Is It Time To Rescue Your Garage?

A properly cleaned garage and surrounding area will not only look nice but be very useful too. Photo Courtesy: Jellaluna

Our garages are one of those utility rooms that tend to become forgotten after a while. They seem to turn into a place that we leave stuff in that no longer fits nicely into our homes.

If we are not careful, we can resign the garage to dumping ground status. Sometimes we don’t even bother leaving our cars in the garage. If this sounds like your current situation and you want to remedy this, read on see if you can’t bring yours back from the brink.

Clean It!

You garage is probably full of junk at this moment in time; before you attempt anything serious, you should clear the place up. You will probably be surprised at the things you find. If you have the time and space, you should empty the garage and see what you are dealing with.

No doubt you will see a lot of empty boxes and the odd tool that you thought had gone forever. Remember to dispose of the junk responsibly, especially that old car battery and gallon of filthy motor oil. Try to recycle the appropriate materials and be a good chap by donating any old clothes to charity.

Storage

After you have got rid of most of the contents, you can start to look at the storage options available to you. You should try to become organized and look at the shelf systems in place. If there are only a few, assemble at least four or five more and begin to divide the items into order. Here is a good guide to follow when organizing your shelf contents:

• Paints – Use one wide shelf to stack all of your paint tins and varnish pots.
• Garden – On this shelf you can stack your weed killers and fertilizers.
• Car – All vehicle related items can stay in one ordered place.

 Photo Courtesy: Ewen Roberts

Tools

All of your bigger tools such as lawnmower and digging implements can be kept to one side of the garage. For hand tools, you can install some hooks or brackets and arrange them in order along your walls. You may have a workbench or two; keep these clear and this way you might actually use them one day!

Finish

Many garages are unfinished projects that were abandoned due to lack of interest or because the weather got too cold. If this is the case, try to be more dedicated and see what needs to be done.

You can always upgrade the lighting system and look into insulating the walls. This way you can create a room that is pleasant to spend time in. Apply some paint to your ceiling and look into some insulation foam if it lets the cold in too frequently. Drywall is a good insulation option for your walls and how about applying some tiles or hard wearing paint to your dusty garage floor? You may even think about a small portable heater for those extra cold evenings.

Who knows, you car may even be tempted to spend a few nights in your new improved garage? 🙂

Rob Peters is a supplier of garage and roller doors in Melbourne. From his experience, he feels that not many people attach importance to the maintainence of  their garage. In today’s guest post, he talks about the various ways in which you can revamp your garage.