Garage Overhaul
Garages are a lot like hard drives.
Both store things. Both have finite space. And both tend to accumulate a lot of junk over time, if left unchecked.
One of my main tasks this weekend was to clean our garage space from top to bottom (something we haven’t done since moving in 9 months ago). Compared to our neighbors, my wife and I are a rare breed. We actually use our garage for its intended purpose: to store our vehicles. Which is not to say that we haven’t gathered our share of odds and sods over the years (because we have).
Before the clean-up:
After letting our garage go for several months, I made the preemptive decision to reorganize the garage, with a focus on efficiency. (Some added inspiration from Apartment Therapy didn’t hurt either.) The biggest problems with our garage area were as follows:
- there wasn’t enough space to properly store our shoes
- there wasn’t a proper method in place to know how far we could pull our cars forward before contacting the front wall of the garage
- the remaining cardboard boxes we still have are falling apart
The initial stage in our clean-up process was to completely remove every item out of the garage. Once this was accomplished, I followed up by giving a thorough floor sweeping.
The first inefficiency that we tackled was our shoe stand. It was literally falling apart, and clearly not enough space for our shoes. (Well, not enough space for my wife’s shoes. But I’m not going there…) To accommodate the shoe collection, I purchased a plastic free-standing shelving unit from our neighborhood Lowe’s. It was literally a snap to assemble. By going vertical, the shoes took up less overall space in the garage.
The second inefficiency was a huge one for me. We park both our cars in our garage, and the most troubling aspect of pulling into the garage is not being able to judge the distance between the front of the car and the front wall of the garage. If I moved the car forward too much, I potentially run the risk of damaging the wall. Not moving the car far enough meant that I would not have adequate clearance when closing the garage door.
Invariably, my workaround to this problem involved pulling the car in as far as I could judge, getting out to see how much clearance was available, and then gently nudging the car forward until the car fully cleared the garage door. This daily 2 minute ritual has annoyed me ever since we moved into our house.
To fix the problem, I purchased 3 vertical mirrors and mounted them horizontally across the front wall of the garage. I placed the mirrors at the height slightly above our cars’ hoods. Having the mirrors in place made a huge difference. Not only can I easily gauge the clearance and pull my car all the way in, but now I can also see how much clearance I have from both sides of the car.
The last problem (the cardboard boxes) has yet to be addressed. On the docket this week are the purchase of a few heavy duty rubber containers to replace our dilapidated boxes. The rubber containers should do a much better job of protecting their contents while maintaining a consistent volume. Plus, they should be much easier to stack.
So here’s the progress we’ve made so far, in the form of a few “After” photos.
Update: I purchased a few rubber storage bins to store my stuff, thereby getting rid of a few cardboard boxes in the process.
Cleaning the garage and making its space more efficient was a very satisfying experience for me. We still have a bit more to go, but I feel like we’re making progress. Even though my handy-man skills are not the greatest, I felt a sense of accomplishment after it was all over. If only managing all the data scattered across my hard drives could be as easy…
Got any garage organizing tips or strategies you’ve put in place? Share them in the comments below!
-Krishna
These beautiful and intelligent people wrote
Tell me what you think!
Dayid Alan
September 24, 2011 at 9:55 pmCheck out the GarageJournal forums. You’ll soon me ill with all of the dedication, time, and ideas some folks have poured into their garages.
Krishna
September 24, 2011 at 10:51 pmI’m almost afraid to look. ;) Thanks, Dayid!
James
September 24, 2011 at 10:45 pmGrandpa had a 1979 Coupe de Ville Cadillac (size of a boat!). He carefully parked it using your trial and error method. Then he hung a string from the garage roof and attached a tennis ball. When the ball touched the windshield you knew you had to stop or risk hitting the back wall of the garage.
But I like the mirrors idea, just more to clean! Oh, and I can relate to the shoe dilema! My wife has an entire coat closet dedicated to shoes! Coats won’t fit any more!
Krishna
September 24, 2011 at 10:50 pmThe tennis ball idea sounds brilliant. Thanks for sharing, James!
Darky
September 25, 2011 at 7:28 pmGday Krishna,
That mirror thing sounds effective, but possibly a little too tricky and expensive for my liking. I’d always just used the tennis ball on the windscreen mentioned above, until my current house, where there was no way to hang the tennis ball off the roof.
So, I drove the cars in just far enough for the garage door to shut (I like to have some room at the other end for my workbench), then I tucked a brick in front of each front wheel. Now, I (and my wife) can zoom straight into the garage, and bump up against the bricks. Tah-dah! Just gotta try to not trip over them when the car’s not in the garage!
Krishna
September 25, 2011 at 7:33 pmGreat suggestions, Darky. My concern with the bricks would be the potential for the bricks to move when the tires bump into them. The mirrors themselves weren’t too expensive (only $4 per mirror) – the whole thing was set-up in the span of 20 minutes or so.
Darky
September 26, 2011 at 6:55 pmFair enough. FWIW, the bricks have never shifted for me, unless I trip over them. And the bricks were free, thereby saving me $12 over your solution. :P
qka
September 25, 2011 at 8:05 pmEmpty.
And emptier.
You, my boy, know nothing about a garage full of stuff. Fortunately time is on your side.
qka
September 25, 2011 at 8:14 pmAnd BTW, don’t be stacking combustible material right next to the water heater. Believe it or not, they can catch fire.
In the firehouse, we use a piece of 4×4 lumber to stop folks backing in. Although, I usually come to a stop before I hit the block. And we usually paint a mark on the floor for when the block is moved for cleaning. For the truck I drive the most, I gauge myself by the electrical wire hanging just off the side rear-view mirror. (Fire trucks are plugged into 110 VAC when not in use to keep the battery charged, as well as the batteries in portable equipment.)
Krishna
September 25, 2011 at 8:25 pmThanks for the safety tip, qka! I’ll move the combustible material away from the water heater.