Garage Shelving Ideas

When it comes to finding a way to improve the storage space for your house, one area that is often overlooked and neglected is out in the garage. Even with a two car garage that has very little room on the sides depending on the size of your vehicles, there is a lot of space up at the top that could be used for garage shelving that would serve as a perfect garage storage solution. When you take into account the two sides of the garage plus the back wall, that is an almost easy 50 feet of shelving that you could install to help with storage problems, not to mention the ability to place an overhead garage storage solution above the cars as well.

You have many options for material types when it comes to storage shelves and it depends what items you want to store and how much they weigh as to what type of material will work best for you. Here are the main options available to you for garage shelving, wood shelves, wire / steel shelves and rail shelves.

Wood shelves tend to be lighter weight so there is a limit to how much weight they can hold. If you space out the brackets underneath when you are installing the shelving, the shelves will bow in the middle so that when you look at it from afar, it will slightly resemble a letter “U”. You also have to be sure that you use a level when installing to the shelves to make sure they are not crooked after being installed. You don’t want to place a heavy item on the shelf only to go into your garage the next morning and see that the item has fallen onto the floor and broken because it slid off the un-level shelf.

Wire / Steel Shelves tend to be the more popular option for garage storage shelves because they are more durable and are able to carry a lot more weight. They have a coating that will protect them in any type of environment so they are likely to last longer than wooden shelves do. For the wire shelves, the only downside to them is the gaps between the wires that could possible cause some items to slip between the wires and fall onto the ground or even worse the car. If that is the case, either go with the steel shelving or place those types of thinner items in another storage bin.

Rail shelves or adjustable shelves are set on rails and attached to the walls. These are usually found with various rail or track systems and offer great flexibility to adjust the height and location of the shelves depending on what you need to store. You just need to be sure after moving them that they lock in place so they do not collapse when weight is added to them if they are not properly secured.

Either of the above options will work well for you depending on how many items and what the size and weight of the items are. One thing to be sure to check before installing any of the garage storage shelving, are that the shelves are set at the proper height. Be sure to measure the height based on the car door being opening. If you have a large truck or SUV, you want to be sure when you open the door that it is not banging into the shelves and either chipping your paint or taking a chunk of out a wooden shelve.