Garage remodeling advice needed

[schwarz75]

I have stripped my long one-car garage to the bare walls and beyond. It and my house are 73 years old, and the garage was in really bad shape. Replacing a bunch of drywall and sealing and painting walls, ceiling, new service door, one large window, and the overhead door.

I need decent high mounted shelving for at least one wall. Open shelves are fine, as are a few cabinets.

Anyone have any suggestions for garage wall-mounted shelving, cabinets, etc.? Fortunately, my ceiling is nearly 9 feet high, so there's a decent amount of room to store things up off the floor of the garage.

Larry

[Koblenz]

Pandora's box!

Big fan of the NSF chrome on wheels. A lift?

Not familiar with a strong wall mount. Mine collapsed and landed on the E46.

Have fun and congrats on the cave!

[adawil2002]

I have some of those chrome wire rack shelving units that Lowes & Home Depot sell, they come in several sizes. Simple and affordable.

Good lighting is important, simple track lighting around the perimeter makes a huge difference.

Look at Garage Style magazine, despite the horrible typography and layout, they have some good ideas and resources. Look for the Phil Berg Ultimate Garage books.

Depending on your budget, a lift makes life easier. To stack 2002s on a 4-post, need at least 10' 6"

[JackF]

I made shelves of varying width out of 1x3 or 4 and 1/4" Masonite ( tempered hard board top. Make a "ladder out of the 1x. Length and width your choice. Top of the masonite. I then make another rectangular frame to mount vertically to the wall & to the ceiling. Anchor it well. The individual shelves fit just inside the vertical frame. Use Sheetrock screws on the front and back. The beauty of these is that they are bomb-proof and if you do move, you can have those shelves down and stacked in no time. The smooth Masonite cleans up well too,if you are so inclined. Easy to build and very economical. I put enormous weight on these and they were solid as a rock. If you are worried, bolt the shelves to the riser supports. Oh, I had them on the concrete so I put a pressure treated base on the floor.

[ray_]

Look around here ;-)

http://www.ultimategarage.com/homegarage/UltGar2y-2.htm

Cheers,

Ray

[02Les]

I bought used kitchen cabinets for a song after I finished building my garage & workshop. Check Craigslist....you may find a bargain.

[Richard]

Make sure and get a 47" widescreen and cable for Top Gear,Speed etc.

[lilmo]

Use 1/2" plywood on the walls instead of sheetrock.

[SteveJ]

Doing a garage is a multi-step process.

First- make a list of all the tasks you want to use the garage for. Storing your car, working on your car, hanging out with friends, other hobbies?

Make a list of all the stuff (or crap, if you like) that you took out of the carage. Add to that list all the stuff you want to keep in the garage. Don't forget all that seasonal stuff that ends up in the garage.

Now you can use a floor plan to determine what you really have room for. I have gone as far as using graph paper and cutting out little squares to represent cabinets, tools, etc... You may need to prioritize things and omit some.

One thing I learned from 5S is that if an item has a good home, it will always end up there. If it's a pain to get out or put away there is less chance you will put it away.

A few items I used in my garage-

I got 4 Craftsman tool roll-away bottoms, built a 2x4 base, and turned them into my workbench bottom. HyLoft sells some wall mounted tire racks. These allow me to store my jacks and stands on the floor below. Enclosed cabinets look much cleaner, and white paint will help reflect light to make it brighter in there. Reinforce the wall studs prior to mounting anything heavy on the wall. Hyloft also has some 18" deep grid shelves that work great above the garage door. The plastic flip top bins fit perfect.

Several 4 foot flouros. I got the ones with the pull string so I can turn off individual ones if not needed. Electrical outlets all around. Halogen spot lamps for those driveway work sessions. A ceiling mounted fan (metal, but nothing fancy) for blowing out exhaust fumes. Are you going to add a welder or compressor? Think about adding 220 line.

[BlindRhino]

SteveJ is right, add 220. It will be good for a proper compressor and Welder. You can get a decent welder (hobart/Miller 140) and it will run on 120, but a good compressor will need 220.

Les has a great idea with the cabinets and so does Steve with the 26" craftsman tool chests. Look on Craigslist for tool boxes.

Also, plenty of shelves...AND the most important part, Beer fridge, cable tv and LOTS of 4' lights you can get at HD or Lowes for about 10 bucks each. Buy a case of bulbs as they are cheaper. Also tell the wife that the garage is off limits and that you should be able to store overflow parts in the guest room...Ok, that last part might get you in trouble, but at least get lots of light in there. I have a standard 2 car garage and have 5 of the 4' lights with 6500K bulbs in them and it feels like summer daylight up here in the dark winters.

HTH

Russ

[SteveJ]

... and that you should be able to store overflow parts in the guest room...Ok, that last part might get you in trouble...

Not if you're the one that ends up sleeping in the guest room!

Lights are a huge item. I remember a Griots catalog that had a great pictograph showing how younger eyes require less light than older eyes do. I didn't spring for the metal halide lights he was selling, but I did add more flouros in my garage. Seven dual 4' T8's. I still need to hook up the halogen task lights for the benches. Ikea is a good source for the halogen stuff at a low price.

[ClayW]

Check out www.garagejournal.com's forum for inspiration.

[schwarz75]

Thank you all for the great feedback. All great advise. All the drywall and painting of ceiling and walls has beeen completed, and a friend/carpenter is building custom open shelving that will, hopefully, be arriving next weekend for priming and painting.

[adawil2002]

i just built a few tire racks with some leftover powder coated garage door hanger angle iron I had laying around. Inspired by this http://www.carguygarage.com/redadjustablest.html