Nothing shouts relaxation like NOT tripping over stuff on the floor. You can make your garage better.
- Clear off the garage floor to avoid tripping
- Light the garage to see your projects and, again, to avoid tripping
- Clean the garage to keep dirt out of the house and off your stuff
- Control the garage temperature to make it more comfortable to work outside
- Beautify the garage floor to enjoy your garage space
Improving the garage calms the anxiety about stuff being out all over the place.
It helps you see the garage as a place to store your cars, or for starting a woodworking, gardening, auto repair or some other fun hobby.
Clear Off Your Garage Floor
The fertilizer (which is spilling) is in front of the auto supplies.
The kids' sports equipment is on top of the lawn tractor.
Everything is out, nothing has a home, and it is driving you crazy.
The first rule of garage Zen is to get everything off the floor and into a home.
That home is your “garage storage,” and it consists of shelves, racks, pulleys, cabinets, and boxes.
It is an elevator platform, a rolling tool cart, and a slatwall with bins for screws, sports balls, and golf garage tools.
The single best move you can make in your garage is to get stuff off your garage floor.
Tripping over your own stuff disturbs your Zen.
You feel like the home owns you.
Get the control you’re your garage.
Own it.
Not only does storage give your stuff home, but it also gets your stuff off dusty concrete where it collects car soot and bug remains.
Each of the links below opens in a new window, so you can explore garage storage ideas and not lose your place in this article.
Learn more about garage cabinets, garage shelves, garage ceiling storage, slatwall storage, tool hangers, and more.
Some Garage Storage Articles on Reboot My Garage
- These NewAge Garage Cabinets Will Make You Feel Like a Confident Homeowner
- 9 Questions About Rubbermaid FastTrack for Garages Answered!
- What Can I Store On a Proslat Wall System? (with Pictures)
- Organizing Your Tools: The Comprehensive Guide
- How to Organize Your Garage Like a Pro
Let There Be Garage Light
The typical garage has a light bulb in the middle of the ceiling.
If it has automatic garage doors, then each door motor has a light.
If you're doing anything besides going into the house from your garage, you've probably thought, “I can't see. Some light would be nice.”
Ultra-bright LED lighting is bright, energy-efficient, and inexpensive.
My favorite garage lights daisy-chain together and use very little electricity, see my article The Best Garage Lights
With lamps that daisy chain together, you plug one lamp into an outlet, and then plug the rest of the lamps into each other!
It really cuts down on wire management hassles.
Once you have more light, adding a garage garden, a potting area for your outdoor garden, or some woodworking equipment might be next.
Imagine using your garage for satisfying hobbies.
Lighting makes your garage look nicer and more cheerful when you're having fun gardening or doing carpentry.
Garage Light and Garden Info on Reboot My Garage
- Can I Grow a Garden in My Garage?
- The Best Grow Shelves for Your Garage Garden
- Don’t Get Left In the Dark! A Lighting Guide For Garages
- The Best Garage Lights
Clean Your Garage
Now that you have a nice bright garage, you can see all that dust!
Untreated garage floors are naturally dusty.
The concrete releases microscopic particles into the air.
You breathe this dust.
It gets on your garage storage.
You track it into the house.
You can slow the dust formation.
Treat the floor with a densifying sealer, which keeps dust from kicking up.
Sealers bond with the concrete surface.
WARNING: Densifying sealers prevent other coatings from sticking to the floor.
This is fine if you are stopping with the sealer, putting mats on the floor, or putting tiles on the floor.
If you want to paint or epoxy the floor, the sealer will be a big headache for you.
Whether or not you seal the floor, garages get dusty, buggy, and sooty.
You should have a garage vacuum on the wall so that it's convenient to use it.
After hours of research, we chose a VacMaster and a VacuMaid as our favorite garage wall-mounted vacuum cleaners.
Today's Trivia: When we say “shop vac,” we mean “a garage vacuum cleaner.” Did you know that “Shop Vac” is a brand name? The company sells … shop vacs.
Reboot's Floor Sealer and Vacuum Info
- 11 Wall-Mounted Garage Vacuum Facts You Need to Know Before Buying
- The Best Garage Wall-Mounted Vacuum for 2023
- Protect the Concrete Garage Floor with a Densifying Sealer
- Can You Really Waterproof a Garage Floor?
Control Your Garage's Temperature
Guess who wants to work in a humid, hot garage? How about a bitter-cold garage? Not me.
Not anyone.
You can get a hold of your garage's temperature with insulation, heating, cooling, and dehumidifying.
Garage insulation makes the air temperature more comfortable during cold and hot weather.
A freezing or hot attached garage drags the house temperature way down or way up.
Moderating the garage temperature saves on heating and cooling costs in the rest of the house.
Cheap garage windows with gaps allow cold or hot air into the garage.
Weatherstripping can slow that leak.
Garage door insulation is a powerful weapon against extreme temperatures.
The more insulation and weatherstripping success you have, the more heater, air conditioner, and dehumidifier success you will have.
Reboot's Garage Temperature Control Info
- Garage Insulation Choices: Batt, Spray, or Blown?
- Is Batt or Rigid Foam a Better Choice for Garage Insulation?
- The Complete Guide to Choosing a Garage Heater
- Do Dehumidifiers Work in Garages?
- The Best Garage Thermal Leak Detector
Beautify Your Garage Floor
A dull garage floor sucks all the light out of the room.
Racing car pit stop tiles can make the whole room come together.
Beautifying your garage floor can be a powerful motivation to start your auto repair, woodworking, or garage gardening hobby.
Garage tiles are easy to install, but be extra careful if you're considering paint or epoxy.
Improper prep work or failing to follow instructions can ruin your floor and your day.
Hire a professional who has the equipment, materials, and expertise to epoxy or paint the floor.
A great alternative to painting is staining.
Choose a water-based rather than an acid-based stain.
Water stains offer a wider range of colors than acid.
Water also offers more consistent results.
This is because acid stains work by reacting to the free lime in the concrete and you have no control over that.
Free lime diminishes over time making the resulting color appear less rich.
Acid is toxic.
You need to wear protective gear to use it.
You must neutralize the area after applying the acid.
All this makes water-based stains a much better choice, especially for DIYers.
For a racecar pit stop floor, install garage floor tile.
Tile can be amazing to look at, and it will cover up a vast array of garage floor sins.
Snap-together tiles create a strong and very cool-looking surface that requires almost zero prep work.
Floor Beautification Help
- I Will Never Epoxy My Garage Floor (What I Will Do Instead)
- What is the Best Epoxy for a Garage Floor?
- Garage Floor Coatings: Epoxy vs. Paint, Which is Better?
- What is the Best PVC Garage Floor Tile?
- 109 Amazing Garage Floor Tile Designs
- 7 Things You Should Know Before Painting Your Garage Floor
- Garage Floor Coatings: Epoxy vs. Paint, Which is Better?
- Should I Paint My Garage Floor?
