It will not be wrong to say that most house owners use the garage as a storing, or more appropriately, a dumping place for all the unwanted items at any part of the year. Any item that is infrequently put to use is sent to the garage. The list of such items too long and varies from sporting equipment to old dated electronic devices. As a consequence, over a period of time a garage loses its main purpose of parking a car.
Perhaps to some extent this practice can’t be helped out, as everybody wants to have a neat and organized home. But, why people fail to extend the same idea to management of space in the garage is a difficult question to answer. May be there is no arrangement for a proper storage of items. Ever thought of having some kind of shelving over there? It could surely simply things and facilitates better organization of space and objects. It will be an interesting DIY project too. As a result you will be left with a lot of extra space even after you have properly placed your tools and hardware.
Basically there are two types of garage shelving: the pre-fabricated kind and the custom built type. As can be expected a pre-fabricated product will be cheaper. This kind of shelving is conveniently available in various sizes and designs at any local handyman or a lumberyard. To further facilitate your project, building plans for shelves are offered by most of the home improvement stores.
Plywood or lumber is most often used for making of garage shelving that is kept in place by using shelf brackets. In such cases the brackets are attached to the studs by means of long screws. These may be further strengthened by bracing the studs. There is an option of using floor supported shelves also.
Material
Though plastic shelves can be used to a good extent, using pre-fabricated steel shelves make a better choice in the long run. One, because they have more life and two because plastic shelves are designed for light duty and are not well suited for heavier objects that you will eventually store on those. The drawback of steel shelving is that you can’t cut it to different sizes and have to go for standard sizes. So make sure to have a right assessment of the sizes needed if you wart them to fit perfectly.
Adjustability
Do not neglect this feature of adjustability when you decide to go for pre-fabricated shelves. For a better utilization shelves should be adjustable and the pins needed for the adjustment should have a locking arrangement to ensure that those are not misplaced or lost.
Safety
Take all the necessary measure to ensure that the shelving remains attached to the walls and it can’t trip. Otherwise it will be quite a risky and dangerous affair when you have them loaded with heavy objects.
Hooks
You can adopt another space saving measure to make still better use of shelving by having hooks into the ceiling joists. That’s a smart idea for hanging of bicycles, canoes and other miscellaneous tools.
Getting rid of clutter
Any amount of shelving will prove to be insufficient if you do not develop the habit of periodically spending some time in the garage and get rid of unwanted and discarded clutter.
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