Garage Shelves - Metal Vs Plastic

Though, strictly speaking a garage is meant for housing cars, invariably the place ends up getting dumped with anything and everything that is not frequently needed by the homeowners. That really creates a clutter in the garage at time to such an extent that it is an effort to park the car there. That’s what prompts people to go for some kind of shelving in the garage to keep their excess baggage in the garage while still having sufficient space for parking of car. However, the options for shelving arrangements are so many, varying from wall shelving to overhead storage, to shelving units that you are overwhelmed to decide which kind of shelving arrangement would best suit you storage requirements.



Usually a lot of people chose to have some popular kind of garage shelves that are simple, durable and offer easy assembly or installation. Generally these are made of metal or plastic. Both the materials have their own advantages and limitations. It is necessary to give prolonged thought as to the material that would be most suitable under any given circumstances. Basically, one needs to assess the storage requirements before hand to arrive at appropriate storing facility and that involves a bit of homework. A part of this exercise will be to take an inventory of all the items you intend storing on the shelving you are going to have. You should understand that the requirement of storage space is necessarily decided by the weight, volume or size of the items to be stored. For instance, the requirements of shelving needed for storing heavy voluminous items will be different from those required for small or medium sized items that are not too heavy or voluminous.

Taking an inventory of the items needing storage helps you to categorize items as per their size, weight and even frequency of their use. It will be worth spending time to make as accurate an estimate of items as is possible before zeroing in on the choice of material for shelving. It’s not difficult to understand that heavier items are better stored on steel shelving that remains stable and wouldn’t bend or give way under pressure of weight.



But, using plastic shelving has its own advantages, being lighter, economical and easier to maintain as it would need no painting unlike steel. Then, you might have some small components that would perhaps be best stored in a box. So, you may be required to have an assortment of materials or sizes of the shelving.

To sum up, it is imperative to assess your shelving requirements based on the nature of items to be stored to have an efficient long lasting shelving arrangement.

Three Mistakes We Make When Using Garage Shelves

It’s not rare to find people choosing improper shelving arrangements for their garage. One important reason for the wrong choice of shelving is lack of planning. Either they don’t take measurements at all or take wrong measurements of space or they go wrong as far as choice of material of shelving goes. This article is intended to help you steering clear of the oft made mistakes to get just the right shelves.

Don't plan ahead:

Buying shelving or material thereof is not as simple as buying any other domestic items that you just decide to have one day, go to any store and get it done.

You need to plan your storage in the sense that assess your requirements of storage, meaning the kind of items to be stored, their size and weight and such like. Before you really start building your storage you have to plan before hand.

While planning for your storage system you not only have to understand the present or normally used items needing storage but also anticipate future requirements to some extent. The better and detailed planning you do, the less are the chances of embarrassment having improper shelving and the resultant clutter. Lack of planning is the most important cause of inappropriate shelving. Take care to categorize items as per their size and nature. For instance, it wouldn’t be desirable to store chemicals with other normally used items.

Buy the wrong kind of shelving:

An important factor that shouldn’t escape your mind while making shelving of your own or buying ready to install kind of stuff is to ascertain is sturdiness. And, that again brings us back to the nature of items, meaning their weight and size, that you intend storing therein. That involves planning.

Apart from the material of the shelving you should ensure that the shelving is adequately supported to hold the weight of shelving plus its content, lest the whole arrangement should come cracking down on the floor! This is particularly important in case of wooden shelving.

Measure everything wrong:

Another common cause of shelving failure is its improper size. You are required to take accurate measurements of the space to be provided with shelving and it’s very important to sectionalize the shelving to have even distribution of weight along its length. For instance you may have one long shelf and keep storing items on that, irrespective of their weight, thereby putting too much weight on it. That leads to collapsing of the shelving itself.

So, you should divide the entire length to different sections of appropriate length, keeping in mind the weight and size of the items you intend storing there. Measure sections and stagger the shelves. Remember, the shorter the span of the section, the sturdier is the shelving.

You should understand that it’s worth the effort to measure and weigh items you intend housing on the shelving. That helps you have a better estimate of the distance you should maintain between the shelves. It means you can better fir the items on or under the shelves.

If you take care of these three common mistakes that people often make while procuring shelving, you certainly have better chances of having organized shelving and the optimum utilization of space at your disposal, and that is primarily the function and idea of having shelving.

Installing Shelves In Your Garage

The most important benefit of having shelves in your garage is that it helps to keep your things organized and presentable. Installation of shelves means that you are creating additional space for storage, which otherwise gets wasted away.

To arrive at the most effective shelving you should know before hand the items you intend storing therein. For instance, lightweight items can be stored on plastic shelves that are easier to install and are lightweight. But, such shelves may not be very appropriate for storing of heavier items, as they may get bent due heavy weight. Further, they are more prone to breakages than strong metallic shelves.



Storage of heavier tools and equipment demands solid metallic shelves. Some of the metal shelves are free standing. As these may get tipped over, it is better to attach such units to the wall near their top. The other variety of metal shelves is attached to the walls by means of brackets. That further helps to make better use of space by keeping the shelves off the floor, thus enabling free movements of vehicles on the floor. However, such shelves need a very careful installation for fear of their getting detached from the wall due weight of heavier items and thus cause an accident.

Another preferred option for garage storage is wire shelving. The advantage of these wire shelves that are generally provided with a plastic coating, is that you can use them for storage of heavier items, though they are not so strong as solid metal shelves. On the positive side they facilitate better circulation of air that may be of help during humid atmosphere.

Adjustable, or "rail" shelving is mounted on horizontal rails that are fixed on the garage walls. You can install shelves anywhere along the rails, and they offer the possibility of varying their height as per your requirements.

It may be worthwhile to consider wooden shelving, depending on the material to be stored. Hardwood shelves are pretty strong, though a softer wood like pine tends to sag in the middle after prolonged use. Long shelves should necessarily be supported in the middle to have a uniform distribution of loads and to keep them straight. However, climatic conditions needs to be taken into consideration while thinking on the lines of having wooden shelves that are adversely affected by humidity and temperature. At the same time wood is very easy to work upon for getting custom made shelving for the garage.

Once you have the proper shelves for your garage, you’ll realize how convenient it is to organize the garage to find everything so handy and easy to locate.