Organizing Your Minneapolis Garage

You’ll often see interesting ideas for converted garages on the internet or on television. We’ve seen garages turned into arcades, man caves, home gyms, apartments, artists studios, and workshops that would make any handyman blush. With some creative thinking and some crafty work, a garage can transform into a great number of things. But here in Minneapolis, we have five-month winters. At least. So we don’t exactly have the luxury of parking our cars on the street to turn our garages into a Zumba studio. Not unless we want spend 10 minutes per day scraping our windshields and warming up our vehicles before we head out for the day.

With eye-catching garage redesigns out of the question in Minnesota, homeowners instead need to focus their garage efforts on organization and maximizing garage storage. This is especially true for homeowners that have multiple cars and would like to shelter them from the brutal Minneapolis winters. So what’s the best ways to organize your garage?

First things first, take an inventory of what you have.

Declutter and Toss Stuff

It’s hard to maximize storage and fit your vehicles into your garage if it looks like you’re auditioning for the TV show Hoarders. Before you begin your garage organization project, you’ll want to start by going through everything that is in the garage and figure out if there’s anything that can be eliminated. One effective way to do declutter is by sorting everything out and organizing them by things to keep, things to donate/sell, and things to throw out. Try and identify the things that no longer work, or things that you no longer need. Many of us hold onto broken things thinking that we’ll fix them someday, yet that day rarely comes and the broken thing ends up occupying valuable garage real estate for years. They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so maybe consider having a garage sale or listing a few things online if you think you can make a few bucks off of them.

Clean Your Garage

In the previous step you’re going through all your stuff to decide what should stay and what needs to go. A great way to do that is by dragging everything out into the driveway so you can visualize it all at once, in the open. With all your stuff in the driveway, you have an excellent opportunity to clean up your garage.

  • Sweep at all the dust, dirt, leaves and other spills that have marked up your garage floor over time.
  • Wipe down any existing shelves you may have in your garage to remove dust and dirt.
  • Clean your garage door and the garage door tracks.
  • Lubricate your door rollers to ensure your garage door opens and closes correctly.

Paint or Epoxy

If you’ve ever considered painting or applying an epoxy to your garage floor, you should take advantage of how a clean and cleared out garage. A fresh coat of paint can do wonders for the appearance of the interior of your garage. Applying an epoxy to your garage floor is a great idea in Minnesota, as the surface will protect the cement and keep your garage cleaner. Your garage’s cement floor is susceptible to cracking when exposed to moisture in the drastic temperature changes between our humid summers and our frigid winters.

Install Shelving

If you don’t have any existing shelves in your garage, or find yourself unsatisfied with your current arrangement, it’s always wise to take advantage of you vertical space by installing some storage options on the walls of your garage. Consider throwing up some quick and easy wire shelves. They’re much cheaper than wooden shelves, and won’t require much work to install. Wire shelving will allow you to stack and store items in your garage in an efficient and organized manner. You’ll want to be creative with how you design your shelves. Allow some room to hang larger tools like shovels, weed trimmer, leaf blower, tree clippers, golf clubs, hockey sticks, etc.

Garage Dwelling Items That Should Go Somewhere Else

There’s going to be a few items that made the cut during your throwaway phase, that need to find another home instead of being stored in your garage. Some of those items include:

  • Propane Grill: Many people store their propane grills in their garages. While your garage offers sanctuary for your grill, your propane tank attached to your grill is highly combustible. With your cars also in the garage that’s not a good thing. Either disconnect your propane tank, or get a cover for your grill and store it 10 feet from your garage and house.
  • Pet Food: It’s always nice to save money by purchasing a bulk-sized bags of dog and cat food. However, you don’t want to store that in your garage. Especially if you have a stand alone garage. The food that your pup or kitty gobbles up is also very appetizing for mice, squirrels, and other small critters that inhabit Minnesota neighborhoods.
  • Paper Goods: Did you buy paper cups and paper bags in bulk as well? Awesome! But store those inside your home. Roaches and bugs will seize your paper goods if they’re in your garage.

Let Harkraft Lend a Helping Hand

If you’re tired of your messy garage, but don’t know how to get it organized, let us help. No, we can’t help you decide whether or not to keep your old college mini fridge or if it’s time to throw away old toys and lawn chairs. But, we have plenty of experience providing garage storage solutions to our Minnesota clients. With high-quality garage storage solutions from Harkraft, we can help create the garage of your dreams. To learn how, call or message us today!