discussed the first step, creating related zones in your garage. We discovered why it makes sense to create separate zones for auto accessories, household supplies, garden tools, garbage and recycling bins, tools and workstations and sporting equipment. Now let’s discuss how to keep the items in each zone neat and organized by using a variety of tools and accessories designed just for this purpose.

Slatwall – The Key to Getting Everything Off of Your Garage Floor

Maybe you’ve never heard of slatwall, but you’ve probably seen it in your local retail store. It wasn’t the item being sold. However, it was likely used as the base for the baskets and hooks that held merchandise. Slatwall (also called slotwall and slat board) isn’t limited to use by retailers anymore. It is frequently used in garages as a hanging system that enables homeowners to get everything off of the garage floor.

Slatwall comes in panels which are installed on the walls of the garage. The grooves in the slatwall hold hooks, baskets and other organizational products and give the homeowner the freedom to easily move these items as needed.

Your local big-box store might sell a basic slatwall system. However, slatwall sold there is typically composed of MDF. It doesn’t have the durability and weight-bearing capacity of sturdier, PVC-based slatwall available to professional garage renovation specialists and other contractors.

Getting professional-grade slatwall installed provides the base for organization in each zone of your garage.

Baskets and Hooks

Once professional-grade slatwall panels are installed on your garage walls, corresponding baskets and hooks can be inserted into the grooves. These baskets and hooks will provide wall storage for everything ranging from garden tools and sports equipment to snow shovels and bicycles.

Just think of all of the possibilities!

Rather than the garage being a dumping ground for everyone’s in-line skates or softball equipment, each item can be hung neatly in its designated spot. You won’t spend half an hour searching for your snow brush when the first snow of winter hits unexpectedly. Instead, you can walk right over to the automotive zone in your garage and take the snow brush of its hook.

Best of all, since the hooks and baskets can be easily moved, you can adjust the configuration to better accommodate the items you’re storing at various times of the year.

Shelving

Slatwall can also accommodate shelving. Like the corresponding baskets and hooks, the shelving used with slatwall can also be relocated at any time. This provides endless possibilities for storage on your garage walls.

Shelving can be particularly useful when it comes to storing window washing fluid, automotive fluids, household chemicals or flower pots. Create shelves high on the wall to store items that should be kept out of the reach of pets and children. Create low shelves for items that should be easily accessible to children.

Overhead Storage Solutions

One area frequently overlooked for garage storage is the space overhead. However, with a bit of imagination and essential expertise, the overhead space in your garage can safely store household items that aren’t frequently accessed, like seasonal tires, holiday decorations or roof racks used for carrying luggage or sporting equipment. Bicycles, kayaks, leftover wood or siding and other large, bulky items can also be stored overhead with the right custom solutions.

Overhead storage solutions can be tricky to handle on your own. A variety of factors must be considered: height, clearance and weight-bearing capacity, to name a few. If you aren’t completely confident about designing and installing heavy overhead storage solutions, contract a professional garage renovation specialist to handle a job of this magnitude instead.

Custom-built Storage Solutions

You can purchase any number of pre-built storage cabinets, workbenches and overhead shelves for your garage at your local big-box store. However, you’re limited to the sizes and configurations that they have available. If you have unique challenges in your garage, like curved walls or odd spaces, you might find it difficult to incorporate pre-made storage cabinets into your space. However, a garage renovation specialist can assess your space and custom-build cabinetry and workbenches to perfectly fit your lifestyle as well as the unique spaces of your garage.

An organized, functional garage is only a few steps away. Start by creating related storage zones. Then, give everything a specified place within its zone. And finally, be sure to return items to their designated spaces after each use.

Want the gorgeous garage, but don’t quite have the time to make it happen? Contact a professional garage renovation specialist to explore the possibilities.

Garage Organization Ideas: Tips on Storage of Large Items

November 3, 2011 by Rick Scully

So far, we’ve discussed the motivation to clean out the garage and how to get started. Now that the clutter is out of the garage, garbage has been taken away and non-essentials donated or sold, we’re left organizing everything we want to keep.

Our main goal is to create a space for everything so it can be found easily. In order to accomplish this, we have to maximize all the space available – walls, floor and even the ceiling.

It makes sense to think about the large items first. Tires take up a lot of space. There may be one extra set or two, but either way, they can occupy a lot of real estate.

Depending on the height of the garage, a storage system can be set up overhead to hold them. However, not everybody is comfortable pulling four forty pound tires down, so the floor is an option. In this case, I recommend storing them along the back wall or in a corner as that’s often dead space.

Other large items are garbage and recycling bins. Because they’re used so frequently, they need a spot where they can be securely stored but easily accessed. Depending on the size of your garage, they may be at the back of the garage under a shelf or by the side at the front.

Large tools such as rakes and snow shovels can be hung on the wall. Something as simple as 2×4 pieces of lumber affixed to your walls will work. Just add long nails or screws and you’ll be able to hang most tools. You may also consider a wall organizer which gives you more storage and will hold heavier items as well, including your lawn mower!

Did you know that more people decorate their homes for Halloween than for Christmas? Even though the box of decorations is only used for one month a year, it makes sense to clearly label the container and have it within easy reach.

There are shelving systems available for these boxes as well as cleaning products, tools that can’t be hung and anything else you want to store in your garage.

If you need help organizing your garage, please check out our products page for ideas. We are always available to come to your home for a no cost or obligation estimate. We can take care of everything from the removal of junk, hazardous chemicals and reusable items, to the storage of items that need to remain. Let us know what you need, or want, and together work out how we can help you.

Seasonal Garage Anxiety Disorder

October 13, 2011 by Rick Scully

For most of us, the garage is likely the largest room in our house. Our cars are probably our second largest assets. It makes sense to use this space to house and protect our vehicles.

During spring and summer, however, we leave our cars on the driveway to have easy access to things like lawn mowers, bicycles and gardening tools.

It’s during the first cold snap of the year as we’re putting everything away that we look into our garages and wonder how two cars are going to fit. Seeing everything that’s filling up the garage, we experience paralysis. Often, there’s no clear way to start the clean-up process, so it doesn’t get started at all.

I call this Seasonal Garage Anxiety Disorder (SGAD): All the stuff is preventing us from using our garages for what they’re meant for and it causes concern.

In the next two blog entries, I’m going to help you cope with your SGAD! But first, we have to think about motivation: how badly do you want to get your car in that garage and why?

If the garage is de-cluttered to make room for vehicles, we can:

say goodbye to scraping ice off the windshield before the sun comes up
get into a warm car – in the middle of winter
worry less about security, especially for those who spend much of the winter down south

One of the main objections to cleaning out a garage is the amount of decision making that has to happen. It requires some tough choices about what to keep and it’s usually a full day’s worth of work.

I’ve encountered garages that were full of furniture – both from parents who have downsized and children who were moving out, seasonal decorations, winter tires, garbage and recycling bins. Some of the clutter has value, but there is only an emotional attachment to the rest.

The feeling of relief that’s experienced once all the stuff you’re not using is gone, will give a sense of release and freedom necessary to move forward with new activities and projects.

How great would it be to have shelving and storage systems that allowed garden tools, holiday decorations and toys to be found without digging through boxes? Easy access and storage for seasonal items like paddles, kayaks and canoes and tires? A discreet space for your garbage bins?

Garage storage systems, whether it’s cabinets, wall organizers, shelving, or a combination, can keep the garage organized all year round. So when next fall comes, we’re not standing in front of our garage doors, wondering where we’re going to park our cars, we simply drive them in.

Stay tuned for the next blog: How to get Started.

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