Garage Tips

Here's a set of handy hints and tips for getting the most out of your garage:

Comfort

• Old carpet can be perfect for a garage floor. Join pieces together with duck tape
• An LPG portable heater is an absolute must!!

Decoration

• Paint the walls and ceiling to stop brick dust covering everything
• Seal the garage floor for exactly the same reason
• A large mirror gives the illusion of more space
• You can be a bit more adventurous with pictures on your garage walls, after all it's only a garage

Shelving, Brackets and other Fixtures

• Make sure your shelves are very strong, a pile of paint tins weighs more than you think
• Shelves are great, an entire wall boxed in to a depth of 8" to 12" is even better
• Special brackets to hold garden tools really keep things tidy
• The same brackets at an angle hold an ironing board flat to the wall
• Drilling holes in shelves creates the perfect screwdriver tidying system. Larger holes can be used for hammers and other meatier tools.
• A long baton of wood screwed to the floor just behind the garage doors and sealed to the floor can stop rain blowing in

Organisation

• Bikes, barbecues and garden tools should be stored next to the door
• 'Up and over' doors restrict the space available in your garage. Consider changing them for normal doors
• Keep one convenient place for your regular household tools and always put them back there
• Most garages have multiple uses. Create zones of activity. DIY in one section, wine making in another, fitness in another. Even in the smallest garage this can easily be done
• Keep as much space as you can in the centre of the room and keep a clear access route

Safety

• Get a carbon monoxide detector if your boiler is in the garage. Better safe than sorry!!
• Some older garages have asbestos in the ceiling. Either have professionally removed or paint to stop fibres loosening and causing a serious health hazard

Tidy

• Chuck away the rubbish. Do it now, and yes it is rubbish, you're really never going to use it again, you don't know what it's for and even if you did you've lost the other part. Be jealous of every last inch of space in your emerging garage and be ruthless about removing the detritus of a lifetime of bad DIY decisions.
• Use rarely - top shelf. Use often - bottom shelf

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