The following contribution is from another author.
If you’re a homeowner, you’ve probably thought many times about what you can do to make your garage more functional. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to do this so you can use the space like a professional would.
Here are some of our recommendations:
Zone your space
The first thing you want to do is create proper zones in your garage space. Many homeowners just leave the room to its own devices and don’t really think about how they’re going to use each area. Their experience has shown that even if they’re dealing with cramped space, there is a certain strategy to using the available square footage.
- Zone 1: Transition area. This is right next to the door and used for recycling, jackets, coats, and pet food.
- Zone 2: Easy access. This is an area of the garage that provides access to things that you need every day, like hand tools, car cleaning supplies, and lawn care products. All Zone 2 items should be at a high level and within wall reach.
- Zone 3: Long-term storage. Think camping gear, luggage, and holiday decor. For this, you can use cabinets, high shelving, and overhead racks.
- Zone 4: Large items. This is for the large items in your garage, like ladders, bikes, and lawn mowers. These take up a lot of space, so they need their own area to be thought out properly.
Apply proper implementation
To properly implement your garage storage and design plan, the first stage should be a radical purge. This is where you remove everything that you are not using right now and do not intend to use in the next three months. Garages are often filled with items that their owners never use or invest in.
If you find something valuable, do not automatically throw it out. Instead, donate it or sell it to try to recoup some of your costs.
Next, think about vertical expansion. Do not be afraid to use the vertical space in your garage using various heavy-duty PVC slab walls or French cleat systems. These allow you to hang items instead of leaving them in piles on the floor. Also, make sure you claim your ceiling space. There is no reason you can’t hang hooks from the ceiling and keep long or bulky items up there, like kayaks or rakes.
Finally, deploy your mobile workstations. On the fourth day, use rolling cabinets and workbenches so you can set up projects easily where you want.
Add high-impact tweaks
Finally, you should consider adjusting your garage in high-impact ways. For example, you could switch out an old concrete floor for epoxy flooring. This flooring option is much more durable and resistant to chemical spills.
Upgrade the lighting. If you’ve got a single 60 W bulb in the middle of the ceiling, that’s probably not enough to provide you with sufficient illumination at night. Instead, aim for LED strip lighting that provides more than 5,000 lumens in total. This should provide you with enough illumination to use the space effectively.
