Countless garage-worthy vehicles have been displaced by household clutter. To rectify the situation, garage organization manufacturers are helping homeowners store their belongings, alleviating what's become a top home organization headache.
“The garage is becoming the next rec room or multiuse space for everything from gardening to mechanic work to crafts,” says Carl Landgren, marketing director for StoreWall. StoreWall's eponymous garage organizer is a slat-style wall panel that installs with specially designed screws. Hooks, baskets, and other accessories help users get their belongings up off the garage floor.
Rubbermaid, and Whirlpool's Gladiator GarageWorks, offer panel systems for their wall-mount shelving and cabinetry collections. Rubbermaid retooled its laminated wood closet organization designs for use with its professionally installed Fast-Track slat system in the garage. The maker's cabinets mount 8 inches off the floor to allow for cleaning underneath, and to protect the wood from floor-level moisture.
“Organization is currently a $2.5 billion industry and $800 million of that is in garages,” notes Michelle Savalox, senior marketing manager and garage organization expert with Gladiator GarageWorks.
Through surveys and ethnographic studies, Gladiator GarageWorks determined that the garage is used as the main entry point into 75% of homes. As such, the company's powder-coated steel product line offers cabinets, roll-out Gearboxes, and other cabinetry in an industrial design, for a coordinated look that helps the garage function as another room of the house.
Despite differences in product lines, most systems allow for expansion as families' storage needs grow. The sales opportunities afforded in this category are facilitated by online tools and other software that helps get garage planning under way and generate product and price lists for easy ordering.
Web Extras For Web-exclusive extended versions of the noise reduction and garage renovations articles, visit the January issue of REMODELING online. www.remodelingmagazine.com/extras
