So I'm tackling our garage 5 years after moving in. It's a 2 car garage with a build out on the back of one side where you could potentially fit another small car, or riding mower. It's currently so stacked full of crap that only one car can park in there. Looking for ideas on organizing it. Two things I like are the overhead storage racks (which are really expensive, but found some on CL, and hoping they guy responds) and peg board for tools and things. I currently have neither. I'm thinking the easiest way is to probably pull everything out of the garage into the driveway and reorganize everything. One thing that drives me nuts is the shoes. I bought two shoe racks, but they still don't fit all the shoes. I have 3 kids. Probably take an entire weekend. Anybody have any good ideas for garage organization? I have minimal building experience, and no saws, although I could borrow one if theres a really good idea. I

6/27/2016 1:32:53 PM

step 1: if you have anything you haven't used, worn, whatever in 2 years, throw it out/donate it.

[Edited on June 27, 2016 at 1:41 PM. Reason : .]

6/27/2016 1:40:58 PM

^that's the easy part

6/27/2016 3:06:17 PM

i know. but try telling that to my wife

6/27/2016 3:44:55 PM

Don't keep your shoes in the garage?

6/27/2016 4:41:47 PM

I am available for hire for a very reasonable fee if you become interested in an extra set of hands from a person with tools and experience.

I installed 2 4'x8' wire shelves off of the ceiling, and mounted shelves to the walls, in my garage. I have a ton of storage, and almost nothing is actually on the floor.



I had just moved in in this picture, and it was literally just taken off the truck and put on shelves.

6/27/2016 8:45:15 PM

I'm interested, but I'm in Charlotte

6/27/2016 8:48:56 PM

I too am in Charlotte.

6/27/2016 9:11:46 PM

I did a work bench, peg board, and shelf

Pics are a little old, I have a mounted flat screen in there now. I also have more stuff on the wall. This was not long after I build my shed. I had moved some the stuff in the garage to the shed.





Also here are some pics of the shed for more ideas. I used old office furniture for storage. This was during the building phase so it wasn't complete





[Edited on June 27, 2016 at 10:36 PM. Reason : .]

6/27/2016 10:35:47 PM

^Yours looks really good. I saw pics of yours a couple years ago IIRC. Do you all think it's worth spending $200 on these https://www.amazon.com/FLEXIMOUNTS-Overhead-Adjustable-Ceiling-Storage/dp/B0194R5BSA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1467114563&sr=8-3&keywords=overhead+garage+storage

6/28/2016 7:49:43 AM

^ That's a fairly light duty design. If you shop around, you can find racks that hold a lot more weight for the same price. Costco carries a kit that would fit the bill.

How handy are you? Are you comfortable with hand tools? Could you hang your own shelves? If not, I'd look into hiring someone.

Another alternative if you're not that handy it to get a bunch of those modular, 4-post wire racks. They're cheap and they don't require tools for assembly.

6/28/2016 9:39:49 AM

Quote :

"Don't keep your shoes in the garage? "

reminds me of this tweet from twitter dot com

Quote :

"User Actions Follow wint ?@dril Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Candles $3,600 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying"

https://twitter.com/dril/status/384408932061417472?lang=en

6/28/2016 10:14:56 AM

I see those hanging shelves posted above quite a bit these days, also if your garage has high ceilings you could consider building a storage loft made of wood. If its hanging make sure not to overload it, some folks build them free standing supported by posts to avoid causing any structural problems with their house. People in Holly Springs take those things seriously. I have seen them with pull down stairs installed in them so you do not even need a ladder to get to the top. Whatever you do look at it as an investment in your home and do it well, statistically you will sell that house one day and the extra storage can be a selling point if done nicely.

I cant offer you any first hand advice as I have never had a garage. I live in an older home with a full mostly unfinished basement so like 40% of the gross SF of my house is storage.

If I had a garage I would park my car in it. If there was stuff in the way it would be going somewhere else. I have had so many incidents of hail, tree debris, & other storm related damage to my cars in the last two years I am scared my insurance is going to drop me.

6/28/2016 11:33:35 AM

^^he must not have kids, or they don't play outside

BTW, I'm the same way about a car in the garage. Supposed to be parked there, and I said we'd never be those people that have so much shit in the garage that we can't park our cars in it. Drives me crazy. As for the shoe thing, we don't have a mud room (sure as hell will on our next house). My kids have cleats, play shoes, snow shoes, wife and I both have snow boots, work boots, etc. Those things just don't do well being tracked through the house.

[Edited on June 28, 2016 at 12:53 PM. Reason : a]

6/28/2016 12:50:01 PM

Some of the ones that are hung from the ceiling look like they could have problems if too much weight was put on them. Garage ceilings are not necessarily designed to carry a load so attaching just to that could be a bad idea. It would seem much safer to build the loft to hold up its own weight.

6/28/2016 2:03:32 PM

What's the difference between hanging it from the ceiling and storing it on the floor in the attic?

6/28/2016 6:28:46 PM

Sitting something in the attic has the the floor rafters transferring the load directly..

Hanging something from the same attic rafters above the garage floor relies on the screws/bolts/hangers to transfer that load... plus all the additional weight of the hanging structure.

6/28/2016 6:58:46 PM

Unless you're storing structural steel up there, it will be fine.

6/28/2016 10:43:40 PM

I sacrificed parking my car in the garage for the bar/kegerator. A good trade off for me. My wife still parks in there though.

Also, I found a newer pic with the mounted TV and the Gladiator Shelves we just added. Before the Gladiator shelves, we had some cheap bookcases and shelves that got really cluttered.

Before:


After:


[Edited on June 29, 2016 at 10:57 AM. Reason : .]

6/29/2016 10:56:07 AM

just try not to play darts while drunk. one wrong move and that's your TV.

6/29/2016 12:01:04 PM

6/29/2016 6:31:49 PM

Looks like soft-tip

6/29/2016 9:22:47 PM

My garage is super cluttered. But I have everything pretty much exactly where I want it



It's MUCH more cluttered now though. Since this pic was taken, I got a much nicer, larger table saw, and built a nice woodworking bench.

[Edited on June 30, 2016 at 9:24 AM. Reason : .]

6/30/2016 9:23:25 AM

You haven't seen cluttered, until you've seen my garage. I hate it.

6/30/2016 9:31:06 AM

can you get to the door on the left?

^pics or it didn't happen

[Edited on June 30, 2016 at 9:31 AM. Reason : ]

6/30/2016 9:31:20 AM

^no, I never use that door anyway. I park my trash can/recycling bin on the outside directly behind that door.

That's my electric homebrewing setup in front of that door, so it's nice to be able to at least crack the door in the winter time to exhaust some of the humidity/steam from the boil kettle

6/30/2016 9:45:37 AM