How to Build Garage Shelving & Storage

Your garage is a great place to store items, especially garden tools and supplies. With a useful combination of wood shelves, strips of pegboard with hooks installed and some conveniently placed cabinets, one's garage can hold all your tools and supplies within convenient reach. Plan now and have your workspace ready for springtime, when all the chores come due.

Things You'll Need

• 1 X 6, 1 X 8 or 1 X 10 pine of fir boards Shelf brackets to match the wood stock Roundhead wood screws (1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches ) Short flathead screws (3/4 inch) Plywood (1/2 inch interior grade) 4 X 8 sheet of pegboard Circular saw Saw horses Safety glasses Hooks for pegboard Four foot level 1 x 4 clear fir

Instructions

1. Plan the overall design of shelves and storage area for your garage. Having a wood frame garage will make this installation much easier, but similar type shelves and cabinets can be installed in a cement block garage, if furring strips are put in place first. Basically this set of instructions are designed for mounting shelves against a stud frame wall.

2. Install the shelves first. For each shelf, install each the two end brackets first and make sure they are level. On each stud install another shelf bracket, making sure you set the top of the bracket against the bottom of the shelf, before placing the screws. Repeat this process for every shelf. The shelf bracket is installed to the wall with long wood screws between 1 and 2 inches long. Shorter screws about 3/4 inches in length are used to attach the shelf bracket to the bottom of the board.

3. Plan the places and size of the pegboard segments that you want hanging on your wall. You can install a whole sheet if you need the space and save having to make cuts on the whole sheet. If you need to cut then lay the sheet of pegboard on the sawhorses and cut the sheet to the appropriate size. If the wall has no covering then you can screw the pegboard directly to the wall studs, but if there is sheet rock on the wall you will need to place furring strips behind the pegboard. Then attach the pegboard with short (1-inch ) flathead screws. The furring strips are added so you can insert hooks into the holes in the pegboard.

4. Make any cabinets that you need from 5/8 or 3/4 inch plywood. A simple cabinet can be made from plywood and a piece of clear 1 X 4 fir. Cut the top, bottom and sides of the cabinet with a circular saw. Now sand each piece and screw the four pieces together with 1 1/2 inch flathead screws that are countersunk.

5. Cut a piece for the back and make sure that the four corners are square as you screw the back piece into the four side pieces. The best way to do this is lay the four sides (after they have been screwed together) face down on a flat work table and line the back piece up with the sides and drive the screws home from the backside.

6. Make a border of the 1 X4 fir to run around the front. Finally cut two doors out of plywood to fit in the front opening and then hang each door with a pair of cabinet hinges. The cabinet can now be hung simply by driving wood screws through the back piece into the wall studs. Don't forget to level the cabinet after you put the first screw in.

Tips & Warnings

• If wall board is present mark each stud with a long pencil line to make the installation process simpler.

• Don't build anything that will be in the way of entering and exiting vehicles.