Every time I have a buyer who tells me their criteria for the home they are looking for they almost always say at least a one car garage. I usually silently laugh because all too many of our garages have become storage units and in many cases extra bedrooms. In the latter case, hopefully with complete permits. They always start out as covered and cool places to house our cars yet as time goes by, the cars become surrounded so much with ‘stuff’ that the ‘stuff’ takes over and our good friend, our cars, sit out in the sun and rain and if yours is like mine, it becomes a landing point for ‘bird’s stuff’.
When you think about glamorous, exciting remodeling projects, the garage is probably not the first space in your home that leaps to mind. But garage remodeling has become the new frontier for homeowners looking to organize and reclaim space in their homes, and to do it with flair. Depending on your tastes, time and budget, it’s not difficult to create a garage space that’s not only the envy of the neighborhood.
As opposed to the typical approach to a garage, which is to put up a shelf or a cabinet whenever and wherever the need arises, today’s complete garage makeover includes several elements that all come together to form a clean, coordinated, and remarkably organized space. Wall systems, modular storage, floor covering and even garage appliances all combine to make your garage work harder than you ever thought possible.
There are even companies that will come in and design the perfect garage for you. Tim Allen of Tool Time, eat your heart out. At the heart of most complete garage makeovers is the wall system. Modeled after the slotted panels seen on the walls of many retail stores that allow for quick and attractive changes in merchandising displays, garage wall storage systems incorporate designs and materials that are specifically intended to handle the dirt, dust, chemicals and temperature extremes that are most often found in garage environments.
This brings to mind another renovation consideration. The addition of insulation would do wonders for not only the temperature in the garage but help with the dust too. If you are putting in new AC in the house, don’t forget a small duct in the garage too, especially if you are going to use it for a workshop or laundry room in addition to keeping your car cool.
Clean, lightweight wall panels are attached to the wall studs and stacked up to cover all or part of the wall, and are easily cut to size for a custom fit. Matching trim is available to finish off the installation at the corners, and around electrical outlets.
With the panels in place, organizing the garage is as simple as slipping any of the various shelves, drawers, cabinets, bins, boxes, hooks and other storage components into the slots in the panels. Arrange the layout in any manner that suits your storage needs. Best of all, as those needs change it’s a matter of only minutes to rearrange the storage wall layout into a new customized configuration.
Now, how about adding some matching garage appliances. You can keep the drinks cold or store extra food that won’t fit in the kitchen in a refrigerator/freezer that’s specifically designed for the temperature and humidity extremes of the garage environment. And then help clean up the space with a tough, matching trash compactor. Both the compactor and the refrigerator are on heavy-duty casters to make reorganization of the space a breeze.
And finally, there’s the floor. Add a rugged, nonporous, water- and chemical-resistant flooring that cleans up that old concrete and protects the floor from further staining.
It is interesting that whenever we show a home one party is very interested in the kitchen and baths while the other is interested in seeing the garage. For years, REALTORS have been saying that if you are going to do any work on your home to make it sell, make sure the kitchen and baths are in first rate condition. Now we should add the garage. In today’s market, it would be a selling point to one of the buyers even more than a fancy kitchen.
