How To Get More Garage Storage

By: Greg K. Hansward

It's becoming a joke these days that a garage is used for almost anything except storing a car. Most people store their sports equipment and other large items and also use their garage as a workshop. Some have even put a home office or a gym in the garage space. If it has reached the point where you cannot fit your car in your garage, maybe you should think about putting in some shelves for additional storage.

Garage shelves can be obtained either site built or prefab. If they are site built, you will have to fit them into your existing space but you can adapt them to your needs with equipment you can find at your local home center, lumber yard or hardware store.

Basic garage shelves can be built out of 3/4 inch plywood of 1x or 2x lumber, simply set on heavy duty shelf brackets. The brackets should be attached to the studs with long screws and the shelves should be attached to the brackets. This is necessary because of at he weight. For additional strength, a brace can be added at each stud.

Floor supported shelves are very stable and are made by running vertical 2X4s every 50 inches and placing them on the floor, then attaching them to rafters or ceiling joints at the top., Then, 2X4s are run horizontally between the uprights and particleboard is used for the shelves. Usually 19-25 inch deep shelves are used and the 2X4s are placed on 25 inch spacing. The advantage of this is you can change the spacing to accommodate larger items.

If you are storing small items, it is better to attach a series of 1X2 strips to the inside edges of 2 adjacent studs. Then, cut some 1X4 and 1X6 lumber and fit them between Th studs and slip them on top of the 1X2s. This creates some small shelves that can be adjusted for small items such as cans, jars, bottles; you may want to organize your screws and nails in these jars and bottles.

For really durable, heavy shelving, choose steel shelving. Plastic shelving may be alright if you are storing things that are light weight, but if you have heavy items, you should choose steel. The disadvantage of steel is that you cannot cut it to size to suit your needs, but have to pick from the standard shelves. These do come in different widths, depths and heights, so you can find the ones most closely suited to your needs.

You should make sure that the prefabricated shelves you choose can be adjusted. AT least two different levels of adjustment between the framework is desirable. Make sure the pins are heavy duty and have a bar in place to prevent them from working loose.

Finally, make sure your prefabricated shelves can be attached to the wall for security against tipping. If you are going to use the shelves for heavy items, this is really an important feature.

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Concentrating on the area of garage organizer, Greg Hansward published principally for www.insidewoodworking.com . You can see his writings on garage storage cabinets on his site.

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