So your garage was originally intended to house your cars and a few other outdoor items. But down the line, it has possibly become a stomping ground for everything that you can not afford to keep indoors. Sounds familiar? Well, it probably does. And for many households that grow in size and the accumulation of personal property over the passage of time, this is mostly the case.
From children’s toys and outdoor boots to old appliances and the odd sightings, there is every chance that you’ve come across something familiar when you step into your garage. And it could make your garage look like a collector’s gallery at best or a pile of a mess at worst. If you feel like this is not right, as you should, then you should be looking at ways to put things right.
You can check out garages for sale online, buy them and relocate some items in your home to ease the pressure off it. Or you can carry out a complete overhaul of items in your garage and breathe new air to it. In this article, we have discussed a couple of measures you can take to put your garage in order. The tips we recommend will leave your garage wearing a new look that you’ll surely appreciate.
Clear The Garage
Your first job is a clearing job, and it should be carried out with great care. You can start with the smaller items, taking them out in droves before moving to the bigger ones. This may require you to look for an extra pair of hands so you can lift stuff like heavy equipment inside the garage.
If you have cabinets or shelves that have been screwed to the wall or ground, you may decide to leave them there so as to reduce the volume of your work. But if you can afford it, empty all the contents of your garage. Not only does this action help you clean the garage much easier, but it can also help you get a good look at the total space you have inside.
Sort Out The Items And Take Proper Stock
After you have everything in the open, you can now go through every item on the ground to determine their usefulness or otherwise. You can identify the redundant items in your garage and properly dispose of them. Faulty items can be taken away for repairs, leaving you with only those items that have some form of value. You can thoroughly clean these items free of grease, dust, mold, and unwanted growth. And as soon as this is done, you can move on to the next step.
Next, you can identify every item on the ground and possibly tag them. This activity is similar to taking an inventory, so you can put a finger on the things that you have in your garage. Draw up a list of all the items in front of you and number them if you wish.
Clean The Garage
Now that you have decongested the garage, you can bring your cleaning equipment. You’ll need strong cleaning agents, sponges, clean towels, disinfectants, and any suitable cleaning materials you can lay your hands on. Thoroughly sweep the room and then mop the floors clear of grease, oil, and other unsightly smear marks. Repeat the same for the walls, the shelves, or any other object that cannot be removed from the room.
Take out cobwebs, disinfect the room and drive out pests from their hiding spots. If you come across cracks, holes, or other damaged portions in the walls or on the floor, ensure to seal them quickly. Every other area that needs repairs should be sorted out, and you’re good to go. You can top it off with a paint job to give the room a new look or change the entire floor or just the floor covering if it is necessary.
Create Storage Spaces
In this next step, you get to pave the way for a reintroduction of all the previously removed garage contents. If you need to create a separate storage site, you may mark out a portion of the room and enclose the area with drywall and other partitions. And if your garage is not large enough to fit in an extra room, you’ll have to make do with what you have.
You may add extra shelves and cabinets for smaller items and throw in big bags and sacks to fit in the bigger items. Designate each storage provision(bags, boxes, sacks) with a number tag that will come in handy for inventory taking. This way, you know exactly where to search when you need to find a particular item in your garage.
Return The Removed Items
You can now go back to the items that you’ve previously removed, all of which are probably only those items you consider to be useful. Clean them again and make sure they don’t pick up any pests before returning them. Next, group them into objects in the same class, size, use function, or any suitable categorization. You can put gardening items like pruning shears, watering cans, and hose pipes in your garden shed if they won’t fit into your new garage. And in another, you can place your toolboxes, small test equipment, and other gear.
You can now start returning the items in the designated groups as soon as this is done. Items from the same group that are small enough to fit in a small box should go exactly there. Nuts, screws, and other smaller items can slot into drawers if available. The bigger items can make their way to a corner of the room. Whether it is a big tire or the moving machine, make sure that all the bigger items are separately placed so they don’t weigh down on the smaller ones.
Conclusion
More often than not, a typical garage is a melting pot where all types of items can be found. From discarded toys and sports gears to grease-smeared toolboxes bicycle gears, and the cars, there’s practically no limit to the things that some people house in their garage. This can turn it into a heap of crowded matter, and it is not a situation that most people would ordinarily like. So if you find your garage in dire need of a makeover, now is the time to act. You’ll find helpful tips in this article to help you properly organize your garage.
