Put the Brakes on Clutter in Your Garage

For some, it’s just a place for parking. For others, a graveyard of broken and neglected furniture and other household items. But there’s a select few who transform this part of the home into something special: a well-organized garage to tune-up the car in peace. As an added benefit for those projects that include upgrades like new flooring, air conditioning, a utility sink, and expanded storage, the ROI may very well add to your property’s appraisal value.

With colder days ahead, now’s the time to make this transformation. Here are some tips from myAutoloan.

Thorough Decluttering

Decluttering serves several purposes. Not only will more space be available for cars and tools, but it removes the piles of “stuff” that pests find attractive as refuges and breeding spots. You may very well find that you have a rodent problem as you begin moving things around, a case where you’ll want to call out mice exterminators ASAP to address the problem.

Pick a nice day for decluttering, as this involves dragging everything outside onto the driveway or yard for sorting. Next up, go through items one by one and place them in different piles designated as things to keep, give away, or sell. Everything from the latter category can be sold off at a garage sale, which should net you a profit in the process. As for those items you want to keep that don’t belong in the garage, find some room in the basement. Anything that stays in the garage can be arranged neatly into overhead storage bins, drawers or hung on hooks on the walls.

New Flooring

Having removed all that clutter, you’ll now get an unobstructed view of the floor, for the first time in years, perhaps. If it still looks brand-spanking new, you’ll want to keep it that way. That could be a little difficult with the inevitable oil and grease stains that are sure to hit the floor once you get down to work. Enter epoxies. These are the hardest surfaces that you can get, and they’re shiny and easy to clean to boot. Application is time-sensitive, though, so get ready to work fast.

Efficient Air-Conditioning

Any serious work you plan on doing is going to be difficult with the sun scorching down, turning your workspace into a furnace. You’ll need some air-conditioning to keep the temperature down and stay comfortable. A window unit is the best option as tapping into the home system can leave the interior rooms depressurized by drawing air from outside, meaning a less energy-efficient system overall. Be sure to size your air-conditioning properly to guarantee effective cooling throughout the garage.

Proper Electricity

Juice. Have you got enough to feed your power tools as well as the house? Chances are that’s a yes, if your house was built within the last 40 years. Nonetheless, as Wood Magazine explains, unused circuits on the service panel allow you to run a separate feeder to your garage. The advantages are threefold. You won’t share circuits with the house, you can snake just one large cable to your work area, and you can shut off power to your garage when not in use. Of course, this work might be better left to a professional electrician.

A Sink

You’re going to get your hands dirty, so wouldn’t it be handy to have a sink in place to clean them off before you bring grease stains into the house? This requires some ample experience if there are no plumbing hookups in the garage, says an expert writing for SFGate.com. If you think you’re up for the challenge, the work will involve preparing the pipes, creating the hookups and installing the sink by yourself. Don’t forget to turn off the main water valve if you don’t want to get wet.

Tool Storage

The last task before finishing off your gearhead heaven is to properly arrange your tools of the trade, and there are more than enough ways to do this. In fact, men’s magazine Next Luxury has come up with 80, ranging from wall-mounted mason jars to shelves made of wooden crates and classic hook-and-nail hangings. Besides making it easier to work, some could even provide a stylish new look to what used to be just a parking space.

Now you’re looking like a real mechanic. Who knows? Maybe your neighbors will bring over their cars for a tune-up, and you can start charging serious money to save up for that Corvette you’ve had your eye on.