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Creating the Ultimate Garage
Who doesn’t want the ultimate garage? According to the US Department of Energy, 63 percent of US households have garages or carports. Especially if you finish it, your garage can have a number of alternative uses – playroom, workshop, man cave, guest room, home office, and yoga studio. Unfortunately, many people find that their garages simply become their storage units, rather than functional spaces.
Furthermore, a survey from Gladiator GarageWorks notes that as many as one in four Americans say that their garage is too cluttered to fit their cars inside it. So here are some tips on how to clean it out, envision it anew, and create the ultimate garage, brought to you by Frank’s European Service.
Decluttering Your Garage
Perhaps the first step in refurbishing your garage is decluttering it – and perhaps the first step in doing that is to review some basic techniques of decluttering. These might include giving away one item each day or zoning off areas of a general mess and stopping once an area is done so that you don’t overwhelm yourself. Then, apply those techniques to the garage itself.
No need to throw everything away (keep the bikes, the cans of paint, or the lawnmower). Just draw a line to separate functional space from storage space, and add overhead storage and label wall sections. Get a workbench and a place to store your tools so that you can have an area to spread out whenever you want to work on your car.
Putting a Home Management App to Work for You
Using a home management app to find online plumbing help offers unmatched convenience and efficiency. These apps allow you to quickly connect with licensed plumbers, share detailed descriptions of your plumbing issues through text, photos, or videos, and receive expert advice or arrange service visits with just a few taps. Real-time updates keep you informed about appointment times and job progress, simplifying the process of addressing plumbing problems and saving you time and reducing stress.
Build It or Fix It
All those suggestions for how to clean your garage only apply if you have a garage. But what if you don’t own a garage and you want to build one? Nationwide, the average cost for adding on an attached garage ranges from $23,000 to $45,000. For the ultimate garage, consider souping up the space with a fridge, heated floors, or even dry-erase walls.
Adding or revamping a garage can result in tax benefits later on, so be sure to hold on to all your receipts and invoices. Such tax deductions are even more beneficial if you’re a business owner and you’ve set up office space in the garage. It’s a good idea to digitize your records, which makes storage, sorting and document retrieval much easier when you need it most.
If remodeling your garage isn’t in the budget right now, at least make sure it’s not just clean but structurally sound. Check the foundation. If the windows are leaking or letting in cold air, get them replaced. And make sure the garage door works. The last thing you want is to put all this time and money into your garage just to listen to the door shrieking or stall midway up when you open it.
For the Car(s)
People use their garages for all kinds of purposes, but perhaps its most built-in-ready use is as a space to work on your cars and keep them in tip-top condition. If you love gliding a towel over the curves of your 1959 Cadillac, here are a few tips on replicating the perfect shop:
- Measure out how much space your cars need, and then clear aside everything in their way.
- Ventilate the garage so that you don’t inhale any dangerous fumes.
- Rewire the walls to run enough voltage through it, then put in fluorescent lighting to keep you from accidentally scratching or bumping into your cars.
- Install an efficient heating-cooling system to regulate the temperature year-round.
- Treat the floors with dark Epoxy so that oil leaks don’t stain.
- Make sure that the floor has drainage so you can wash your car without flooding the interior.
Finally, think about putting in a lift. These will run you about $3,500 and $7,000, and it can be customized for garages with ceilings of different sizes. Not only will they give you that beloved atmosphere of a professional garage, but they also let you tinker with those hard-to-reach places on your car as you work on it all year long.
Upgrading your garage to the ultimate garage is a worthwhile investment. It can even raise your property’s value! So use this guide to help you understand what steps you can take to improve your garage space.
Frank’s European Service has the European car specialists you’ve been looking for. Questions? Text 833-689-0044.
