DIY Garage organizing for car stuff

[SumpChump]

Anybody have any ideas other than buying "plastic bins" on shel units from Harbor Freight for organizing the 'smalls' in a personal home garage?

Not that I'm averse to bins, in fact feel free to point out some good sources of the affordable plastic bin and shelf options.

I have the typical stuff in a one car garage with open studs. Spray cans air tools jacks tools never seeze jars, garden hose washers and spray ends, files, nails bolts....smalls.

Post a pic of how your is set up, post a pic or link to a neat way of making ones own shelves or bins. People think of so many neat ways of 'doing things'. I tend to be less creative and not an efficient DIY engineer.

 

[Donald]

I have most stuff in boxes that are used for 20 reams of paper. They are on metal shelves. Grease guns in plastic dish pans. (I worked in places where I could get these kind of boxes).

 

[Dyusik]

I have a tall garage so I have one of these puppies.

Mine hangs even lower, so much is up there. I have plastic bins for the rest of it, and a kid's toy box that just won't die, so i use it for bottles of chemicals and grease guns and stiff.

 

[sleddriver]

I myself am a struggling organizer. It doesn't come natural, but I sure appreciate the results of my efforts when I organize something.

Years ago, I bought Elfa-style wire shelves for the garage because they would hold dust and I could see up through them to locate things. They've held up well despite the load I've put on them. I'm planning another shelf, called a torsion-box, to run from one side of the garage to another, about 8-10" down from the ceiling to hold clear plastic bins with labels on the front.

For little stuff (bolts, washers, nuts) I use the plastic sorting boxes, like a flat tackle box, with adjustable compartments, this way I can see all of the contents at once compared to those small drawers. I can then easily stack these.

 

[supton]

I have some of those plastic shelving units. I zip tied two together, so as to have 2x the depth, then another pair zipped to that. Works ok. I store what I can inside of various bins /totes. In the future I would probably just buy 2x4's and plywood to custom make shelves to my liking.

 

[HangFire]

I bought into the Rubbermaid Fasttrack system. It got all the bicycles, sporting equipment, and handheld outdoor power equipment off the floor and up on a wall.

The amazing thing about it is, most people hang bicycles on it wrong, taking up huge amounts of wall space. With the right hook, it hangs by one wheel as if driving up the wall. That way you can stack several bicycles side by side in the space that one incorrectly placed bicycle takes.

The hooks move around easily. Every year or two I rearrange it according to my latest needs.

 

[earlyre]

when my folks remodeled the kitchen a few years back, the old cabinets/countertops were relocated to the garage.

 

[JHZR2]

I went to a surplus shelving store and got us made used heavy metal shelves. Why buy dumped Chinesium when heavier duty is made stuff is available for less? I bolted mine to each other and to the wall behind with tapcons (I have a stone garage). Put them up 9-10ft. Worked great.

 

[flanso]

I use cardboard bin boxes, like in old fashioned autoparts stores. They're available in many sizes, last forever and are cheap.

 

[eljefino]

I have nasty WM/ HD steel shelves, the stamped kind you spend an afternoon setting up and getting true.

My 2x4 wall sits on a row of cinder blocks on the bottom, so I drywall-screwed the shelves to the open studs. This leaves legs dangling. Nasty. Some legs are propped on old scissor jacks.

I had the gall to store a cylinder head on one of these cheap shelves, it's permanently dented now.

I have triangle prefab trusses, which you aren't supposed to use for "attic space" but I threw some scrap wood up there and store tires and cases of oil. You know, lightweight stuff.

Recently I discovered those adjustable hanger shelves with the metal hooks that jam into a track on the wall, very cheap. Where have they been all my life?

 

[Sierra048]

I found for small items like screws, washers, nuts/bolts etc.., glass mason jars work great. You can totally see the contents when looking for something. Even though they are glass, I haven't broke one in the eight years I've been using them. I also have quite a few clear plastic jars for the same purpose. I hung peg board and shelving for my everyday tools and my bigger storage items.

 

[cptbarkey]

i have various wire shelves on casters so its easy to move stuff the heavy stuff when i need to.