slatwall hooks Archives - Garage Tailors

Prepare Your Garage for a Snowy Winter

January 12, 2017 by Rick Scully

Winter storms bring snow, ice, powerful winds or a combination. Roads and walkways become very dangerous. A little planning will help the whole family to get going on the morning of a snow flurry or winter storm. Having a few emergency supplies on-hand can save everyone a lot of discomfort and trouble when the storm hits.

During the many activities of summer, it’s easy for the garage to become a family dumping ground. Maybe you’ve even resorted to parking your vehicles outside, rather than vying for the parking space inside the garage over the multitudes of family belongings. Before winter arrives, here are some ways to prepare your garage and car.

Organize for Winter

When the seasons change, how we use our garage storage space often does as well. Gardening tools, golf clubs, and bicycles take a back seat to sleds and skis once the air turns crisp and cold. The lawn mower makes way for the snow blower, shovels and walkway salt.

Take a few minutes at the change of the season to reorganize your garage so that seasonal items are easily accessible. The last thing you want to do is wake up to a snowy drive, only to realize that you must first dig out the snow blower or shovels.

Switching winter tools to the front of the garage while moving summer sports equipment and gardening tools to the back of the garage or into overhead storage areas is one of the steps to preparing for winter. Using PVC slatwall which is durable and resistant to the changing temperatures and moisture of the four seasons is important to slatwall storage systems. Using slatwall with camlock hooks and baskets secures the shovels, sleds, winter tools, sports equipment, recycling bins and even lawn mowers and some snowblowers. A variety of home tools with a hole in the handle including those which seem bulkier, awkward and or even slightly weightier like lawn mowers and some snow blowers can often be placed on camlock hooks and removed just as easily from the slatwall hooks reliably and safely.

The beauty of slatwall is you can add or change the amount of storage you have over time by changing the shelving, basket and hook options. The flexibility of slatwall organization systems allow it to change with your family’s growing needs.

Prevent Ice and Snow from Collecting in Gutters and Downspouts

Snow and ice can wreak havoc on our homes and make getting out in the morning difficult. Some basics to protect the garage and home include a regular cleaning of gutters and downspouts. Removing debris from rain gutters is easy enough to do or get done, but if overlooked, it can result in severe water damage and ice damming in the winter. Pooled water can penetrate the edge of roofs, interior walls and ceilings of your home or garage, causing serious damage to the garage or house.

When the layer of snow on the roof melts due to the heat rising in the attic of your home, water pools along the edge of the roof, where the temperature is much cooler. There, it refreezes, causing ice dams—a mound of ice that starts along the eaves of the roof and spreads upward. This formation of ice, which often traps pools of water underneath it, can cause substantial damage to the exterior and interior of your home.

Protect Your Car from the Snowy Winter

The first step to protecting your car from winter’s blustery affects is parking your car in the garage. Not only will you be able to get out quickly in the morning, you won’t have to clean a mountain of snow off the windshield each morning before work. Parking the vehicle inside the garage not only protects the car from the elements but it also prevents vandalism as well as theft. It won’t take as long to start the car in the morning. By saving time each morning, you won’t be rushed during your commute, making travel safer for you and your loved ones.

By keeping a bag of sand or gravel in the trunk plus a shovel, you’ll be ready for all sorts of winter driving situations. In addition, it’s ideal to use winter tires on snowy roads. With the softer rubber used in winter tires, they provide better traction on snow and ice than the typical all season tires. To swap out all season tires for safer winter tires, you’ll need to store tires. A variety of tire storage racks and overhead storage options are available for use in the garage to store winter tires during the summer months and alternatively, the all-season tires in the winter.

To get the vehicle starting sooner in the mornings, a lot of people use an engine block heater. Park the vehicle in the garage on brutally cold days where there is access to an electrical outlet. Especially, if you get hit with a snow storm and need to get your child to school, a block heater helps make the morning routine run smoothly with less stress. It keeps the engine warm and ready to start while preventing damage to engine components that can occur when starting a cold engine at below freezing temperatures.

Ready for Winter Snow & Cold?

Preparation is key to protecting your garage and car from the winter elements. After looking after some of these basics, we seldom think about the garage floor. However, this important surface undergoes constant abuse. In the next blog, I’ll show you the importance of having a good garage floor, especially in the winter months.

Open vs. Closed Garage Storage

April 30, 2013 by Rick Scully

We’ve talked about purging your garage and getting rid of what you don’t need to keep; now it’s time to think about how to organize what’s remaining.

This is when you really need to reflect a little on your storage personality: Is it open or closed? Take a look at your kitchen. Do you have open shelves with items stored neatly on display? Or is there a disaster lurking behind the closed cupboards? You might try to keep things neat and orderly, but maybe you’ve got teenagers who sabotage the organization. The same thing can happen in the garage. When we organize, we have the best of intentions to keep everything neat, but life gets in the way and we fall into old habits.

You need to look at the way you live your life and find a storage plan that fits every member of the family’s storage personality. With spring arriving, if you’re an avid gardener, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to walk into the garage and instantly find those pruning shears that always seem to disappear over winter? And you need a place to keep tools, soil, fertilizer and other gardening items. If you’ve been skiing all winter and now your thoughts are turning to golf, you’ll need a convenient place to store your equipment and switch sports with the seasons without a lot of effort. If you’ve got kids, You need a way to keep their stuff organized while keeping them safe when they’re you need to think about them running in and out of the garage with their bikes, toboggans or looking for toys. This calls for different types of storage solutions. To help you decide what will work best for you, let’s look at open shelves versus closed cabinets and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

When you think about things looking tidy, a cabinet with doors sounds appealing. Closed cabinets can work well for organizing in a garage. If you have small children, cabinets with locking doors,to keep small hands from being able to reach for toxic chemicals such as fertilizers and cleaning solutions, is a great solution. A cabinet with drawers is handy for storing small tools for the exotic car guy or DIY-er of the home so they can enjoy a professional-style environment in the garage.There are also tall, locker-style cabinets with shelves above and an open area below to store long tools or golf clubs. Storing everything in closed cabinets give an overall clean look to a garage. But do they really keep you organized? Unless you’re naturally organized (and can train the rest of your family to be the same), things that are hidden can end up messy after a while. And you’ll be paying a premium to hide all your stuff.

You might think that storing things in the open in your garage would make it look messy. But using the right sort of open storage system can actually help you get and stay organized, and potentiallymake it easier for younger members of the family to participate in keeping the space neat and organized. Hooks have a defined purpose and if you take a tool down from a hook, it’s easy to hang it back in its place when you’re done using it. If you’ve started by sorting your garage items into groups, you can then attach baskets and hooks to slatwall. Car cleaning items such as chamois, sponges and soap can go in a basket where they are easily accessible. Kids can have easily accessible baskets for balls, skipping ropes and water toys. Their bikes can also be placed on hooks low down. They’re more likely to put stuff back if it’s got a specific home. Open shelving or platforms can be placed higher on the walls or hung from the ceiling to neatly store seasonal or seldom used items away from eye level. Closed cabinets look a little neater at first glance, but open storage might keep you more organized. It’s also a less-expensive option.

Benefit from the best of both worlds and use a combination of closed and open storage. Hide the things that you know you can keep organized or need to be locked away, and have the rest out where you can see it. When you’re ready to design your garage storage, ask yourself, “Am I an open or closed door personality?”

Seasonal Garage Anxiety Disorder: Getting Started

October 25, 2011 by Rick Scully

Last time, we discussed Seasonal Garage Anxiety Disorder and how to cope with it. Today, we’re going to prepare you to start your garage cleanup.

Remind yourself why you’re doing this. There are probably tools, seasonal decorations or other items that you know are in your garage, but you just can’t find them. Maybe a paint can spilled or things are piled so high there’s a risk of something falling.

Sometimes when we can’t find something, we replace it. Don’t be surprised if you end up with multiple sets of tools, weed whackers, etc. When you have proper storage systems with slatwall hooks for tools and equipment, you won’t be spending money on things you don’t need because you’ll be able to find everything you have.

Here are some things you can think about when you’re preparing to attack the clutter in the garage:

First, plan to dedicate an entire day for this and get members of the household on board.

Second, before you start removing items, designate areas for three categories: Keep it, donate it, toss it.

Be prepared to experience emotional attachments to some of the things you find. This is where a family member can help you decide – if you’re not putting it to use, it’s best given to someone else.

I have three basic rules:

If it can’t be used, or has no value, toss it.
If you no longer need it, or plan to use it, give it away or sell it.
If you need it and use it, keep it.

Tip: Half-full cans of paint can be taken to Rona. If you’re throwing out a lot, you can take it to a dump yourself, or call a company like 1-800-Got-Junk.

Once the garage has been purged, it’s time to get organized. We want to maximize the space we’ve got on the floors, walls and overhead. Stay tuned for the next blog.

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