How to Set Up Your Garage
Setting up a garage involves making the most of the available space around the 2-ton behemoth in middle of the room: your car. How you organize that space depends in large part on how you plan to use the space -- simply for storage or as a work area. Efficiently using vertical space, and even space overhead, is key to setting up your garage. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Rope or cord
- Tennis ball
- Fish hook or eye screw
- Enclosed storage units
- Plastic bins
- Lock
- Pegboards
- Sheet of plywood
- Canvas or rope hammock
- Bike rack
Instructions
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Drive your car into the garage and park it in its usual spot. Hang a piece of rope or cord from the ceiling directly above the windshield. Attach a tennis ball to the bottom of the rope or cord using a fishhook or eye screw. The rope with the ball attached must be long enough so it touches the center of the windshield. Now, whenever you drive into the garage, stop when the ball taps the windshield. This alerts you to go no farther so you won't strike items stored in the back of the garage.
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Set up the centerpiece of your garage in the largest and most accessible open space. Place in this area the items you will use the most. If you intend to use your garage as a workshop, place the workbench and tools along the wall easiest to access. If you plan to use garage space as a laundry center, the location of existing plumbing fixtures may dictate how you set up the area.
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Place enclosed cabinets or plastic storage bins along the walls to store items you want to keep free of moisture or dust, such as tools, clothing or seasonal decorations. Place items you want to keep out of the reach of children inside the cabinets and add locks for further security. Check yard sales and giveaway ads in the newspaper for discarded kitchen cabinets; they make excellent, ready-made storage for your garage.
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Install pegboards on the walls around the garage. Pegboards traditionally hold hand tools and hardware in a garage workshop, but you can use them to hang any number of items -- skates, toys, bike pump, laundry supplies -- for easy access.
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Make use of the wasted space above exposed rafters in the garage. Hoist a sturdy piece of plywood into the rafters and store bins of infrequently used items on the platform. Stretch a canvas or rope hammock overhead to hold sports gear such as balls, rackets and bats.
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Hang bicycles from the ceiling or on brackets attached to the wall. This keeps them out of harm's way and out from underfoot.
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Tips & Warnings
Keep items stored against the garage wall far enough from the car so you can open the vehicle doors completely.
Secure items stored overhead so they can't fall down and injure someone or damage the car.
