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For many households, a garage is far more than a place to park the family minivan. In fact, a significant percentage of Americans park their cars in the driveway while using the garage for storage. Holiday decorations, photo albums, high school yearbooks, and other treasured memorabilia that often dates back twenty or thirty years can be found in the garage, stacked in boxes and labeled with magic markers.
Making Room for Cars
However, parking a car in the garage can be a great theft deterrent. This is especially important for Columbus, Indiana residents, since crime rates are slightly higher than the national average. Most recent data shows a rate of 207 auto thefts per 100,000 people in 2011, which was significantly higher than the previous year’s rates.
One way to safeguard the family vehicle while still maintaining storage space is to maximize the amount of space available. Whether your home has a one-car, two-car, or three-car garage, builders often leave enough space either in front of the cars or around them to store at least one level of marked boxes.
Using Shelving
But boxes can be bulky and inefficient. In the search for Halloween decorations or a cherished photo album, a family can often waste hours sorting through stacks of boxes. By finding a more effective way to organize items, families can not only make the most of every square inch of garage space but create a more transparent storage solution that helps them find things quickly when they need them.
For items that can be stored in open air without suffering damage, shelving is the perfect solution. Built against the wall, shelving offers an area to store tools, lawn care items, cables, and even bicycles and ladders using hooks built into the wall. Several Columbus companies specialize in creating custom solutions for customers that will not only make the most of space but provide visual appeal.
Do-it-yourselfers can create the same shelving system using only a few common tools, saving money while improving the space. For those items that must be stored safely in containers, clear storage boxes are available that will stack together. Because they are clear, homeowners won’t be required to open every box to find the one item they’re seeking.
Storage space is at a premium in many households. By making the most of the space available in the garage area of a home, homeowners can store items while also leaving room to keep their cars safe from crime, as well as the elements.