Garage Organization Suggestions Needed

When I sold my business, the buyer wasn't paying me for shop supplies, so it was game on!   5 years later, I have a 1/2 cabinet, large bin, two self metal rack and two shelves on a plastic rack with various cleaners and snake oil (additives).   The cabinet is for items in use, the metal shelves for whatever doesn't fit in the cabinet, the plastic shelves and bin are the backups for the backups.  It was the only way I could get control of the situation.  I went from a 3 car garage with at large basement to a 8x10 room to store EVERYTHING, including a golf cart.  Watch for sales, the big boxes have some decent metal cabinets, and HF has stepped up their quality on their boxes.

I hate whoever posted the garagejournal site. Time to go waste some money. 

Wow...      Zombie Thread from 2011!

Here's how I solved my original problem a few years ago, using a $20 swap meet find:

In reply to AnthonyGS :

How do you get the wheels/tires up/down from that rack?  Something like that would have me put them up there once and then never move them again.

DirtyBird222 said:

I hate whoever posted the garagejournal site. Time to go waste some money. 

Much like GRM, GarageJournal is an evil place where the bad idea fairy roosts.

well, since I just cleaned mine today and took a few pics, I'll post them here. Maybe give you some ideas since this is 10+ years worth of trying to fit a lot of stuff into a 2-car garage that also has to be functional to fit one and occasionally two project/race cars. Almost all the shelving is home-built, as well as a buddy's old kitchen cabinets. I like building with wood (I just paint it black so it looks nicer). It's a standard height ceiling more or less, so I also built some overhead storage for smaller items, spanning the middle of the garage and over the front half of one bay.

fold-up work table

There's a 36 page long thread on the Garage Journal showing one person's reorganization methods for their garage.  He did some pretty incredible work, building cabinets and shelves to store all his stuff.  Even if you don't even do 1/10 of what he did, it's impressive and entertaining to go through the photos.  https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=381487

I have a heavy duty 8 foot by 2 foot deep shelving unit purchased from Lowe’s. I then purchased 12 of the heavy duty plastic bins with the two piece folding tops. I have one bin that is used to store spray cans and the rest of the bins house car parts, tools that are not used frequently and a variety of other items. I put the heaviest of the bins on bottom shelf and lighter bins on top. I have the shelving unit screwed into the wall for stability.  A lot of storage, looks neat, and doesn’t take up a lot of floor space in my small shop.

I need to redo much of the storage in my garage.  While I can fit two cars length-wise, with shelving and tool boxes, there simply isn't enough to room to actually work on anything.  I have some ideas, but it'll take some planning to implement.   Similar to what someone mentioned previously, I need shelves that are just deep enough for 1 gal anti-freeze and 5 qt oil jugs, tight to the wall so I can gain some working room.  Due to how the walls are inset from the foundation blocks, this will require the shelves to be custom made.

In reply to Ian F :

To get around the walls being inset from the blocks my FIL and i just notched out the shelves to clear the blocks.

In reply to Aaron_King :

That's more or less what I plan to do.  The issue is the desire for a specific shelf depth and the fact most types of generic wooden shelves (particle board construction) tend not to survive in a garage environment.   Plus, I'd like to keep the floor under the shelves clear.  

I've been re-organizing my garage recently. Also trying to sell off some parts to gain some space. I should get some pics and post...

stuart in mn said:

There's a 36 page long thread on the Garage Journal showing one person's reorganization methods for their garage.  He did some pretty incredible work, building cabinets and shelves to store all his stuff.  Even if you don't even do 1/10 of what he did, it's impressive and entertaining to go through the photos.  https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=381487

He keeps referring to HDPE trays. I see what he is referring to, but I guess I’m not sure where you get those.

Harvey said:

He keeps referring to HDPE trays. I see what he is referring to, but I guess I’m not sure where you get those.

This one is made of ABS and not HDPE but it's generally the kind of tool tray / organizer he's referring to.  https://www.amazon.com/Tool-Sorter-Wrench-Organizer-Red/dp/B00HNZWPCQ/ref=sr_1_21_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1543895339&sr=8-21-spons&keywords=hdpe+tool+organizer&psc=1

always a good place to start researching garage ideas....     http://12-gaugegarage.com/

stuart in mn said:

Harvey said:

He keeps referring to HDPE trays. I see what he is referring to, but I guess I’m not sure where you get those.

This one is made of ABS and not HDPE but it's generally the kind of tool tray / organizer he's referring to.  https://www.amazon.com/Tool-Sorter-Wrench-Organizer-Red/dp/B00HNZWPCQ/ref=sr_1_21_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1543895339&sr=8-21-spons&keywords=hdpe+tool+organizer&psc=1

It seems like he is making his own in some cases.

Hung up more stuff in the garage recently and put the 996 autoX tires up on the tire rack.  The ZR-1 and its stack of spare tires and wheels may be gone next weekend.  The Miata may be sold next too.  I photo’d the garage today but should’ve done it after sweeping.  I have a few more minor touches and stuff to sell to make it even better.  If my amazon find comes through, I will be getting a tool upgrade and have tools for sale too.

I also drove the 996, Miata and challenge mustang today and changed accessory belts on the Miata (squeaking gone) and the 4.5 rib accessory belt on the challenge Mustang with a 6 rib belt.

In reply to Ben0321 :

I've Ben canoe 'd. 

This reminds me that I need to get rid of the Ikea cubes in my garage for actual cabinets like AnthonyGS. 

Ben0321 said:

In reply to Ben0321 :

Visit https://garamer.com to book a design consultation or seek the best garage organization plans~

Or if you want a better way to do this, and not pay thousands for a "storage design" with cheap materials. You can diy with french cleats if you have a table, or circular saw.

My son made an awesome tool cabinet from file cabinet! He put a video on YouTube about it, search for Petrol360. 

I have one too. I put all my power tools in it, grinders and cut-off tools in one drawer, impact drivers, drills and bits in another drawer, all those plastic boxes with tap and die sets/rivet gun/tube flaring kit/etc. in another drawer. Works well for us!  I see them on CL or Marketplace for under $100 pretty regularly. 

In reply to mightymike :

I have 2 wood cabinets remaining in my shop. It's hard to find decent metal 2 door cabinets on a cheap-ass' budget. I decided that 2 2 drawer file cabinets will fit the bill perfect. I plan on pulling the drawers out and using that metal to make the doors, then hang them horizontally.