Anyone know how to keep a garage clean because i got a 1973 bronco in my garage and everytime i go to work on it i got to clean for 2 hours. Then it lands back up as a shelf. Anyone know of some good organizing cabinets to put up cause im running out of floor space.

 

Welcome to FTE.

It might help to know how big your shop is, including the height. We put peg board 4' off the floor and 4' high and then put 2 shelves above the peg board. Both run the length of the shop on both sides.

 

I have 100' of shelving units 7' tall. Stuff will expand to fit the available space.

 

hey that helps I got 8 foot high walls so I have alot of room for organization I was thinking about the peg board to.

 

Keep your wife out of the garage, my wife has piled so much junk in mine I have to clean it up a week before I plan to work in it.

 

its hard keeping my garage clean i keep having to cut the grass and rake the leaves.

 

Get some of that Police Tape and string it around the outside of the shop.

If she wants to get in, ask to she her badge

Then be prepared to get ................

 

Build shelves. Find some old kitchen cabinets that are left over from remodelling projects and line the walls with them. Use those small plastic storage bins to organize pipe fittings and bolts. Put boards up on the rafters and store stuff up there. Rig hooks on the ceiling or rafters and hang stuff up there. Sell or give stuff away that you really don't use, but that's too good to just throw out. (http://www.freecycle.org)
Spend more time in the garage so stuff doesn't get a chance to build up.

 

My two car garage is 24 x 24....lived here 30 years and still make improvements. But except for one steel cabinet (4x7), 5 tool boxes, and a Craftsman tool cabinet, I've built plywood shelves as the need appeared to me. My main all purpose woodworking/mechanic work bench is hand built and sturdy. Above it is a 3/4" plywood tool board that was outlined for each tool years ago, so the kids could use it but be alert to missing items. I used up to 3 inch finish nails (and some 12 d common with heads sawed off) bent to appropiate angles to hold the tools. Today my garage is paneled, painted, well lighted and even has a library of manuals etc. But it has taken time to get it that way. As for cleaning it, that's an ongoing job that most important when space is limited. It's also major factor in safety aspects. In ten years post here again and let me know how you're doing.

 

As said the junk expands to the space! My advice is keep the wife out! Build a storage shed for her and your other junk! The shop is for work.
Next keep a good sized garbage can in the area and keep the junk off the floors.
As for storage - Drawers are my first choice because they keep dust and junk off your stuff and any horizontal surface will collect junk so the only horizontal surfaces I try to have are movable work stations and they have a place to go when out of use so that I can not leave stuff on it.

 

You said it. Horizontal storage collects (and loses) crap or tools....
I built a custom wood cabinet for all my woodworkign tools, sized for the exact tool. Looks awesome (IMO) and I know where to find stuff. Plus it is floor to ceiling and 8 feet wide. Lots of room. Thing weighs hundreds of pounds empty. Thankfully I chose to NOT mount it on wheels, as initially intended.

Personally, I hate the peg board. I perfer the drawers and the drawer liners.
What I do is I cut 2 pieces of different colour drawer liners for each drawer.
I then lay my tools out, keep some space available for MINOR expansion, but keep the tools grouped...

Then I cut out the top liner to indicate the tool that actually fits there.

The different colours of liners allow me to pull a drawer and see my 3/8 drive ratchet has been used and not returned (or insert whatever tool besides the ratchet).

Sure, takes double the drawer liners, but knowing exactly what is missing is valuable. I got WAY to many duplicate sockets, screwdrivers, and other stuff cause I couldn't find anything (read the horizontal storage portion above) and thought it was faster to buy a new one. That gets expensive REALLY quick as it will nickel and dime you to death...

As an added bonus, the second liner sort of 'grips' the tools in the chosen spot. Makes for moves, crashes, smashes, tips, whatever to go smoother, cause you then don't have all the stuff in a pile again.

 

Cleaning and organizing is a neverending project for me.

The comment about horizontal surfaces - so true!!

I have discovered one thing over the past couple of years: Put everything on wheels. Shelving units... Benches... Project car... everything. For one, it makes organizing much easier. Let's you try different schemes in less time. And lets you move things around and reorganize should a new tool join the family. Or if you have a garage like mine, let's you quickly go from "auto shop" to "wood shop" in a few minutes.

 

Were is the thread of all the great pictures of neat garages? It showed great ideas of how to keep them clean, organized and more reasons to stay off of the couch.

 

My prefrence is to keep things as high as possible. My shelves are all 4 feet from the ground and run to the celling 10ft, always keep the crap your never going to use on the top. I have a bench that is 6x8 and that is the only thing that touches the ground besides my tool boxes but they are built into the shelves and form a small workstation on the small roller chest. The bigest issue in keeping somthing organized it putting tools away when your done with them.

 

Stuff will always find a way to fill up whatever room you have, just like mentioned before. We have a 40x40 2 car garage...and a car has never seen the inside of it. We built a 20x20 shed, it is now full to the doors with junk, and the garage still has not seen a vehicle. So we built a 26x30 pole barn....also almost full...and still no cars in the garage.