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5 Tips for Garage Shelving

5 Tips for Garage Shelving

NZ’s warehousing professionals have been coming to us for all their shelving solutions for years, and we’ve built a reputation for going above and beyond to bring our customers an innovative range of new and second-hand, standard, and specialised racking options.
But it isn’t just professionals we cater too. We also stock a range of high-quality, competitively priced shelving products for your home and garage. Today, we’re talking about garage shelving. We’ve put together our top 5 tips to help you make the most of the available space in your garage.

1. Draw Up a Plan

It sounds obvious, but it’s amazing the number of people who don’t do this before they start refurbishing. It will save you a heap of time, effort, and very likely money. You don’t need to be a master draftsman, but you should take the time to get your measurements right and figure out what will go where. This is also the time to choose your shelving product, and we strongly recommend taking a look at open storage racking units from Elfa.

2. Maximise Your Vertical Space

Most of us are guilty of piling all our miscellaneous tools and knick-knacks onto the limited bench space around the edges of our garage. The first thing to consider when planning your new garage shelving is how you can use all that wall space. There’s a simple and logical system to help you decide what goes where; the items that see regular use should be kept within easy reach, and those that only get pulled out occasionally can be placed higher up.
If your garage has rafters, then you won’t need to do much to create overhead storage space. Just be sure that everything stored there is secure and not hanging so low that someone is likely to knock into them. You should also have a sturdy stepladder to reduce the risk of strain or fall and generally make your life a little easier.

 

3. Place Vented Shelving Low Down for Easy Cleaning

For the lower levels of your garage shelving, use vented or mesh shelving. You can use these shelves to store gardening items, boots, and other messy items. Mesh shelves will allow dirt and other debris to slip through where it can be easily swept away. This is much safer and more hygienic than keeping items on the floor, where they are more susceptible to mould and degradation.

4. Organise By Zone

It will be much easier to find the items you’re looking for if all the items for a particular application or area of work are kept in one place. For example, have one section for all your woodworking tools and another for your automotive tools. If possible, they should be close to the workspace where you’ll mostly be using them, so they’re within reach when you need them and you’re more likely to put them straight back when you’re done.

5. Use Open Shelving Rather Than Closing Cupboards

This is perhaps the most important tip, applicable no matter how big or small your garage or what you’re storing in there. Open shelving keeps everything visible, so you won’t have to go rummaging through drawers to find a particular drill bit or open a cupboard and have an angle grinder fall out. Out of sight really is out of mind, and you’ll find things much easier to keep track of if they are kept in plain sight. It is also more hygienic; cockroaches, ants, and other pests love a nice, dark cupboard to nest in. Don’t make it easy for them.

Talk to us today

To discuss your garage shelving options, you can get in touch with us by phone or email. Alternatively, drop into our Papakura Warehouse between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday.