It’s rare to come across a garage that is truly and exclusively being used for the intended purpose of housing a car. Invariably, one finds all the imaginable household stuff getting accumulated in the garage. That’s because we all find it to be the most convenient place for dumping all the infrequently used or condemned household effects to such an extent that at times it gets difficult to move the car into or out of it.

Of course every household needs additional place for storing a number of household items that are not required on a day to day basis and a garage offers that space and the convenience of storage till it all gets cluttered up. If ever you conduct an inventory of items in the garage, you are sure to be surprised by quite a few of the items there that you may not be able to recognize as your own. If only an arrangement could be made for an organized storage and retrieval of goods there, the whole place could be put to a better use. And, a convenient way of doing it is to have shelves along the walls, thereby making use of the idle vertical space and keeping the floor clear.

You get plenty of choices as far as materials to be used for shelves are concerned. Naturally the strongest and the most durable material is steel. Another option is that of good looking and strong heavy-duty wire shelving that’s very versatile. Else, you may go for industrial shelving. Freestanding metal shelves offer the convenience of adjusting the layers up and down to suit required shelf height.

Another material suited for the purpose is wood. It is more economical and you can venture into making theses of your own. That way you can make them to the exact size of your requirements.

Now, there are many kinds of wood to be used here. You can have solid wood of pine or fur, but that will be quite expensive. The economical option would be to use particleboards. Plywood of ¾” thickness serves the purpose very well and costs very little.

You need to consider the kind of materials you are going to store there. Even if you plan to have lighter items, it’ll be safer to have these for heavier loads that you may not be able to anticipate initially.

Here’s a word of caution. Shelves made from particleboard tend to sag in the middle. You can overcome this problem by having shorter spans. Planning before construction saves a lot of time and possible embarrassment too. You should realize how deep can the shelving go without eating into much of garage space. Next, you need to know how tall can the shelving go. The recommended size of lumber for the frame and shelves for a simple floor supported shelf design is 2’x4’ and ¾” respectively.
Here’s how you go ahead with it:

Keep the 2x4s vertically on the ground, pressed against the wall and separated by a distance of 2 feet from each other. Attach to the wall thru screws. Use additional 2x4s for making horizontal supports. Lay one along the bottom, with its 4″ side against the upright pieces and check with a level that it’s straight. This is your support for the bottom shelf. Fix screws along its length, at every point where there is an upright 2×4. Repeat the same process for each shelf level, and keep going up. This forms the back part of the frame.

For the front part of the frame, assemble horizontal and vertical 2x4s as per the measurements you already followed. Nail them together and let the frame stand on the floor.

The front part is attached to the back by means of 2x4s cut to the depth of the shelf. You provide support and stability by nailing the top part to the rafters or the stronger parts of the ceiling.

Once your framework is ready, all that is left for you is to cut the plywood to the required size. Place the cut pieces on top of the horizontal pieces and nail them down.

There are many plans for shelving. It may be worthwhile to go thru some books, magazine or be online to study and decide on the one that best suits your style and requirements.