Arthur K, Author at - Page 13 of 17

Posted on April 18, 2019June 10, 2023 by Arthur K

DIY Garage Hooks

Visit your local hardware store and you will find an extensive range of DIY garage hooks. From small to large, and hooks for heavy and light objects. Many of these hooks are designed for you to attach directly to your garage wall with a screw or bolt. There are also hooks designed which are specifically designed for a pegboard or a slatwall.

DIY Garage Hooks

This week, I looked through my own garage and found a variety of wall hooks that I have collected over the years. I spent some time reviewing and comparing them to the StoreWALL range. The review which is pretty detailed focuses on the thickness of the metal used, the use of backing plates, the quality of the finish, the style of hook and the installation options.

Most slatwall designed hooks are not build for direct installation without the slatwall. StoreWALL’s range gets a Yes and No answer here. Whilst not designed specifically for this, its backing plate has a pre-drilled hole to allow for direct installation. What complicates the installation is the CamLok mechanism which protrudes at the rear of the back plate. This stops the backing plate from sitting flush on the wall.

Therefore it is a more versatile option than StorEase which also has a protruding backplate but doesn’t have a predrilled hole.

StorEase & Sure Hook

My review is included in the video I have added below. It runs for about 10mins and compares a range of hooks I have purchased from my local store. I have pegboard hooks, StorEase hooks, as well as Surehook.

The video reviews each DIY garage hook so you can get a better understanding about the strength and practicality of each hook and hook system it belongs to.

Slatboard or slatwall systems whilst requiring an upfront investment eliminate the need to drill holes into your walls. Each hook or bracket or shelf can be moved around as required. They can also be removed altogether if no longer needed. Given the amount of storage found in our homes today, it is certainly worth considering when designing your new home.

Posted on April 12, 2019June 22, 2023 by Arthur K

Ball Storage Rack

My son and I really enjoy playing soccer. Over the past 4 years since he started playing we have accumulated about 6 soccer balls. Some of these we purchased ourselves and some have been received as birthday presents. Finding an effective way to store these balls in some ball storage rack of sorts has really been challenging.

My son plays for a local soccer team and trains twice a week. We also train together once per week. So our collection of soccer balls are always scattered between the garage floor, boot of the car (multiple) and the back yard.

Ball Storage Rack

Inside the garage we have used a ball storage rack of sorts which is essentially a storage bin. Now storage bins are great, but not really the ideal solution for balls.

The local soccer club that my son plays for uses Tote Bags to store the soccer balls that the teams can share. In fact each coach has their own tote bag for training balls.

Sports Tote Bags

StoreWALL offers its own range of canvas tote bags, but best of all they also offer hooks long enough to enable you to easily hang the tote bags from your garage wall. This is a much more effective ball storage rack than using a bin.

Tote Bag Sizes

The Tote bags offered through StoreWALL come in 4 sizes, small, medium, large and extra large. They are made from a tick heavy duty mesh canvas material with draw strings which can be spread across 2 hooks. The hooks which are attached to the wall with CamLok, are called 300mm Universal Hooks (you will require two of them which can be shared across bags).

The sizes of the Tote Bags are

Small – 279mm (d) x 304mm (h) x 457mm (w)
Medium – 279mm (d) x 457mm (h) x 457mm (w)
Large – 279mm (d) x 457mm (h) x 609mm (w)
Extra Large – 279mm (d) x 609mm (h) x 863mm (w)

These dimensions refer to the actual width, depth and height of each bag.

Easy Access

What is actually great about these bags is that once they are removed from the wall (essentially slip off the hooks), the draw strings can be used to close them and they can be taken with you to your sports activity.

Take a look at our wall storage options here. You can combine a Basic or Standard Duty Wall Panel with a StoreWALL Tote Bag and still have room on your panel for a few more hooks to cater for other garage or gardening storage needs.

Compatibility with Slatwall Systems

If you are already an owner of a StorEase panel (wider silver panel) sold by Bunnings or slatwall panels from GarageTek or GarageSmart, you can also combine StoreWALL Hooks and Totes to your panel(s).

Posted on March 20, 2019June 10, 2023 by Arthur K

Home Garage Storage

Every day I pass new homes and catch a glimpse of their garages only to see a mixture of home garage storage made up of shelves, hooks with hanging items from the wall and lots and lots of items sitting on the ground by both walls.

I suppose once you have invested so much money onto a new home and garden, the last thing you want is to invest more money into your garage? It’s already built, the four walls are there.

Just like a kitchen however, it needs cupboards, bench space, cooking appliances, washing accessories and so on.

Home Garage Storage Options

Your garage is much the same. It needs furniture to make it work. Furthermore, garages in most modern homes sit at the front of the home and are usually the first room you see when you arrive.

Pass any new home with a packed and messy garage and you don’t get a great first impression. Unlike the older homes with the garage at the end of the driveway, new homes make a statement with their garages. They are also another entry point into the house.

Home garage storage is best done over time but with a combination of furniture which will help you manage both large and small items. Items which are used regularly and those that aren’t. Items that are long and short as well as awkward. Garages also need to store everything else the home doesn’t want.

Home Garage Shelving

Every garage definitely needs shelving, but going end to end with shelving will also take up a lot of room because it is usually 500mm deep. This is space you no longer have if your garage is made of mostly shelving.

Wall panel storage options are a great option because not only can you utilise the full height and length of your wall, you can use it to store garage items of all sizes. This includes the awkward ladders and wheel barrows. It also includes the brooms, rakes and other pole based equipment usually forced into the corner so they remain upright.

Wall based home garage storage can also cater for your bikes hanging either vertically or horizontally. The great range of hooks will also cater for all of your power tools. Then there are the great range of smaller shelves. These come in wire, plastic of heavy duty metal. Some are about 800mm on length and others 1.2m.

There is actually very little a wall based storage solution can’t handle. Best of all, hanging items directly on your wall means they are off the floor. An additional advantage is that the depth of your storage is linked to the depth of your stored items (unlike the fixed depth of a shelf).

Posted on March 16, 2019June 10, 2023 by Arthur K

Garage Storage Shelving Systems

StoreWALL offers a great range of Garage storage shelving systems which can be attached to our StoreWALL Wall Panels and easily moved around. The range comprises plastic and metal garage wall shelves of 800mm or 1.2m lengths.

Metal Garage Wall Shelves

StoreWALL Metal garage wall shelves come in 1219mm and 760mm sizes and are made from solid industrial grade steel, with a steel reinforcement bar on the underside. Our Metal Shelves will keep all your items safely stored. All of our Metal Shelves also come with CamLok backplates and are coated with a heavy duty powder finish.

Light Plastic Shelves

Compliment your StoreWALL panels with our new light weight plastic shelves. The 812mm & 1219mm shelves are made from a sturdy plastic and are supported by StoreWALL brackets (sold separately). One side has no edges, flip it over and it is a tray with a lip edge all the way around. The shelves have a maximum weight capacity of about 45kg.

Garage storage shelving systems – Ledge Shelves

The 1219mm Ledge Shelf fits directly onto your StoreWALL wall panels (no brackets required). Shelves are moulded of strong, lightweight thermoplastic, do not require paint or finishing and are simple to keep clean. The Ledge Shelf can easily be converted into a custom display shelf or tool organiser.

Metal Wire Shelves

StoreWALL offers two Wire Shelves (Small and Large). The Large Wire Shelf (760mm) provides more space for storing a wide variety of supplies and is perfect for places where brackets cannot be used. A great place to store muddy boots and boxes off the floor.
The Small Wire Shelf (760mm) is designed for storing items such as a tackle box, small cooler or a tool box.

Wire shelves are equiped with our CamLok locking mechanism.

Tool Organiser

Our garage workshop storage solutions now extend to our tool organiser. Made of extruded, lightweight thermoplastic, pre-drilled and ready to use. The 406mm Tool Organiser is incredibly strong, easy to clean and does not require paint or finishing.
It also attaches easily to StoreWALL without additional brackets.

All of our shelving options can be found here.

Posted on February 22, 2019June 10, 2023 by Arthur K

How to organise your garage and bikes

Whilst garage spaces are similar from one home to another, how you use your space and what you keep in it can vary significantly. That is why tips on how to organise your garage and bikes can be useful but they can’t really delivery the full recipe for each and every person.

The benefits of being organised inside the home are exactly the same outside it. An organised garage can not only make it easier for you to find things, but it can also reduce the chance of damaging items kept in your garage like cars and the bikes themselves.

Today’s article has a focus on bikes because bike riding is becoming a whole lot more popular in Australia. Many people not only ride on the weekends, they now also ride to work. Bikes can be a much bigger investment than what they used to be, and people take that investment quite seriously.

Greater popularity also means more bikes in homes and a bigger challenge on how to how to organise your garage and bikes without compromising the bike or the rest of the garage.

The Bike Plan

The tips for your bike plan are to consider what amount of space you need for storing your bikes, ie look at the size of each bike and the space you will need around it. The last thing you want is damaging the bikes as they are taken form storage and then returned.

You will need to consider where in the garage you want them to be stored and how they will be accessed. This includes taking the bikes off and stand or hook and then returning them. Consider that you might need access to all bikes at the same time, particularly if you are riding to work on weekdays and with the family on weekends.

Storing bikes is not just about the bikes themselves, its also about the accessories. Think about helmets, pumps, shoes and other clothing. These items also take up space and can actually be quite awkward to store.

How to organise your garage and bikes

There are lots of different ways to store your bikes. Vertical storage is by far the most popular and where you will find the most storage ideas and options.

If you’re opting for indoor storage, you need to accept that any effective solution will require you to drill holes in your walls. The only other alternative is to run poles from floor to ceiling, or to consider free standing solutions which are effective but take up lots of valuable space.

We did some research and found several stores selling a variety of bike storage options. In terms of vertical storage ideas consider:

Wall mount bike storage

The most common types of indoor bike storage is a simple set of hooks screwed into your wall. One hook allows you to hang your big vertically (on its side). Two hooks allow you to hang your bike horizontally.

A hook designed for bikes allows you to hang your bike vertically with the tyres facing the wall. This saves you space along the wall.

Hanging your bike horizontally on the wall requires that you either have two hooks or brackets. Alternatively there are also options like the one below which combines a bracket and two hooks. This type of hooks has the bike sitting off the wall and easy to view and admire.

Below is a more modern hook which needs to be screwed into the wall but allows for the bike to face the wall.

An alternative hook solution is the one below which has one for the top and one for the bottom. This solution enables the tyres to rest without touching the wall. In this case however two hooks also means more holes in your wall.

StoreWALL Bike Hooks

StoreWALL bikes hooks are also a great alternative for hanging your bikes vertically on your wall. The StoreWALL solution utilises a wall panel which is installed on your wall. The Bike hook is then attached to the panel.

Use of a wall panel allows the Bike Hook to be moved around as required. Additional hooks can be added for your helmets and other bike accessories.

Freestanding storage stands

If you own more than one bike or you live in a house of cyclists, then buying bike storage specific furniture may be worth investigating.

Pulley & winch systems

A pulley system is directly attached to the ceiling or on the wall high up. Having your bike high up has it out of the way. The Pulley and Winch system uses a harness and hook to lift the bike up towards the ceiling.

A secondary attachment is used to secure the bike from movement making it safe dangling above your head.

Using the ceiling in your garage can be useful as long as it doesn’t interfere with any garage door systems. It looks like a pretty effective way to organise your garage and bikes

Bike Storage Sheds

If the challenge to organise your garage and bikes is getting too hard, consider a separate bike storage shed. It does require more space and quite a bit more in cost but it also get the bikes out of the garage and securely stored.

Posted on February 9, 2019June 10, 2023 by Arthur K

Garage Wall Tool Organiser

StoreWALL recently launched its new Garage Wall Tool Organiser and we have been fortunate enough to have received a supply. The StoreWALL range includes 2 sizes the 16 inch (420mm) and the 10 inch (250mm). We are stocking the 420mm option plastic tool organiser at the moment and its already proven to be popular.

Measurements

The StoreWALL Garage Wall Tool Organiser sits about 115mm off the wall, 420mm in length and 15mm in height. It is made from 4mm thick lightweight thermoplastic making it super durable like every other StoreWALL accessory. It’s also very easy to install on your StoreWALL Standard or Heavy Duty panels.

Our Garage Wall Tool Organiser is very light weight, easy to clean and doesn’t need any painting or finishing. It also comes with pre-drilled holes for your tools making it ready to use. You can see from the several images in this post that about half of the tool organiser is made up of pre-drilled holes. The rest can be used as shelf or you can drill additional holes as required.

Installing Your Tool Organiser

To install the wall mounted tool organiser you will need an exposed edge from a wall panel and then just slip it in and adjust where along the panel you want it to hang. The organiser doesn’t come with the CamLok locking mechanism but as you can see from the below video, its impossible for it to come off the wall due to the edges that are hooked into the wall panel grooves.

StoreWALL has a range of Thermoplastic shelves which we will be launching in Australia late February. They range in size and have a very similar look and feel to the Garage Wall Tool Organiser.

Combined with our Heavy Duty Shelves, StoreWALL’s range of baskets, shelves, bins, brackets and totes can help you get the most out of your garage or work shop space.

Tool Organiser Video

Posted on January 19, 2019February 13, 2024 by Arthur K

StoreWALL on Marie Kondo’s Show

Marie Kondo’s hit Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, has become a super hit on Netflix as well as making her a household name. It would be great to have StoreWALL on Marie Kondo’s show, and maybe our colleagues in the US can work on this.

Families across Australia have been watching her program and taking her tips into their home to desperately try and tidy up. I must admit I haven’t watched her program (my wife and kids have) but shows just like this are inspiring people to tidy up inside as well as outside.

KonMari Technique

Marie Kondo preaches the KonMari Technique. The practise of divide up your home into categories and sorting through it all, identifying junk and items of value. Decluttering blogs have been around for over a decade. Just search decluttering and you will find hundreds of experts, literally hundreds of them all with a special recipe to help you get your home into shape. Many will also come out to your home for a fee and help you do it. Although I’m not sure this is as popular in Australia as it is in the US.

Marie Kondo is super popular and easily recognisable with her white tops, white cardigans and perfectly combed straight hair. You can read all about it here. Marie also has several books on the topic and of course you can also watch the Netflix series.

Reality Check

Reading through some articles from avid viewers who have tried the technique, not everyone is totally in love with Marie’s ideas. However I must say that cleaning up any area in your home, categorising your belongings and removing the unwanted from your home (not just the room) is not a small process and very time consuming. Most go 75% of the way and stop and that’s what many of these articles say.

StoreWALL on Marie Kondo’s Show

If we did manage to get StoreWALL on Marie Kondo’s Show this is what I would like it to focus on.

Firstly rather than look inside the house, a garage, shed or storeroom would be ideal. It also doesn’t need to be too messy either. The biggest issue for most people and their garage is its just full with not enough room to fit any more. There are items on the walls, items on shelfs and lots of stuff on the ground.

Where StoreWALL can help is once the culling is complete (this is where the KonMari technique can do its thing) StoreWALL slides in with a great way to keep it all organised and off the floor.

Posted on January 10, 2019January 4, 2025 by Arthur K

Free Shipping in Australia

Everyone loves free shipping and its seems to be a real winner with StoreWALL in the US so we are introducing it in Australia as well. Free shipping in Australia started about a week ago and applies to most cities around the country.

What are the conditions?

To get Free shipping in Australia the minimum spend required is $1400 (this may vary up or down from time to time). For purchase values lower than this, we also offer discounted shipping charges.

The challenge in Australia is that shipping is expensive but also varies quite a bit between locations. The same parcel sent to Sydney and to Hobart can cost a different amount even though the distances are about the same.

Does it apply to all cities?

Free Shipping in Australia is based on the contents of your shopping cart and your location. Please use our shopping cart to view your applicable shipping charges.

When is it Calculated?

Our shopping cart has a built in delivery calculator. As you work through your order and the shopping cart, you will be required to enter your delivery address. At this point we will calculate shipping for you. Depending the value of your order and the location we will display the cost of shipping. If your order and location meet the Free Shipping conditions then Free Shipping will be displayed for you.

Alternatively you can also have shipping quoted separately.

Shipping Methods

We utilise a range of couriers for delivering StoreWALL products. Our focus is on delivery time frames, tracking of order and value for money. All orders are boxed securely to ensure your goods are protected. This includes all panels and accessories.

All goods are packed and wrapped to ensure they aren’t damaged during transit. We also aim to get your order out to you as soon as possible.

Posted on January 2, 2019June 22, 2023 by Arthur K

Garage Pegboard

Cleaning up your garage starts with throwing out what you don’t need and reorganising what you decide to keep. The choices on how to effectively reorganise are endless. If you visit your local Bunnings store you will find the ever popular Garage Pegboard. Pegboard garage storage is relatively cheap and super easy to install. Garage pegboards are paired with a range of hooks which are inserted into the board to hold and hang your items. It’s all pretty simple.

Garage Pegboards

I hate pegboards. When I fist purchased the home I live in (19 years ago), my garage had pegboards on one of the walls. They covered several meters in length and about 90cm in height. The coverage was fine, but the quality and practicality was not. My garage pegboard was made from masonite. It was durable but over time it’s shape warped (severely). This wasn’t my main issue however. I just hated using the hooks. They were not sturdy enough when on the board and my items would always fall off.

I had several long and some small hooks and the small hooks (particularly the extra small ones) where a real nightmare. Below the pegboard I had a bench and everything would fall behind the bench.

Slatwalls Vs Pegboards

Slatwalls are a far superior solution for garage storage compared the the garage pegboard. This is why:

Firstly the material that your typical slatwall is made from is stronger and heavier. Although much of what is sold by Bunnings in terms of Pegboards are made of a metallic material.
The range of slatwall colours is much larger.
The range of hooks on offer by slatwall systems is significantly larger and now includes heavy duty hooks. Your pegboards are aimed at lighter goods.
The locking mechanism using by even the cheapest slatwall is strong and sturdier than a pegboard.
Your premium range of slatwalls like StoreWALL are made from thermoplastic so they don’t lose colour, rust, take in moisture nor change shape.
StoreWALL’s installation process using InstallStrips adds additional strength to your wall so that it can carry the heavy loads.
Yes there is a price difference but I believe it’s balanced out by the difference in quality.

Pricing your Garage Pegboard

Let’s take a look at price first, because Pegboards are usually selected based on price.

Bunnings sells a powder coated steel pegboard (Size: 900 x 450mm) for $35. Total coverage is 0.40 square metres.

A pack of 4 x 200mm hooks is $6.50. You can see the locking mechanism with these simple hooks. The two hooks at the rear plug into the board and the one hook presses against the board, creating resistance and holding the hook in place.

A pack of 4 x 200mm hooks is $6.50. In total it comes to $41.50.

StoreWALL’s equivalent includes:

1 x StoreWALL 1.2m panel (1.2m x 0.3m) for $55 with a total coverage are of 0.36 square metres.

The images to the left show the StoreWALL alternative. I have displayed the 63mm hook and the 190mm hook alongside the Pegboard option offered at Bunnings.

Pricing for the StoreWALL options are as follows:

63mm – $13.30 (each)
190mm – $16.65 (each)

Key differences in StoreWALL’s quality include:

Heavier metal
Heavy plate on the back of the hook which is used to support the locking mechanism and weight.
CamLOK locking mechanism so the hook will NEVER fall off.

Garage Pegboard Ideas

This video shows me using the Pegboard hooks on the StoreWALL panel. They hook in with no issues but in terms of stability and a quality garage wall panel solution, you can’t really compare these hooks to what StoreWALL offers.

Posted on December 26, 2018June 10, 2023 by Arthur K

Broom and Mop Storage Organisation

My household has atleast 5 brooms, most of which are used outside the house. Now we do have an indoor broom which can be found in the main cupboard hanging on the wall using a broom holder. I can’t say the same for the outdoor brooms. Some are in the garage, some are outside and some are in my gardening shed. What I do know is whenever I need one I wander around hoping to find one. Broom and mop storage organisation can really be challenging to setup and stick to.

Indoor Broom Holder

Broom and mop storage organisation inside our house is as complex as the Broom Holder in our cupboard. It is made from rubber and holds 4 poles, be they brooms, dusters or smaller items like dust pans. I believe I paid under $20 for it and it works OK. The poles aren’t falling out of the holder, so I can’t complain.

I have a picture below from my cupboard. In theory the broom holder can hold 8 items at once (I haven’t tried this) using both the circular holds and in-between. If they are all poles this would probably work but once you add larger/bulkier items, 8 might be a challenge given the spacing. I would also challenge how much weight it can hold prior to giving way off the wall. It’s only held with two screws.

Pole Hook

Broom and mop storage organisation outside the house is really non existent. It would actually be useful to have something similar outside for the brooms I use more frequently and can’t find. StoreWALL has a great range of hooks several of which have been designed specifically for holding poles.

The StoreWALL Pole Hook has been designed for horizontal or vertical storage. Cleaning devices such as mops and brooms can hang up off the floor. The Pole Hook caters for one pole at a time.

Heavy Duty Tool Hook

StoreWALL’s Heavy Duty Tool Hook is probably our best Wall Broom Hanger because it’s designed to carry several items at the same time. It’s useful design saves you space and keeps you organised.

Brooms, shovels and rakes are ideal for our Heavy Duty Tool Hook. They don’t all have to be big items either because the Tool Hook can pretty much carry anything you have. Our specs state it can actually hold about 30KGs.

Smaller Hooks

Our options for broom and mop storage organisation don’t end with the Tool Hook. We also carry a great range of smaller hooks which are versatile enough to carry a variety of gear from the garden, whether it’s gardening, household or even sport related.

Check out our HD S Hook for your brooms or other gardening gear as well as our Cradle Hook. All of these StoreWALL accessories are versatile and can be moved around and used in so many different ways.

Pricing for the StoreWALL range starts from $12 for the Pole Hook and around $28 for the HD Tool Hook. You obviously need the wall panels as well. A single wall panel (1.2m) is just $55.