Having a garage is great, but if you don’t use it effectively, it just becomes wasted space. You can transform your garage from disaster to dream come true by making a few simple changes and using your space more efficiently. NAPA Canada has a few storage and organization ideas that’ll help you create the garage you’ve always wanted.
Garage Storage and Organization Ideas
Shelving and Bins
Adding shelves is usually a good place to start if you want a more organized garage. The space won’t be cleaner per se, but at least everything will be off the floor. Steel shelving or racks are usually better than plastic in a garage because, well, the things in your garage are probably heavy. The temperature in a garage also tends to be cooler. Plastic shelving doesn’t like heavy loads or particularly cold (or hot) environments.
Shelves aren’t ideal for smaller items like fasteners, specialty tools, and drill chuck keys, which are easy to lose track of. Storage bins are a good way to keep these types of objects in one place.
Toolboxes
If you spend a lot of time working on cars, you’ve probably accumulated quite a few hand tools, whether they’re ones you bought yourself or random sets you’ve gotten as gifts. Hanging on to the blown plastic boxes they come in simply isn’t an effective storage solution. You can get small toolboxes for loose storage or invest in a dedicated mechanic’s toolbox or tool chest. Some models have wheels, while others are designed to sit on a bench.
Whichever toolbox solution you decide on, drawer liners are great for keeping everything in place. They’ll cut down on banging and crashing, too, which is good for both your tools and your ears. You might also consider getting a socket rail to hold your sockets in place and keep them sorted by size and by drive size.
Pegboards
Pegboards are a great way to store oddly shaped items like handsaws, adjustable wrenches, and garden tools, such as shovels. They’re highly customizable, since you can insert pegs and storage hooks to hold each item. Once you have everything exactly how you want it, you can even trace each tool and turn your pegboard into a shadow board. That way, if you misplace something, you’ll instantly be able to tell which tool is missing. You’ll also know exactly where to put tools back after using them.
Reels
Garden hoses, air hoses, and extension cords can take up a ton of space on a garage floor, not to mention pose a tripping hazard. Fortunately, reels make hose management a snap. Pick up an air hose reel, a garden hose reel, and/or an extension cord reel to keep these unwieldy tools organized and out of the way.
Floor Coating
Once you have your garage organized, it’s time to make it easier to clean. An epoxy floor coating will do just that while making your garage look better, too. It’ll protect the concrete from oil, coolant, and other automotive fluids, allow your floor jack to roll more smoothly, make sweeping easier, and enable you to spot fresh leaks before they become bigger problems.
Author: 
No comments 
