Garage Overhead Storage: Something to Think About

Garage overhead storage is a topic you probably haven't really given much thought about. It's not really something that crosses the brain in natural fashion. If you are like the typical American home owner, you probably just use the garage to store tons of stuff in that you really don't need. And if you are lucky, you actually use it to put your car in sometimes. The problem is that most people don't take a more deliberate approach to how they store their items. Come in, drop it in the corner, and worry about finding it later, that's the normal routine. Lame! There's no really good reason for it. Lazy thinking and a lackadaisical approach to storage usually ends up in messes and clutter that could easily be avoided with just a little planning.

When it comes to storing things in the garage, there are a wide variety of options for your consideration. Racks on the wall that are designed to hold specific things like bikes, tools, and sports equipment (like snow skis and water skis), are right up there in terms of what people will normally turn to in an attempt to get control of the mess in the garage. These are great, but often don't go far enough.

The next thing many people utilize is shelving. These help a lot because you can get a lot of things up off the floor, out of the corner, and into some semblance of organization. They come in complex metal configurations that can be customized for your specific space and requirements. Or, they can also be had as simple platforms that are fixed. No matter what style you opt for, getting those sleeping bags, the tent and cooler, all those Christmas boxes and other holiday decorations up and away is a huge relief.

Even with racks and shelving, storage can still remain a big problem for some. But never fear, garage overhead storage solutions exist that may just save the day. My personal favorite, it is an amazingly simple idea that really works well. This is the overhead platform that you rig up on a pulley system. You simply lower the platform to the ground, load up whatever you want to store up above, raise it back up, and tie it off. How sweet is that? Whenever you need to access those particular items, you just reverse the process. Lower the platform down, do your thing, then raise it back up again. Nice and easy, and completely out of the way. It makes sense, doesn't it? All that space overhead that hardly ever gets used now has a place on the solution side of things, rather than on the problem side of things.

Another garage overhead storage solution that many people love are those bins that you put on racks. These are basically rails that attach to the ceiling that hold plastic bins. Same concept as the shelf, but with a little different spin. Since the bins are plastic, they are lighter and easier to manage. They don't hold as much as a platform, but that doesn't really matter to many people.