cleaning up my garage?

C

cheapshot

New member
My garage has been used for storage over the years about 20 years since the house was built. Anyway my garage is somewhere around 14/16 by 20/22 feet excluding laundry area. The only room I have is a 1' path to open garage door and another 1' path to get to electrical box.



How do I go about Cleaning this up? about 50-60% or maybe more could be thrown away.



I am looking for cheap storage racks hangers thing to make more room on the floor.



Any help will be appreciated, want to get most of it done before the freezing cold comes.
 
When I cleaned my garage, I starting by building a shed in my back yard. The lawn

mower, snow blower, and large items were placed there. Non season stuff such as snow shovels in the shed and rotated back in garage during needed season. Items needing throwing were put in the garbage and things which were useful were donated to Good Will. I purchased storage cabinets from Home Depot and placed along front and one side. The other side got shelves for shoes and hooks for brooms, etc. Bikes were hung upside from the ceiling. I finished the floor with epoxy paint. It is only a 2-car garage and gets messy very quick. I try to clean up twice a year (just before winter and gain in the spring). I will try to take some pictures and post.
 
I was thinking maybe add 3 gorilla racks from the depot. There are two old bikes, I"ll put them out garbage day they will be taken right away, because I live in a busy city. My 3snowboards Hand on the wall, call my brother up after I make him a nice pile!, call my sister after I make her a nice pile. 86 the rest in a Uhaul down to the dump.



I need to store laundry stuff, toiletries, tools, maybe some books, Christmas stuff (about 10 boxes) and about three big tubs of detail stuff :) each one my need a rack, depending on if I could consolidate some Christmas stuff on the already build shelving





I really feel like getting a dumpster! but my brother has 5 speed tranny and some part laying around for his 69 chevelle



My goals are to split the garage in half and do one side at a time. I want everything off the floor. Except the washer and dryer. :nixweiss
 
if you plan to due work in it, get every thing out ,,,skip the racks ,,it could be a problem ,,something could fall on a car
 
I started cleaning a few days ago and made quite a bit of room. I tossed alot of stuff. Today I will try to do another section.



Red4.8, Thats what I feel like doing!
 
Could I use a hand boy, got rid of more stuff and made a few sections for my bro and sis to go though and clean up. Things are looking better, although its still a mess.



I know home depot has those gorilla racks and some others that are a bit larger. I have a closet section half is washer and dryer, the other half I want to use for storage.



I could easily fit a shelving unit that is 6'L x 3'W, this would utilize the space best!



does anyone know where I could find an inexpensive unit this large?



I have no time to go home depot buy 2x4's and plywood and start cutting.



any suggestion would be great! Thanks again, Ed
 
I've got some Gorilla Racks that I bought at Sam's Club awhile back. Don't know if they still ave them, but they were much more heavy duty than the ones that they carried at Home Depot at the time.(Haven't looked at HD lately, they may have the same ones now, don't know)



Anyway, these are 6' long X 2' deep. 3 shelves. Fully adjustble. Nice polished steel finish. They hold a truckload of stuff. I don't know where you'd look for something 3' deep. You might have to find some commercial/industrial stuff like they'd use in a warehouse.
 
cheapshot- Sounds like you're making progress :xyxthumbs



I too was gonna mention a dumpster but I worried that I'd sound like too much of a smart @$$ :o Whenever I've had a dumpster around, I always found a lot of stuff that I could do without and never miss.



For the racks/shelving, you might consider heavy-duty plastic ones (RubberMaid, etc.). They'd be on the floor, but still...



If you need something deeper than those shelves you could alway just have them two-deep.



I like plastic shelving more than metal because I can just hose/pressurewash them as necessary.
 
Accumulater, I am making some progress, slowly but surely.



I've learned so much from you Accumulater here at autopia. You have always been such a big help. Thanks a bunch, Ed



I was thinking about getting 2 gorilla racks. (5'L x 16"W)



If I grab some hardware, I should be able to bold them together. Giving me a (5'L x 32"W) or if the shelving is 18" then it would give me a nice 5' x 3' shelf, which would be perfect!



I may swing down to depot and check the shelving out tonight.
 
I just purchased a nice rack I believe it's 77"Wx24"Dx72H. It has 3 shelves, it's heavy duty and good quality. it was $125, didn't want to spend it, I had to build it in the closet, Only way it was going in. I have it half loaded, and things are look much better.



After it is all cleaned up. :o I have some taping, spackling, sanding, priming and painting to do, as it was never finished. I will power wash the concrete floor, and buy some flooring tiles at Loews. most of the finishing work will probably be done during the spring.
 
Everything has been tossed or given to Salvation Army, Just waiting for after the holidays for my brother and my sister to come pick up there things.



After this is done, it's just a matter of consolidating and organizing everything. Any Ideas?



I have paint cans, spackling equip, all kinds of carpentry tools, misc, bolts, screws, flooring stuff, Holiday decorations, luggage, snowboards, etc.



should I organize smaller stuff in 5 gallon buckets?, buy a gang box? or maybe plastic tubs at target?



I over estimated the size of my garage due to built in shelving, and a wall built out for electric box and plumbing.(taking up some width) Also a closet built half for washer and dryer and half for storage.(taking up some length)



I only have 10'8"x 17'6" usable space. Is this enough space to work around a car? :confused:
 
cheapshot- well, it's the room you have, so I *hope* it's enough! Sounds kinda tight to me but I'm used to lots of room.



For organization, I'd start by figuring out what stuff you're gonna want to access regularly as opposed to the stuff you'll hardly ever want to get to.



What about those storage racks that hang from the ceiling. I dunno if that'd kill your lighting, but it could be a solution for seasonal stuff that you generally don't need access to.



I'm a big fan of RubberMaid containers. Just getting stuff into containers that can be labeled and stacked in a neat manner can make for a good start towards managing clutter. I find their Rough Totes (sp?) handy...it's easy to grab/manipulate them so they end up *re* stacked and orderly after you need to root around in them for something. A lot of systems *look* really good, but once you start using them they turn out to be a PIA and it's tempting to say you'll put things back in order later (which doesn't always happen ;) ).



While there are some good systems based on 5 gallon buckets (google "bucketboss", IIRC that's the name :think: ), I was never a big fan of the buckets. It always seemed harder to use in a workable/functional way than I'd expected. That's just IME though. Note that the buckets will need lids if you want to stack them and that if you use layered bucket inserts (to hold small stuff) you have to take the top layers out to access (or even *see*) the bottom layers.
 
I think Home Depot is having a 20% off sale right now on Rubbermaid and closet stuff, I'll Have to check it out if I get a chance. They are prob all sold out. I'll have to measure the shelving and buy Rubbermaid containers that's will not hang off shelving.
 
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