A professional garage makeover can transform the most neglected part of a home into a thing of beauty. But is it worth the hefty price tag?
With a quick trip to a big box store, a do-it-yourself organizing system will get a homeowner’s belongings off the floor with snap-together shelves and wall hangers. But a professional will install cabinets and high-grade shelves that get most of your stuff not just off the floor, but completely out of sight. Add to that an epoxy floor coating, and your garage may start to look better than many rooms in your house.
Components of professional systems. The main objective of any garage organizer is to get everything off of the floor. This assumes that as a prerequisite, you have sorted your stuff, then trashed, donated or sold everything you don’t need. With what is left, your plan should be to have virtually nothing touching the garage floor except the tires of your car.
Professionally installed garage organizing systems will contain these components:
- Cabinets will get most items onto shelves, and closed off from view. Cabinets for the garage come in every shape, size and color, made from wood, metal or laminated particle board.
- Open shelving is for smaller items you use frequently, such as hand tools. Often these shelves will be used over a workbench in combination with a pegboard for hanging small items.
- Overhead storage is for boxes and bulky items that would take up too much space in cabinets.
Strong hooks are used to hang bicycles, large sporting goods, and landscape equipment such as weed whackers and leaf blowers. - An epoxy floor coating, in a color of your choosing, will give the floor a finished look similar to a high-end auto repair shop. The epoxy resists the black marks left by the hot tires of your car when you pull in. There are also heavy duty floor mats that can be cut to fit the floor space, but at a higher cost.
- Enhanced lighting will make one of the most dimly lit rooms bright and functional. When working with small projects at your workbench, you’ll be able to see detailed tasks clearly.
As with anything else, organize to a level that your budget allows. Professional garage makeovers start at under $1,000 and can go more than $3,000, depending on how elaborate. Cabinets tend to be the largest expense along with epoxy coating the floor. Lower your expenses by purchasing and installing cabinets, shelves and wall systems yourself, and hiring out the epoxy coating job, which requires multiple steps to be done properly.
