Inefficient garage storage systems are behind the vast majority of space and clutter problems facing people around the world today. An area that nobody needs to be aesthetically pleasing, used correctly, the garage can become the ultimate storage area, capable of holding all those utilitarian items that have no place in the rest of your home. This is possible without creating a difficult or complicated system; In fact, the ideal garage storage systems make all your home maintenance essentials accessible at any time, easily visible even to someone who doesn’t know your garage with the privacy that a family member might possess.

Overhead storage systems of the type made by Hyloft are probably the proverbial cream of the crop when it comes to maximum efficiency methods of cleaning your garage floor. The best overhead garage storage systems attach to struts found on the roof or between floors in most homes, giving them strength equivalent to the floor of your home’s second level. From their attachment points at the struts or beams, nylon or steel support cables will run to a rectangular platform (ranging from the size of a door to the size of a car), which can then be raised or lowered by means of de a pulley system. Such pulley systems, when you learn to use them, allow a 10-year-old to handle a three or four hundred pound load, raising or lowering it in seconds if he needs to store or retrieve something from it. The platforms can be raised as high or as low as the load you place on them requires; most can reach within a foot of the ceiling, if necessary.

Of course, regardless of how efficient they are, like garage storage systems, overhead units are just hanging shelf space and aren’t going to be appropriate for items that don’t pack easily into boxes. And while Hyloft does offer hooks for hanging bikes from the decks, these are unlikely to reach the bikes high enough for most people’s purposes. This will no doubt be the case if you drive a Land Rover or another variety of SUV. So what to do, then, if even using space overhead doesn’t work? No need to despair – all you need to do is install garage storage systems that use the space around your vehicle more efficiently. The shelving setup is great, but it’s self-limiting: Shelving units typically have evenly spaced shelves, a space that’s usually too small to accommodate things like lawn mowers or wheelbarrows.

Not so the new GearRax garage storage systems from MonsterRax. Essentially planks of shelving that span lengths of between eight and sixteen feet, these twelve-inch-high, half-inch-thick shelves, which are spaced an inch or two from floor to ceiling, are capable of handling an amount incredible weight. This is primarily due to its ability to distribute weight over a wide area, exerting the same amount of stress on all studs by which the system is attached to walls (the same system works for simple masonry, plaster, and precast structures). . The result? You can hang just about anything, from barbells and weight plates to chainsaws, lawn mowers, and scuba gear, on your wall, keeping things up high and out of the way, yet easily visible and available at any time.