Our garages often become storage areas.  A snowblower here,  some tools there, bicycles, spare tires, etc.  It doesn’t take long before it is so cluttered that you can’t even park your car.

One good way to create more storage and to organize your stuff is to add shelving units.  There are many that are commercially available. However, some are flimsy and others are very expensive.  A relatively simple DIY project is to create your own shelving.  Some 2x4s, plywood, screws, and some brackets are all that you need.

By attaching 2x4s to the wall’s studs you create a long surface where you can attach your shelving brackets independent of the studs. You can find brackets at you local home center in the hardware aisle.  In fact, many home centers will rip your plywood into shelves if you ask them.  I like using wood screws to attach the 2X4s to the walls, and drywall screws to attach the shelves to the brackets.  The drywall screws that I had on hand were a bit too long, so I used a grinder to cut off their tips from the top of the shelves.  I also used a jigsaw to curve the edge of the bottom shelf to make it less of a hazard.

A simple morning project yielded a lot of extra space.

The first shelf installed.

Grinding off exposed screw tips.

Bottom shelve rounded off with a jigsaw.

The shelving completed.