Time to get your garage organized? This cabinet and shelving buyer’s guide will help.
By Don Vandervort, HomeTips
If your garage is a disorganized mess, maybe it’s time to get it under control. Fortunately, a variety of products are made to help with garage storage and organization. Following is a closer look at some of the cabinet, shelving, and organization systems on the market. (Also see Garage Wall Storage Systems.)
Garage Cabinets
Most cabinet configurations for the kitchen work equally well in a garage. Adjustable shelves, upper and lower cabinets, and sturdy drawers give you lots of enclosed space to keep items organized and dust-free.
You can order cabinet systems from companies that manufacture kitchen or garage storage or you can buy a kit if you prefer to do it yourself.
Cabinet materials. Most garage cabinet systems are made of plywood or particleboard, but you can also find systems made of metal or plastic. The least expensive option is standard particleboard, but industrial particleboard is stronger and smoother.
Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is also a strong option, but, like any particleboard, it can expand if it gets wet, which will warp the cabinet. Plywood is a strong material that handles moisture better. Although metal is usually sealed with paint, if the paint fails, the cabinets will rust. Water isn’t a concern for plastic cabinets, but they do not hold as much weight as other systems.
Cabinet coatings. Most cabinets made from wood or particleboard are coated with thin melamine or high-pressure laminate. Although it’s more expensive, high-pressure laminate adds structure and is thicker, tougher, and more water-resistant than melamine. Particleboard shelves with high-pressure laminate can bear three times the weight of uncoated or melamine-coated particleboard. Another advantage of high-pressure laminate is the wide variety of colors and patterns available, whereas melamine only comes in a few colors.
Cabinet supports Because most garage floors are sloped to drain water, many manufacturers include hardware to mount cabinets to the wall, thereby preventing the cabinetry from absorbing moisture from the floor. However, mounting cabinets on the wall decreases the amount of weight they can store.
Garage Shelving
Shelves will likely be the bulk of your garage storage, so it’s important to make sure you have the right ones for your needs. Buying shelving that is too weak to bear the weight of the items to be stored will only defeat your organizational efforts.
Make sure you’re providing enough support for the materials used in your system’s construction. For example, if your shelving is made from 3/4-inch-thick particleboard, it should not span more than 19 inches without support. Medium-density fiberboard shelves of the same thickness need support every 21 inches. Plywood or pine boards can span up to 34 inches.
For sturdier shelves, choose metal systems with two rows of holes in the vertical standards— they support about twice as much weight as single-track racks, and brackets mount to them more securely. Although manufacturers sometimes suggest installing the top rail and then hanging the standards from it, a shelving system will support more weight if you attach the standards to wall studs. Doing so can increase the system’s weight tolerance by up to 600 pounds per standard.
Overhead shelves are a great idea for storing lightweight items that would otherwise take up a lot of space, such as sleeping bags. With ladder brackets installed for extra support, the shelving itself can be very lightweight.
Slot-Wall Panel Systems
“Slotwall” storage systems have been used in store displays for years to hang racks and shelves for merchandise; now you can use them to organize your garage. Also called “slatwall” storage, a system consists of grooved wall panels that shelves, hooks, baskets, and cabinets clip onto or slide into for flexible, coordinated storage.
Store-display slotwall systems are generally made from medium-density fiberboard, or MDF, while garage systems are usually PVC or CVPC (a similar type of plastic).
Manufacturers of plastic systems often caution that humid climates can damage MDF systems, but stores all over the country have been using them without issue. MDF is less expensive, but it is vulnerable to water and insects, so choose what your system is made from based on the environment in your garage.
Plastic systems are easy to handle, lightweight, and come in smaller pieces than MDF systems (strips 12 or 15 inches wide by 8 or 10 feet long compared to 4-by-8-foot sheets weighing 100 pounds). Either way, you’ll need 3 inches between slots for the most versatility.
MDF slotwall is great for hanging sports gear and lighter items—it holds about 35 pounds per 6-inch bracket. For cabinets and other heavier items, use plastic panels or MDF with aluminum-coated grooves, both of which are twice as strong as bare MDF.
