Do-it-yourself garage shelves: simple and straightforward

Few people associate a garage exclusively with a parking place for a car. After all, this is a real men's club, a place to relax, a pantry, a workshop - and these are just the first ideas that come to mind. In fact, the garage is a real world, and everything in it is subject to certain rules. Yes, there are rules! If necessary, you can even live in the garage! Do you know what most garages suffer from? Eternal mess and dirt. Motorists are a special people: to smear their hands in oil up to the elbow, that their spouses should go to the spa. But there is a higher caste of garage owners who have perfect order in the boxes, all the tools are laid out on the shelves, the work area has convenient lighting, and there is even a bathhouse. We propose to begin with considering the options for making shelves with your own hands in the garage. They can be done without much cost and literally in a day.

Shelves in the garage: what can be done?

The question is not idle. Don't want to invest in garage furnishings? This is understandable, the garage is a hobby, not a field for investment. You can, of course, buy ready-made racks. You can look at these in any furniture store, and even easier - at points where they sell commercial equipment. Metal racks there just meet all the "garage" requirements.

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And how much does such pleasure cost? Let's take the cheapest option with dimensions of 200 x 100 x 60 cm. You can buy such racks through any digital megastore, and they will cost you about 6 thousand rubles apiece. If you put them in a row at the end of the garage, it's about 18,000 + shipping. Not so expensive when compared with servicing your "swallow" in any service station.

Are you looking for easy ways? Then there are other options. Of course, you can make racks with your own hands.

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There are two main options to choose from: wood and metal. Wood is an easy choice for those who don't have a specific tool. There will be enough saws and a hammer with nails or (which is better, of course) a screwdriver. Putting together a frame from a bar and throwing a board, chipboard, MDF or OSB as shelves is as easy as shelling pears. It is clear that such racks will need additional protection. They must be treated with flame retardants and compounds from rot and insects. And of course, paint to make it all look decent. Such shelves will last long enough, but not forever. Over time, the tree will dry out, the shelves will stagger, and they can be deformed by temperature changes.

In this regard, steel or aluminum structures are less capricious. They are not afraid of hard minuses and sticky heat, they are able to withstand even a lot of weight. The only question is how to assemble such racks yourself.

Choose the type of construction of garage shelves

It is in the assembly of metal garage milks that questions and difficulties may arise. You need to decide how you will fasten the parts.

Welded

If you have skills in welding, it will not be difficult. The only problem is that the welded structure is stationary and motionless. To rearrange such an object or remove it from the garage, you will have to cut it with a grinder. When planning a welded structure, you need to think through everything very carefully, because it will be problematic to change something later.

PHOTO: dom.ngs.ru

Bolted

Bolted shelves are probably even easier to make than welded ones. All you need to provide is holes in the right places and a good tool to pull the fasteners tight. Factory racks are just that. Bolted connections allow you to change the height and location of the shelves, adjust their configuration to current needs.

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Combined shelves

This is a kind of compromise: to combine welding and bolting. On the one hand, in this way you will achieve exceptional structural strength. It makes sense to form a rack frame by welding, and to make shelves on bolts that you can install at different heights as you wish. In this case, perforations are made on the vertical racks, and the transverse shelves are fixed with bolts.

How to design garage shelves

Do not neglect the project. You can, of course, do everything on your knee, but you can make a mistake with the proportions and miss something very important. Therefore, first of all, decide on the purpose of the shelves in the garage. For example, you need a place for seasonal storage of tires. Since you will change them every six months, it is quite possible to consider placing them somewhere not in a very accessible place, for example, under the ceiling of a garage.

PHOTO: storage.cargo-avto.ru

In general, the garage is an essential solution to the problem of tire storage, so it would be foolish to just kick them with your feet when there is space and the opportunity to arrange them neatly and beautifully.

The second point that may interest you is the storage of hand tools. It is easy to store tools on horizontal shelves, but not very convenient. In search of the right key, you will dig through the entire shelf, and as luck would have it, it will be at the bottom. The most convenient way to store hand tools is perforated panels. On them, you can arrange the fasteners in any order convenient for you, arrange them by size, purpose and priority.

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When designing garage shelves, think about how much of it you will fill with such panels. Since these panels are flat and for their installation you need the simplest frame-frame, you can select for them those parts of the wall where there is little room for a turn. These can be walls along the side of the machine or part of a common shelving, for example, directly opposite the workbench. So all the tools you need will always be at hand.

But not only the placement of tools is important. In the garage, you always need to store some small things and overall details. And for this you will need at least trays or drawers. Large parts and tools such as a chainsaw or a karcher, engine and cleaning supplies will need shelves as close to the ground as possible, and quite high.

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What else needs to be included in the drawing? Necessarily - shelves that will be closed, or even hidden. There are always some especially valuable things that are better hidden from the eyes of casual visitors. Not exactly a safe, but at least a safe haven for a stash or valuable tool. If you are making a metal shelving, then a safe locker can also be made with metal walls and doors.

Among other things, in the garage rack you can provide not only a built-in workplace, but also various additional features. For example, a pull-out countertop in case you have little space on the workbench and need additional space to use a tool or organize a feast.

It would be nice to immediately provide a hanger on the rack for outerwear and storage of work overalls or jackets.

How to make a simple shelving from a steel corner

A steel corner is a simple and affordable material for a welded shelf in a garage. An example of how to make shelving was shown by the author of the MasterDIY YouTube channel:

Illustration	Action Description
	Before work, the steel corner must be cleaned of rust and degreased with a solvent. This will greatly simplify welding and subsequent finishing work.
	An important condition for the successful assembly of the structure is careful measurements. Welding does not give any concessions - all parts must be precisely fitted
	The metal corner is perfectly cut by the grinder. The edges of the cuts are best immediately sanded from bumps and burrs.
	The supporting parts of the shelf must be welded on a flat surface. Great idea to place the parts on a flat garage floor
	When two support posts are ready, you can connect them by welding with short parts. First connect the bottom and top, and then the rest of the transverse parts
	The finished rack must be painted. Ferrous metal rusts instantly if left untreated. The ideal option is hammer paint. It contains epoxy resin, which makes it extremely durable and resistant to moisture.
	To fill the shelves, the author used cutting boards. It can be the remains of commercial wood, boards from construction pallets. In order for them to last longer, it is advisable not only to sand them, but also to burn and varnish them, at least with acrylic

How to make shelves in the garage from aluminum profile

Aluminum profile is an affordable and lightweight material for shelf design. Moreover, making a rack out of it without the help of welding is as easy as shelling pears, you only need a screwdriver, like the author of the Green Bocc YouTube channel:

Illustration	Action Description
	Accurate markup is an important condition for success here. By the way, the aluminum profile is easily cut with scissors for metal.
	In order to get a stable connection of two parts of the profile, you can use ordinary self-tapping screws, but you need to arrange them diagonally, and not in a row
	The author recommends using the ceiling element PP 60/27 for connection, which is called “crab” in the common people. This element is able to create strong crosses due to snap-in clips and additional fasteners on the ears.
	All fastenings were made on such "crabs". The cost of one such connector is about 110 rubles, but it saves time and guarantees the strength of any design.
	The ears of the "crab" are bent and fixed with special screws
	When both main racks are ready, you can connect them with crossbars, but already without crabs, on self-tapping screws
	An interesting solution to the problem of materials: the shelves of the rack are made of ordinary metal welded mesh

How to make wooden shelves in a garage or workshop

Wood is a simple and pleasant material to work with that will last you a long time with good processing. Making shelving and shelves out of it is a simple matter. An example of this is this video tutorial:

What other interesting options for garage shelves can be put into practice

Of course, there is no limit to perfection and human imagination. Shelves for the garage can be made not stationary, but movable. To do this, they simply put them on wheels. And you can easily free up space by simply moving the shelf to the side. What other decorating ideas do you have?

PHOTO: fleximounts.com

In principle, since the garage has a limited area, it makes sense to use it to the last square centimeter. Shelves in the garage under the ceiling can be made around the entire perimeter.

PHOTO: rukikryki.ru

PHOTO: mebel-v-nsk.ru

PHOTO: Pinterest

PHOTO: livemaster.ru

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As you can see, there are many options, and each of them looks very worthy. It remains only to decide which one is right for you. Share your opinion, which one do you like the most? Or have you already made shelves in your own garage and can share your experience? Write about it in the comments!