Bushytails
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2008
- Messages
- 472
- Reaction score
- 0
If you just have a $3.99 ratchet set, a crescent wrench, and a pair of vise grips, organizing your garage is easy - but as we all know, tools tend to accumulate - and then what do you do? Pegboard, shelves, toolboxes, hanging hooks, and plastic storage bins can help with the age-old question of But where should I put it all?! In this article I'll show you what I did for my garage, and give you tips that might help for yours.
Pegboard:
Pegboard is great for storing frequently-used tools. It is not highly efficient for bulk storage it is, essentially, a two-dimensional storage system but you can quickly grab any tool you need. You can put pegboard against flat walls, or above a workbench. Because pegboard is flat, if you stick to relatively thin tools and hooks, you can even line a hallway, making use of space that couldn't otherwise be used.
For example, here's a pegboard setup:
This pegboard is on a wall of my garage that I walk next to, where I wouldn't be able to fit a storage system but it provides instant access to my most commonly used tools.
There's many types of pegboard hooks long straight ones, double ones, hook-shaped ones, and multi-tool ones (no, not for your leatherman!) that can hold several tools at once.
Many tools are designed with hanging in mind they'll have an eyelet on the end, or a handy place they can be set on a hook. For these tools, either a curved or straight hook will be perfect. Items like electrical tape, teflon tape, duct tape (everyone has a roll, right?) will also store nicely on the straight hooks.
Special plier loops exist for storing tools like pliers anything that can be pointed into the loop and won't fall out.
A screwdriver holder is a multi-tool holder designed for screwdrivers it has a series of small loops you can set the shaft of a screwdriver in. These also work for some screwdriver-like tools, such as chisels.
Another type of multi-tool holder has a series of prongs, which you can use for any object that flares out on top or has a handle in the picture you can see a number of them for files, chisels, and air tools. Air tools? The air fittings I use happen to fit perfectly between the prongs, allowing for highly efficient storage of air tools and you can grab them easily and quickly when you need one:
Double hooks contain two hooks next to each other, and are good for objects that need to be supported from both sides such as the head of a hammer (a tool every garage needs several of!). They also work nicely for clamps, and many other larger tools.
Small bins, trays, and shelves can be mounted on the pegboard, for storing small parts, tool accessories, etc. For example, I have one of air chisel chisels, one of 3m surface prep discs for the die grinder, etc.
Pegboard is quite easy to install, and can be done in an afternoon. Pegboard must be spaced out from the wall since the hooks go through to the back, there must be room behind the board. 1x2 strips are cheap at any hardware store or lumber yard, and work excellently for this purpose. Screws, nails, staples, or any other fastener can be used to hold the pegboard to the wall, unless you purchase aluminium pegboard, in which case you'll want to use screws.
There are two standard sizes 1/8 and 1/4 - this is how large the holes are. 1/4 pegboard is more widely available, and is about $15 for a 4x8 sheet at the time of writing. Hooks also come in both 1/4 and 1/8 sizes 1/8 hooks will fit in 1/4 pegboard (although they may be loose), but 1/4 hooks will not fit in 1/8 board. Aluminium pegboard is almost always 1/8.
When buying hooks, individual ones will often cost $1 - $4 each, but assortments are much cheaper Harbor Freight sells a 50 hook assortment, which includes a screwdriver multi-tool holder, for about $7, even less when on sale. eBay is another source of cheap assortments.
Wire rack:
If you do a lot of electrical work, you probably have a collection of spools sitting around. For fast access, building a rack is another quick project with lots of benefits. In my case, I decided to build the rack onto the edge of my pegboard and by using the pegboard, I can re-position the spools in 1 increments, to allow maximal use of the space. The pipes are 1/2 electrical conduit, cheaply available at your local hardware store. The pegboard hooks are just cheap ones from an assortment. For the opposite side, I used a rail from some metal shelving, that was drilled at 1 increments. Less than ten minutes of work, and much of my wire is now instantly accessible.
Other options for easy wire rack sides, especially if you don't have open walls and need to mount them off the surface, are holes drilled in 1x8 boards, or notches cut in the edge of the board with a jigsaw, then screwed to the wall with shelf brackets. Of course, wire racks aren't limited to wire if you buy vacuum tubing, heater hose, etc by the roll, they'll fit nicely here too.
Shelving:
Shelving is a rather common item, and thus there's not too much to discuss here, but there's some points worth mentioning. Get quality shelving! This won't be available at your local k-mart, or whatever general consumer store you have in your area. Good shelving will be metal. It will be heavy. It will be held together with bolts. You will feel confident climbing on it to reach an item on the top. It will not be particle board. It will not have supports made of curled sheet metal. It will not go together with a hammer. It will not be plastic. It will not stack or use gravity for any part of its stability. Really, I mean it. Don't get the cheap stuff in cardboard boxes! You'll just regret it every second you're using it, even in the unlikely case you don't regret it by the time you're done assembling it.
Shelves, unlike pegboard and racks, are 3-dimensional storage. Because your tools come in all shapes and sizes, you'll often need other organizer devices on the shelves while large tools, power tools, etc can just be piled up, things like screwdriver tips, pliers, etc will need their own containers. Shelves can be subdivided with plywood or smaller shelving units to help with storage of medium-sized items. Closed plastic bins, discussed further below, can be used to store related, infrequently-accessed smaller items on shelves. Open bins can store frequently-accessed smaller items.
Yes, I know my shelves aren't the best organized when I took these photos, my when I have spare time re-organizing was long overdue but there's several systems visible still. Large power tools are stored loosely on shelves dedicated to large power tools. Electrical takes up another couple shelves. Plastic bins are used frequently to group related items and in the case of chemicals (paints, glues, etc), make sure a spill is contained. Fasteners have their own shelves, and are sorted into a variety of organizer devices. A toolbox with sliding drawers (discussed further below) is stored here, for smaller tools. Loose random stuff is kept on a special loose random stuff shelf (well, actually, it was supposed to be the PUT TOOLS BACK HERE! shelf, and I even painted it bright red with the word TOOLS in metallic silver across the middle, but the best laid plans of mice, men, and garage-organizing wolfies...), then sorted properly onto other shelves. Plastic bins of infrequently used items are stored on the top, and a ladder is used to reach them.
Shelves are easy to install, and can be arranged in lots of ways. For example, the shelves on the left of the photo stick out there is no wall behind them. Whatever you do, make sure your shelves are properly screwed to the wall having a half ton of power tools fall on your head trying to get a heavy item off of one will not be fun. If your shelves are too dark, consider mounting a 500W halogen shoplight to the ceiling about 10 feet back, to light up individual shelves. Oh, and don't get cheap shelves!
Toolboxes:
Sadly, I lack lots of these while I could use more, most of my frequently used tools are kept on the pegboard, with my toolbox only used for sockets and wrenches. Since toolboxes are another common item, I'll only give them a brief bit of coverage.
A toolbox with sliding drawers is another form of 3-dimensional storage, but at this scale, optimized for smaller tools. Ratchets, sockets, wrenches, and similar accessories can quickly be accessed. I have my toolbox sorted by drive size, but there's plenty of other ways to do it, especially if you have more drawers to work with.
Drawer toolboxes are available in many sizes and styles. One with wheels can be handy if you have a big garage, or often do projects in the driveway just wheel it out and have your tools where you're working. These are often stackable, so you can put a smaller toolbox (like the one pictured here) onto a large one:
Quality is always an important factor when purchasing tools, but fortunately, while there's a massive amount of incredibly poorly made shelving on the market, most toolboxes are of acceptable quality the $400 harbor freight toolbox really isn't much worse than the $2500 Snap-on one.
Hooks:
Many larger items, such as frequently-used power tools, large air tools, air hoses, etc, can be stored on hooks screwed directly into the wall. If you have open walls, there's more options here, but even on finished walls you can fit a lot of tools this way.
Like pegboard accessories, hooks are often several dollars if purchased individually, but an assortment, containing a huge variety of hooks, only costs as much as two or three separate hooks. Depending on the style, you'll need a hammer to install them, or they'll be the screw-in kind. For many screw-in ones, a large adjustable wrench works wonders if you can't get the torque to turn them by hand. Predrilling the holes for them helps too.
Plastic bins:
Plastic bins come in a huge variety of sizes, styles, and qualities. The last of those is the one I'll address first get bins meant for real use! Perhaps your average Walmart Rubbermaid bin works fine for sorting frilly undies (I keep my strap-on... never mind!), but they won't hold up long in a garage. Many brands sell bins made for storing tools or parts, and these are a lot tougher. For larger bins, get ones designed for store deliveries they're much stronger than ones designed for storing paperwork, clothes, or similar tasks.
Organizer bins with open tops and fronts are useful either on shelving or on specialized racks small parts, tools, etc can easily be accessed, even when a bunch of them are stacked together. Bins without open fronts, but without lids, can be used for small tools or parts that can directly take the weight of other bins, for compact storage of partially filled bins. Closed bins with lids can store a wider variety of items, but have to be opened to access a tool, which means unstacking them if you have a large stack.
The last type large stackable bins can serve as a substitute for shelves for infrequently accessed items. Just fill them up, LABEL THE FRONTS, then start stacking them against the wall. If you get quality bins, even with heavy tools, you can safely stack them 6-10 layers tall if you make sure the heaviest bins are on the bottom.
Other tips:
If your garage has an attic, or exposed rafters, consider spending some time making it easily accessible it's a good place to tuck away things you know you'll need someday, but don't have any immediate plans for. For mine, all it needed was some plywood on the rafters and a sturdy ladder. I also mounted a hoist in mine, which not only can be used for working on vehicles, but makes lifting heavy things up there a piece of cake. I also decided to put my air compressor tank 60 gallons up in the attic, as it took up a whole lot of room.
If you have the room, a sturdy workbench is a valuable asset build it with heavy lumber, and it'll be able to survive the inevitable BFH-based fine-tuning of a stuck part, as well as provide a solid surface for mounting a vise.
For long objects (steel stock, pipe, lumber, etc), large L-shaped hooks are available that screw to the wall line them up in a row, and you can store large objects. I mounted mine about 5ft off the floor, giving room to tuck my welding cart, etc, underneath.
I hope this article has helped give you ideas on how to organize your garage how I organized mine certainly isn't a template or a limit, just something to help you think about how to organize yours. I'm constantly improving mine, and by the time you're reading this, it might look completely different. If you have good ideas I didn't mention here, send them in and I can try to update the article (I'm not sure how that works!), or write your own article about your garage and submit it here!
Pegboard:
Pegboard is great for storing frequently-used tools. It is not highly efficient for bulk storage it is, essentially, a two-dimensional storage system but you can quickly grab any tool you need. You can put pegboard against flat walls, or above a workbench. Because pegboard is flat, if you stick to relatively thin tools and hooks, you can even line a hallway, making use of space that couldn't otherwise be used.
For example, here's a pegboard setup:
This pegboard is on a wall of my garage that I walk next to, where I wouldn't be able to fit a storage system but it provides instant access to my most commonly used tools.
There's many types of pegboard hooks long straight ones, double ones, hook-shaped ones, and multi-tool ones (no, not for your leatherman!) that can hold several tools at once.
Many tools are designed with hanging in mind they'll have an eyelet on the end, or a handy place they can be set on a hook. For these tools, either a curved or straight hook will be perfect. Items like electrical tape, teflon tape, duct tape (everyone has a roll, right?) will also store nicely on the straight hooks.
Special plier loops exist for storing tools like pliers anything that can be pointed into the loop and won't fall out.
A screwdriver holder is a multi-tool holder designed for screwdrivers it has a series of small loops you can set the shaft of a screwdriver in. These also work for some screwdriver-like tools, such as chisels.
Another type of multi-tool holder has a series of prongs, which you can use for any object that flares out on top or has a handle in the picture you can see a number of them for files, chisels, and air tools. Air tools? The air fittings I use happen to fit perfectly between the prongs, allowing for highly efficient storage of air tools and you can grab them easily and quickly when you need one:
Double hooks contain two hooks next to each other, and are good for objects that need to be supported from both sides such as the head of a hammer (a tool every garage needs several of!). They also work nicely for clamps, and many other larger tools.
Small bins, trays, and shelves can be mounted on the pegboard, for storing small parts, tool accessories, etc. For example, I have one of air chisel chisels, one of 3m surface prep discs for the die grinder, etc.
Pegboard is quite easy to install, and can be done in an afternoon. Pegboard must be spaced out from the wall since the hooks go through to the back, there must be room behind the board. 1x2 strips are cheap at any hardware store or lumber yard, and work excellently for this purpose. Screws, nails, staples, or any other fastener can be used to hold the pegboard to the wall, unless you purchase aluminium pegboard, in which case you'll want to use screws.
There are two standard sizes 1/8 and 1/4 - this is how large the holes are. 1/4 pegboard is more widely available, and is about $15 for a 4x8 sheet at the time of writing. Hooks also come in both 1/4 and 1/8 sizes 1/8 hooks will fit in 1/4 pegboard (although they may be loose), but 1/4 hooks will not fit in 1/8 board. Aluminium pegboard is almost always 1/8.
When buying hooks, individual ones will often cost $1 - $4 each, but assortments are much cheaper Harbor Freight sells a 50 hook assortment, which includes a screwdriver multi-tool holder, for about $7, even less when on sale. eBay is another source of cheap assortments.
Wire rack:
If you do a lot of electrical work, you probably have a collection of spools sitting around. For fast access, building a rack is another quick project with lots of benefits. In my case, I decided to build the rack onto the edge of my pegboard and by using the pegboard, I can re-position the spools in 1 increments, to allow maximal use of the space. The pipes are 1/2 electrical conduit, cheaply available at your local hardware store. The pegboard hooks are just cheap ones from an assortment. For the opposite side, I used a rail from some metal shelving, that was drilled at 1 increments. Less than ten minutes of work, and much of my wire is now instantly accessible.
Other options for easy wire rack sides, especially if you don't have open walls and need to mount them off the surface, are holes drilled in 1x8 boards, or notches cut in the edge of the board with a jigsaw, then screwed to the wall with shelf brackets. Of course, wire racks aren't limited to wire if you buy vacuum tubing, heater hose, etc by the roll, they'll fit nicely here too.
Shelving:
Shelving is a rather common item, and thus there's not too much to discuss here, but there's some points worth mentioning. Get quality shelving! This won't be available at your local k-mart, or whatever general consumer store you have in your area. Good shelving will be metal. It will be heavy. It will be held together with bolts. You will feel confident climbing on it to reach an item on the top. It will not be particle board. It will not have supports made of curled sheet metal. It will not go together with a hammer. It will not be plastic. It will not stack or use gravity for any part of its stability. Really, I mean it. Don't get the cheap stuff in cardboard boxes! You'll just regret it every second you're using it, even in the unlikely case you don't regret it by the time you're done assembling it.
Shelves, unlike pegboard and racks, are 3-dimensional storage. Because your tools come in all shapes and sizes, you'll often need other organizer devices on the shelves while large tools, power tools, etc can just be piled up, things like screwdriver tips, pliers, etc will need their own containers. Shelves can be subdivided with plywood or smaller shelving units to help with storage of medium-sized items. Closed plastic bins, discussed further below, can be used to store related, infrequently-accessed smaller items on shelves. Open bins can store frequently-accessed smaller items.
Yes, I know my shelves aren't the best organized when I took these photos, my when I have spare time re-organizing was long overdue but there's several systems visible still. Large power tools are stored loosely on shelves dedicated to large power tools. Electrical takes up another couple shelves. Plastic bins are used frequently to group related items and in the case of chemicals (paints, glues, etc), make sure a spill is contained. Fasteners have their own shelves, and are sorted into a variety of organizer devices. A toolbox with sliding drawers (discussed further below) is stored here, for smaller tools. Loose random stuff is kept on a special loose random stuff shelf (well, actually, it was supposed to be the PUT TOOLS BACK HERE! shelf, and I even painted it bright red with the word TOOLS in metallic silver across the middle, but the best laid plans of mice, men, and garage-organizing wolfies...), then sorted properly onto other shelves. Plastic bins of infrequently used items are stored on the top, and a ladder is used to reach them.
Shelves are easy to install, and can be arranged in lots of ways. For example, the shelves on the left of the photo stick out there is no wall behind them. Whatever you do, make sure your shelves are properly screwed to the wall having a half ton of power tools fall on your head trying to get a heavy item off of one will not be fun. If your shelves are too dark, consider mounting a 500W halogen shoplight to the ceiling about 10 feet back, to light up individual shelves. Oh, and don't get cheap shelves!
Toolboxes:
Sadly, I lack lots of these while I could use more, most of my frequently used tools are kept on the pegboard, with my toolbox only used for sockets and wrenches. Since toolboxes are another common item, I'll only give them a brief bit of coverage.
A toolbox with sliding drawers is another form of 3-dimensional storage, but at this scale, optimized for smaller tools. Ratchets, sockets, wrenches, and similar accessories can quickly be accessed. I have my toolbox sorted by drive size, but there's plenty of other ways to do it, especially if you have more drawers to work with.
Drawer toolboxes are available in many sizes and styles. One with wheels can be handy if you have a big garage, or often do projects in the driveway just wheel it out and have your tools where you're working. These are often stackable, so you can put a smaller toolbox (like the one pictured here) onto a large one:
Quality is always an important factor when purchasing tools, but fortunately, while there's a massive amount of incredibly poorly made shelving on the market, most toolboxes are of acceptable quality the $400 harbor freight toolbox really isn't much worse than the $2500 Snap-on one.
Hooks:
Many larger items, such as frequently-used power tools, large air tools, air hoses, etc, can be stored on hooks screwed directly into the wall. If you have open walls, there's more options here, but even on finished walls you can fit a lot of tools this way.
Like pegboard accessories, hooks are often several dollars if purchased individually, but an assortment, containing a huge variety of hooks, only costs as much as two or three separate hooks. Depending on the style, you'll need a hammer to install them, or they'll be the screw-in kind. For many screw-in ones, a large adjustable wrench works wonders if you can't get the torque to turn them by hand. Predrilling the holes for them helps too.
Plastic bins:
Plastic bins come in a huge variety of sizes, styles, and qualities. The last of those is the one I'll address first get bins meant for real use! Perhaps your average Walmart Rubbermaid bin works fine for sorting frilly undies (I keep my strap-on... never mind!), but they won't hold up long in a garage. Many brands sell bins made for storing tools or parts, and these are a lot tougher. For larger bins, get ones designed for store deliveries they're much stronger than ones designed for storing paperwork, clothes, or similar tasks.
Organizer bins with open tops and fronts are useful either on shelving or on specialized racks small parts, tools, etc can easily be accessed, even when a bunch of them are stacked together. Bins without open fronts, but without lids, can be used for small tools or parts that can directly take the weight of other bins, for compact storage of partially filled bins. Closed bins with lids can store a wider variety of items, but have to be opened to access a tool, which means unstacking them if you have a large stack.
The last type large stackable bins can serve as a substitute for shelves for infrequently accessed items. Just fill them up, LABEL THE FRONTS, then start stacking them against the wall. If you get quality bins, even with heavy tools, you can safely stack them 6-10 layers tall if you make sure the heaviest bins are on the bottom.
Other tips:
If your garage has an attic, or exposed rafters, consider spending some time making it easily accessible it's a good place to tuck away things you know you'll need someday, but don't have any immediate plans for. For mine, all it needed was some plywood on the rafters and a sturdy ladder. I also mounted a hoist in mine, which not only can be used for working on vehicles, but makes lifting heavy things up there a piece of cake. I also decided to put my air compressor tank 60 gallons up in the attic, as it took up a whole lot of room.
If you have the room, a sturdy workbench is a valuable asset build it with heavy lumber, and it'll be able to survive the inevitable BFH-based fine-tuning of a stuck part, as well as provide a solid surface for mounting a vise.
For long objects (steel stock, pipe, lumber, etc), large L-shaped hooks are available that screw to the wall line them up in a row, and you can store large objects. I mounted mine about 5ft off the floor, giving room to tuck my welding cart, etc, underneath.
I hope this article has helped give you ideas on how to organize your garage how I organized mine certainly isn't a template or a limit, just something to help you think about how to organize yours. I'm constantly improving mine, and by the time you're reading this, it might look completely different. If you have good ideas I didn't mention here, send them in and I can try to update the article (I'm not sure how that works!), or write your own article about your garage and submit it here!
