You walk into a garage filled with clutter that covers the floor from wall to wall. Then you look up at the garage ceiling area and notice all that open space is completely unused. Meanwhile, the homeowner’s vehicles are always parked in the driveway.
What’s wrong with this picture?
This illogical scenario is more common than you might expect. Garage ceiling storage space is surprisingly underutilized.
Not taking advantage of your garage’s vertical storage space makes it much harder than it has to be to keep a garage organized and functional.
Maximizing a garage’s storage space (for the ceiling and the entire room) is more simple than you might think. Here are the three keys to achieving this goal:
Seriously, that’s it. Follow these three golden rules and you’ll set your garage up to flourish as an efficient home storage space.
Let’s take a look at a few important things related specifically to garage ceiling storage, including why homeowners don’t use their garage’s overhead space more, some common garage ceiling storage systems, and items that are ideal for overhead storage.
Sometimes the answer to a problem is staring us right in the face and it’s almost too obvious to see. That’s one of the reasons a lot of people never consider using the upper areas of their garage for storage.
The garage walls, another woefully underused storage space, also fall into this category.
Garages in older homes tend to have ceilings with lower heights (overhead clearances in the 8-10 foot range are not uncommon). It’s understandable that a garage with low ceilings wouldn’t be making use of overhead storage systems because it may seem unpractical.
You can still expand your storage space, even with a low garage ceiling height, however. Even if you’re adding smaller garage ceiling storage systems that hold fewer things than a large space can, every little bit counts. Of course, you don’t want to overstuff the garage with storage systems to the point where there’s very little room left to park your vehicles comfortably.
Look at it this way: if something can be stored up high in the garage, that means it’s not cluttering up your floor.
Another reason for the lack of garage ceiling storage space being used is simple – unfamiliarity. Most homeowners have no idea about the many types of garage overhead storage solutions that are available.
It’s the kind of thing that is easy to be in the dark about if you’re not in the process of planning a remodel and gotten an idea of which modern garage storage and organization systems are available. Or perhaps you haven’t had the opportunity to see a neighbor’s or friend’s relatively recent garage makeover, which can plant the seed for ideas in which your garage can be improved.
All of the bulky items stored in these overhead racks would be taking up too much of the floor’s valuable space.
10-15 years ago, most people’s idea of a garage ceiling storage system involved some DIY shelving mounted up high on the walls or sliding skis or spare pieces of lumber between their ceiling joists.
Nowadays, there are lots of products designed to take advantage of your garage’s ceiling space for storing items. Here are the most common types of garage ceiling storage systems:
This heavy-duty overhead rack is designed to hold bulky items and a lot of weight.
Many of the things that sit on the floor of messy garages are bulky and heavy. By simply moving them into the upper reaches of the room, a huge amount of valuable floor space can be freed up.
That instantly makes your garage more parking-friendly and capable of being used for other functions, such as a workshop or for exercising.
Here are just a few of the many things that are ideal for storing in a garage’s ceiling area:
All of the above items are the more obvious choices for storing in a garage’s overhead space. Now think outside the box. How about one or more of your family’s vehicles?
Yes, even cars can leverage the underused vertical space in a garage with a car lift. This handy product expands the parking capabilities of a garage by raising a vehicle so another vehicle can be parked underneath it.
Garage ceiling storage isn’t just for things like storage bins, tools, and seasonal tires. Car lifts can also take advantage of this underused space.
Don’t let your garage’s valuable ceiling storage space go to waste while you deal with the headache of floor clutter on a daily basis.
Garage Living will change the way your garage functions with our storage systems for the ceiling. We also carry the best organization and storage systems for the rest of the garage, such as slatwall and cabinet systems.
Transform your garage into a high-performance space in both looks and function by scheduling a free design consultation with us.
Please share this post if you found it useful.