Garage Storage Help

Are you using your garage as a storage shelter for all your junk and pack rat items? Can you no longer park your cars in the garage because of too much clutter and a lack of organization? If so, there are multiple options available to you for do-it-yourself garage storage solutions. Now is the time to get organized and protect the investment you made in your vehicles. It also makes it safer to walk around in your garage without getting cut of falling down because of the lack of garage organization.

You have multiple choices to pick from when planning and designing storage solutions. You could go with garage storage cabinets, garage shelving or some type of overhead garage storage system or a combination of all of the above. One of the other solutions though is using a slat-wall system to store your household items and equipment.

Think of installing slat-wall systems as if you were installing wainscoting on the inside of the house. It comes in paneled sections that come in various lengths, although typical measurements run in four or eight foot sections. These panels tend to be resistant to moisture and can be cleaned off easily with a spray hose. They also offer the ability to create a professional look with additional trim pieces such as corner moldings, end caps and baseboard trim.

The equipment you will need for this type of project includes a level, a screwdriver, a stud finder, a drill and screws. Installing this type of product starts from the ground up. You can use the stud finder to find the studs in the walls. They are usually going to found 16 inches vertically apart. If you do not have a stud finder, look for an electrical outlet as you will find the wall stud on one side or the other of the outlet.

If there is no outlet, you can tap on the wall with your knuckles. You should hear a solid sound where a stud is versus a more hollow sound where there is space between the studs. Once you think you have found the stud, you can test it with a small nail. Tap it into the wall and see if you hit wood.

Once you have located and marked the wall studs, you can drill the holes where you will be installing the paneling. If you holes do not line up directly with studs, you may need to use an anchor with our screws if it goes into drywall. That way the screw will be supported and is not liable to come out from the weight of the objects you hang.

Keep going upwards with the paneling until you reach the top, then finishing it off with whatever trim you picked out. Once you have a section done, move to the right and start from the bottom working up again until complete. Upon completion, you will be able to hang from the slat-walls shelves, hooks and baskets that will allow you to store almost any item.

In a short amount of time, you have now created an enormous amount of garage storage space that will allow you to move the cars back inside and give you a clean and much safer environment to be able to move around in.