Residential Garage Floor Design

Garage Floor Design for the Do It Yourselfer!

from Garage Design Plans 101

Cluttered residential garages are not uncommon. However, you can get away from all the stereotypical designs by investing a little time, effort and cash. You will be glad to realize that there is actually more space and beauty in your own garage than you thought possible. Pick the right layout that matches your needs as well as throw in some creativity to eliminate eyesores.

Rules of Organization
Since the garage is one of the biggest areas in the house, it will be wiser not to underestimate the amount of time and effort you’re going to spend fixing it. Provide at least an entire weekend or two to work on the project. To start organizing, do a visual inspection of the entire area and check how much space you’re using up. It will help a lot if you get the dimensions specifically the total area and height so that you will know which furniture and storage fixtures will fit later on. You may want to ask someone you know to help you estimate the space you have.

When organizing, consider the biggest item you’re supposed to store inside the garage. Do you have a car? How many vehicles do you have? Do you own any power tools that occupy space such as lawnmowers, chainsaws, etc? Start making a list of all items you intend to store inside from the biggest to the smallest. Next, start cleaning out the place. Take away all items you no longer need to be sold, given away or stored in other areas in the house such as the basement or attic. Finally, design your layout that will effectively accommodate all items in the list while freeing up as much space as possible.

Planning the Layout
You can hire a professional or plan the layout yourself with the help of a friend who knows a little about layouts. Start writing down all options to make the design as efficient and convenient as possible. The best approach to save as much space as you can would be to keep all things off the floor if possible. This means you have to invest in fixtures like wall-mounted shelves and baskets, hooks and pins, overhead storage lockers, lofts and tool racks. You may also want to put a couple of large cabinets to keep clutter out of sight.

Use racks and hooks to mount bicycles and power tools. Small items such as nails, screws, bolts and other accessories should be placed in labeled boxes, crates or baskets to be stored in shelves or cabinets for easy access. Larger items can be positioned on lofts and overhead storage shelves if they fit. The rest can remain on the floor but make sure that you still arrange them well out of anyone’s working space and path. Drawers are very useful in storing items which you need to protect against external elements.

As for aesthetic purposes, think of one or two colors to use for the whole room. You may decorate with a few wall-mounted items like a clock, picture frames or framed posters. Be more creative and find the style that best interests you like placing a die-cast miniature Ferrari on one of the shelves or pinning a NASCAR flag on one wall. Lights and garage doors should also carefully be chosen to keep everything safe and easy to locate. A single fluorescent lamp is usually adequate for most residential garage designs but you may also use lamps if you have a certain working corner.

Garage Floor Plans

from Garage Design Plans 101

Almost all of the houses today have garages. The problem is, these garages are often quite unusable. This is because these garages are either too worn or they are too full of junk. Many people prefer to park their cars in the street outside their homes because there’s just no space in the garage anymore. There are also those who prefer not to use the garage because they could end up not being able to take out their cars due to one problem or another with the structure. You have to remember that sometimes it would be more cost-effective for you to build a new garage instead of hopelessly trying to salvage the ruins of the old one. This means you have to find a great garage floor plan. Here are the essentials of finding those:

1) Functionality – for a lot of people, the garage is not just a place for sheltering the car. That’s why a great garage floor plan should include provisions for utilizing any excess space. Great garage floor plans should include anything you need from a gym to a workshop. Let’s face it: people won’t waste valuable space just to have somewhere to park their cars in, not unless they profit from that space. Maximizing functionality is the next best thing to actually gaining monetary profit from your garage. You need to get a garage floor plan which allows you to make the most out of the expenses in building the garage. Of course, the functionality of the garage should reflect your preference.

2) Size – of course, the garage floor plan you follow should be able to accommodate the vehicle/vehicles that you have in mind plus any additional equipment that you may want to place inside. This, of course, depends on the actual size available for you to build on. It is quite unlikely that you will find any garage floor plans with specifications that exactly match the space available to you. This means that you might have to settle for some garage floor plans which are near enough in dimensions and specifications to enable you to build it without making any drastic alterations. The whole purpose of the plan is to guide you, not further confuse you.

3) Flexibility – although a great garage floor plan is meant to be a guide, you have to realize that there are certain specific needs which should be considered in the project. This means you need to be able to make necessary adjustments to the garage floor plan without greatly affecting the plan. You need to be able to personalize the garage floor plan and still retain the qualities that made you want to use that plan in the first place. Flexibility makes all the difference in the world when it comes to building something. After all, everything does not always go according to plan.

4) Cost-effectiveness – of course, following a garage floor plan should not bankrupt you. You need to check both the garage floor plans and your budget to see if you can afford to finish a project. You need to be able to actually build the garage and still be able to keep it. It’s not just the building costs that you should keep in mind. You also need to make sure that you have enough cash to pay for the labor and the equipment that you might want to install later.