How to Clean and Organise Your Garage

Some people treat their garages as extended storage space, leaving their vehicles exposed to the elements outside.

This can backfire. With the constant barrage of rain, snow, and heat, your mechanical baby can lose its glossy appearance and turn “Wows!” into “Ows!”.

If your garage demands a little TLC, we’ve got some tips on cleaning your garage in a single weekend.

1. Retouch the garage floors and walls

For the first order of business, remove any obstacle occupying the middle of the garage floor. You’d want to be able to walk through your garage without having to weave around work tools and bins. Decluttering the garage floor can free up space quite considerably, so it’s worth the effort.

Next, give the floor a good sweep. Remove any build-up of dirt and debris that accumulated in tight corners. If there are skid marks and oil stains on your garage floor, clean them off using a solution of kitty litter and paint thinner.

Once the floor is cleaned up, consider painting epoxy paint over your floor to minimise future stains from accumulating. The convenient thing about this paint is that the paint skids can disguise imperfections—perfect for a more polished look.

Then, wipe down walls with a sponge map and some detergent, starting from top to bottom. Finally, touch it up by drying it with a microfibre cloth attached to a flat-head mop.

2. Hang small tools in pegboards

Once the floors and walls are clean, it’s time to start re-organising your tools.

If you’ve picked up a lot of small tools over the years, chances are they’re currently occupying valuable real estate in your garage. A great way to declutter and make use of vertical space is to hang these tools on a pegboard.

Pegboards are easy to install—all you need is a power drill, the pegboard itself, and some wall anchors. Simply screw the pegboard into the wall at a comfortable height, and then use S-shaped hooks to hang your tools.

Once that’s up and ready for use, hang all your small tools in an organised manner. For example, you can place all your screwdrivers in one row and wrenches in another. To make it easier to find the tool you’re looking for, arrange them in ascending order by size.

3. Place large tools in a bin

Stow away larger, long-handled tools like rakes, shovels, and hoes in a bin. This can make it easy for you to grab the tool you need without having to search through a pile of stuff or bend down to grab one.

Alternatively, you can consider building a DIY rack to store these tools. You can use wooden planks and a couple of L-brackets to put together a simple yet functional rack. This may even be more convenient since unloading it is as easy as simply pulling it out from the shelf.

4. Seal doors and windows

Once everything is in its place, seal doors and windows so rainwater doesn’t seep in and damage your belongings.

You can do this by attaching a rubberized strip below the garage door. This will let rainwater bead up and roll off instead of seeping into the cracks and crevices of your garage door.

Not only does this protect your belongings from water damage, but it also keeps your garage floor spick and span for longer.

That said, if you want to take extra precautions to safeguard the items inside your home, home insurance is your best bet. Click here to find out more about the coverage and how you can get started.

5. Use overhead space for storage

If your garage has high ceilings, make use of that extra space by installing some shelves and overhead bins.

This is a great way to keep your room organised, especially if you have a lot of seasonal items or sports gear that you don’t want to dispose of but don’t want to see every day either.

Some things you can store in these compartments include snowboards, fishing rods, and Christmas lights.

6. Separate car care products

Most garages double as a home workshop and a place to store car-related products.

If this is the case for you, it’s important to keep these products sorted and organised so you can easily find what you need when you need it. For example, store all your car fluids in one area, and place your cleaning supplies in another.

Placing them all together in a single bin isn’t the end of the world, but there’s a great deal of convenience knowing exactly where to find what you’re looking for without having to rummage through everything.

7. Dispose of the junk

As you’re putting things away, you probably came across some items that you no longer need or use. From old car parts to that holiday decoration you forgot you had, these junk items only take up space in your garage.

Don’t hesitate to get rid of these items—the sooner you do, the better. You can either give these items to charity, sell them in a garage sale, hand them to a friend, or throw them out. Consider this an ongoing process so that you won’t end up making your garage look like a hoarding zone.