Author: Arthur K

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Transform your Garage into a Home Gym

transform your garage into a home gym

The beginning of Autumn is the perfect time to join the gym except that it gets dark early and its getting colder each week. Gym’s can also be expensive, intimidating and overcrowded. An alternative is to transform your garage into a home gym.

Creating a home gym doesn’t need to be an expensive exercise and you can expand on it and the equipment as you build up your enthusiasm for exercise. Best of all its extremely convenient and it gives you an opportunity to finally clean up your garage space and make better use of that expensive realestate.

Transform your Garage into a Home Gym

Below I have outlines a few key steps in getting started with creating your home gym.

Determine what type of exercise you enjoy

We all know the benefits of exercise but let’s face it, it can be hard work. Finding a range of exercise that you enjoy is the key to getting started. This can be running, biking, weights, aerobics style exercise and even yoga. Its important to define what you enjoy and what you want to have in your home gym.

From here you need to begin your basic plan of what equipment you might need (or start with) and how you will likely lay it out and how much space it will take up.

Clean Up and Clean Out Your Garage

The next step is to clear out your garage and clean it up. The key principles with cleaning and reorganising your garage is to categories all of the items lying on the ground. This can include gardening tools, general tools, car related equipment, supplies etc.
Once everything that is on the floor is placed into piles you can then begin to work out where to store it all. Remember that you will need to allocate space for the actual gym itself.

Its not a matter of just shoving everything out of the way to make the necessary room, this is an opportunity to clean and reorganise your garage. You will be staring at it each time you use the gym, so don’t make the experience any more painful than it needs to be.

How much space do you need?

This all depends on the equipment you will likely utilise. In my case my garage gym is about 1.5m wide and 3m deep. I have a bench and free weights. I also have stool to hold by ez-curl barbel. I also have a small wall that holds my spare weights.
If you are going to invest in a running machine, you will probably need a little more room. Its not only the machinery that you need to think about, its also the air around it. Most garages are dirty, dusty, and sometimes mouldy. Therefore its important to clean the space regularly.

If you are keen on sit-ups and stretches, its important to have enough room for you mat as well.using slatwalls for home gym

Storing your equipment

When you transform your garage into a home gym you will end up with more items in your garage. Storing your gym equipment the right way will keep it easy to access as well as clean and protected. The last thing you want is additional hazards with dumbells all over the ground.

Storewall’s waterproof and highly durable slatwall panels make it super easy to store your gym equipment. Our broad range of hooks are locked into the slatwall with CamLok ensuring that weights are secure and don’t fall off the wall.

Combining our 2.4 slatwall panels with our brackets also means that larger barbels can be stored. You can also add our bins and brackets to store equipment such as medicine balls, skipping ropes and other smaller sporting equipment.

Storewall Gym Package

These are the items that we would recommend you consider from Storewall to when you decide to transform your garage into a home gym:

  • 1 case – 2.4m Standard Duty wall panels (4 panels/case)
  • 16 – InstallStrips (you can also screw the wall panels directly into your wall)
  • 5 – Cradle Hooks
  • 5 – Heavy Duty Cradle Hooks
  • 7 – Universal Hooks
  • 3 – 63mm Single Hooks
  • 3 – 127mm Single Hooks
  • 1 – 190mm Single Hook
  • 3 – Heavy Duty Utility Hooks
  • 2 – Small Angle Baskets
  • 2 – U Hooks
  • 1 – Six Prong Hook
  • 3 – Heavy Duty Universal Hooks
  • 2 – Angle Hooks

In conclusion, home gyms can be a great investment for your health but also your family’s health. Having exercise equipment around the home and having people actually use them means that even the younger generation can get motivated to exercise and try equipment even if it is just for fun.

The best advise I can provide in terms of exercise programs is to find the exercise you enjoy the most and begin with those. As you start to build strength and stamina you gradually begin varying the exercises so that you don’t get bored.

And finally remember a home gym in your garage does not need to cost you a lot. Its more about the exercise than what the room eventually looks like.

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Garage Storage Hooks

garage storage hooks - HD utility hooks

Garage storage hooks should form part of any garage make-over as they provide a clean and really easy way to lift anything from your garage floor and have it accessible via your garage wall. Today garage storage hooks come in lots of sizes and can be hang off any surface. Storewall goes one step further with its slatwall panels by also allowing you to move them around as you please as well as lock them in for safety.

Storewall Garage Storage Hooks

Storewall offer over 20 varieties of garage storage hooks which can be used to hang anything from bags to gardening equipment and even tools and wheel barrows. All storewall hooks are made of industrial steel and powder coated so that they stay looking professional for a very long time.

Our garage hook range includes:

  • Cradle Hook
  • Bike Hook
  • Heavy Duty Cradle Hook
  • Heavy Duty S Hook
  • Heavy Duty Tool Hook
  • Heavy Duty Universal Hook
  • Heavy Duty Utility Hook
  • Universal Hook
  • 63mm Single Hook
  • 127mm Single Hook
  • 190mm Single Hook
  • U Hook
  • Closed Loop Hook
  • Small Bungee Hook Set
  • Medium Bungee Hook Set
  • Large Bungee Hook Set
  • 300mm Universal Hook
  • Angled Pole Hook
  • Wide Hook
  • 6 Prong Hook
  • Heavy Duty Box Hook
  • Long Hook
  • Disc Hook

Let’s take a closer look at the Heavy Duty Utility Hook.

StoreWALL Heavy Duty Utility Hook is the ideal solution for hanging your ladder (more than one is possible), electrical power leads or hoses or even large pieces of timber. The Storewall Heavy Duty Utility Hook comes pre-installed with CamLok™ to ensure your items stay where you hang them and not on the floor because the hooks has come off the wall.

Sizing of the Utility Hook is 228mm off the wall x 178mm at the widest point x 140mm in height. In terms of weight, the Heavy Duty Utility Hook can hold 68KG where the slatwall panel has been installed and is supported with InstallStrips.

With such an extensive range of garage storage hooks how can you resist not cleaning up your messy garage and making room for you to easily and safely move around.

 

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Slatwall Panels

storewall heavy duty wall panels

Slatwall Panels are a popular way to dress up your garage and store most of the things you have lying around taking up floor space and causing a hazard. Storewall Australia brings superior wall mounted storage solutions to Australia to through a great range of hard wearing and secure wall panels that you can use in your garage, home, workshop and retail store.

Storewall Slatwall Panels

Storewall’s slatwall panels are much more than your ordinary slatwall. The range of colours includes the popular Weathered Grey, Rustic Cedar, Global Pine, Dover White, Brite White, and Graphite Steely. However it isn’t just the colour selection that makes them so unique. Our wall panels are significantly stronger and more substantial than conventional wall panels. They are also waterproof, recyclable and easily cleaned.

Storewall’s panels have a patented profile, designed to accept the exclusive InstallStrip for easy installation and a beautiful screw free appearance. HeavyDuty panels are molded, solid core, so the colour and finish goes throughout the panel. Panels carry a 10 year Warranty.

Installing Slatwall Panels

Most slatwall panels are installed using screws which fasten the panel directly to your plaster or concrete wall. In order to conceal the screws and offer a clean finish, colour screws are used. The challenge with going directly into the wall however is that the strength of the wall panel and what can hang off it eg hooks and shelves can be limited.

Storewall’s Slatwall Panels can be installed simply and easily with our Installstrip solution. Installstrips are metallic strips which sit behind the wall panels and are installed with screws directly on your wall. The wall panels are them clipped directly to the install strips. There are no unsightly visible screws or fasteners and the strips attach to any surface; wood, plasterboard, concrete or concrete block. You can add or change panels at any time. Installation couldn’t be easier or look better.

Range of Sizes

To make installation easy, Storewall panel’s come in two sizes, the 1.2m panels and the 2.4m panels. The dimension of each panel options are:

Standard Duty

  • 2.4m range – 2438.4mm x 304.8mm x 16.7mm (covers 0.74m squared)
  • 1.2m range – 1219mm x 304.8mm x 16.7mm (covers 0.37m squared)

Heavy Duty

  • 2.4m range – 2438.4mm x 381mm x 17.7mm (covers 0.92m squared)
  • 1.2m range – 1219mm x 381mm x 17.7mm (covers 0.46m squared)

Accessories

Beyond the Slatwall Panel however, Storewall gives you the ability to add heavy duty accessories such a Hooks (over 12 sizes), baskets, brackets and shelves. Each of these accessories is not only hooked onto the wall panels but it is also locked in using CamLok, the unique locking mechanism that only Storewall offers.

There are plenty of slatwall system available in the marketplace but Storewall is not your ordinary slatwall panel.

 

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Organising your garage into Zones

rganize the Garage into Zones

Whether your garage is big enough to hold one or two cars, organising your garage is not easy and over time with more and more “stuff” filling it, the task seems almost impossible to start. Giving your garage an almighty clean and declutter is one thing, setting it up to stay organised means you need to create a garage organisation plan. The best way to get started is by organising your garage into zones.

A simple redesign of your garage can make all the difference.  Try assigning “zones” to each section of the garage.

First of all, what are storage zones?

Storage zones are areas in your garage where certain (similar) items should be stored. Sounds pretty simple, but you’d be surprised at how many garages just evolve over time with items all jumbled in together instead of being gathered together in certain designated areas.

Below I have listed a range of Zones or categories which comprise most of the items found in a typical garage. They will give you a head start to create your own Zones for the items that make up your garage.

Zone 1 – Household items

These are mainly items you will use at some stage within your home. You’ll want to store bulk items like laundry detergent, toilet paper, pet food, extra pantry supplies, brooms, mops and buckets, the vacuum and any other items you are likely to use inside your home in this area. Keeping these items close to the interior door leading to your garage allows you to grab them quickly and easily.

Zone 2 – Backyard tools and garden supplies

These are all outdoor items and will be needed when you are working in the backyard. This particular area should be kept toward the front of the garage since you’ll want these items to be handy while the front garage door is open and you’re working on the lawn.

Zone 3 – Workshop space

Keep your hammers, pliers, nuts, bolts and clamps in the area of your workbench. Keeping these items together will make any “fix it” project much easier to manage if all of your tools are all easy to find and access.

Zone 4 – Sports Equipment

Cricket bats, soccer balls, bike equipment, even a surfboard! Keep these items together for quick grab-and-go availability. Look at how high you want to store them so that even the kids can grab them on their own.

Zone 5 – Holiday Decorations

Plastic storage bins and bags are a great way to organise this type of stuff. These items are not accessed often, so can be stored on shelves up and out of the way. Be sure to clearly label all bins to make locating particular items an easy process.

Depending on the types of items you have and your particular interests and hobbies, you may have several more zones.

The single most important thing to remember is to group “like” items together.

Life works so much better when it’s organised!

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Why StoreWALL?

storewall heavy duty utility hook

My name is Arthur Koulianos and I am the owner of StoreWALL Australia. Over the past 10 years I have built and run several online businesses learning plenty along the way, helping lots of customers and earning a little extra money for my family. I really enjoy building and running projects and have a background doing this in my full time job (see Linkedin profile). There are lots of reasons which answer Why StoreWALL?

I stumbled across StoreWALL when looking at starting a new project. An online business was for sale which sold a range of garage storage solutions. It’s market was the USA which wasn’t going to work for me in Melbourne but I thought why not do something similar in Australia. I investigated the market further and then spoke to several providers of these wall mounted systems.

Wall Mounted Storage

What I discovered was that wall mounted storage has traditionally been marketed and sold by Garage solutions specialists. In addition the wall panel solution is also popular for retail store fitouts. Most people including myself had no idea about these solutions because they aren’t really offered to the retail market.

Once I discovered StoreWALL I made contact with the Managing Director (owner) and we started to exchange a few emails. He explained how its sold in the US and what we can do in Australia. I took this onboard and then contacted a few distributors in the US for feedback. All of them said that the product was “really good quality”, some even said it was the “best wall mounted system” they had used.

I also reviewed their range, watched the videos and compared pricing to what some of the local solutions had offered and was confident I had found the right product. The range of wall panels was great. Both standard and heavy duty options with a great range of colour. The accessories are second the none in both variety and quality. On top of this is the CamLok system which secures it all together so that it never falls off the wall.

Why StoreWALL? – Best Product in its Class

One of the things I had learned when started my previous online projects was the work on offering the best product on the market. Whilst price mattered, having the best product as your offer meant less issues and happier customers who hopefully would refer new ones to you.

So began StoreWALL Australia. We will be offering the StoreWALL range via our online store directly to every day mum and dads. It will solve an important problem in the garage or storeroom its DIY when to comes to installation. Even if they don’t want to do it themselves we can refer installers that they can work with. We will also work with garage solutions specialists who want a more durable and quality wall mounted system.

StoreWALL has enjoyed great success in the US and has a great reputation as a quality system. We hope to do the same in Australia with great service and advice. We offer online chat, phone and email support for whoever wants to know more about the solution. Hopefully everything above has answered the question – Why StoreWALL?

The biggest challenge for any online business is finding customers and getting some attention from search engines. We will work on this daily and learn and hopefully start to build traffic. We will also try some advertising and see what the results are. There are no plans for a retail store or showroom but we might try a kiosk at a shopping centre or similar later in the year. Lots of challenges ahead but I am glad we started.

 

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Storewall CamLok System

storewall camlok

Slatwall systems have been around for a couple of decades and are now used across retail stores, workshops as well as home garages. StoreWALL have been providing slatwall wall panels since 1997 and its success is based on some very unique features which make it standout from the rest of the slatwall panel options on the market. One key feature is the StoreWALL CamLok locking mechanism which comes with each and every hook and bracket

storewall camlokYour typical slatwall is designed to hold a hook via the top and bottom cavity which makes up every panel. The hook will usually have a lip at the top and bottom which fits into the cavity and holds it in place.

The lips allow the hook to be easily moved left and right across the length of the panel. The challenge however is the process of hanging and removing a weight from the hook. This process can place both downward and upward pressure on the hook itself. It can also loosen the locking mechanism and spill the contents on the ground.

StoreWALL CamLok

StoreWALL is not your average slatwall system. It has taken the technology one step further with the StoreWALL CamLok system. CamLok is a locking mechanism which comes with every hook, bracket and basket you purchase from StoreWALL. A simple twist of your CamLok and your hook is locked it. Better still you can continue to move it left and right with ease.

CamLok is best explained with the below video which clearly shows how it works and the added advantage it provides.

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Heavy Duty Garage Hooks

storewall heavy duty cradle hook

Over the years I have inherited several large ladders that I use for jobs around the house. These jobs include cutting trees branches, repairs on the roof and general painting and other maintenance. These ladders are stored in my garage, in fact on the garage floor against the wall. They take up room and can be a nuisance. So I invested a little time looking at heavy duty garage hooks that would allow be to remove them from the floor and have then handing on the wall, out of the way.

There are lots of garage hooks on the market and they aren’t all the same. Looking for a heavy duty garage hook, I was keen on it being large enough to hold a large ladder and durable enough that I could remove and return the ladder easily without the worry that upon re-entry I would damage the hook. Finally, the garage hook needed to be able to hold enough weight for an even heavier ladder if possible.

StoreWALL Garage Hooks

Garage hooks are not just for ladders and following my research at my local Bunnings store, I found a large gap in the variety of hooks and how they can be added to a wall. StoreWALL’s range of hooks is big and its range of heavy duty hooks is impressive. They not only provide hooks for ladders but also for poles, rakes, bikes and even wheel barrows and larger items.

When StoreWALL labels a garage hook as Heavy Duty it means its fitted with the exclusive all-metal CamLok™. This amazing device helps keep accessories locked in place… until you decide to move them. An easy turn of the CamLok and your hook stays in position and it stays in position when you lift your gear or tool off that hook. In addition to CamLok they also feature Soft Touch Covers, durable powder coating and the use of heavy gauge industrial grade steel.

 

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Garage Tool Storage Ideas for Home

garage tool storage ideas

Having lived in my current home for almost 20 years, I like most people have accumulated a wealth of stuff. Amongst this are my prized tools. As the collection has grown so has my endeavour to find new garage tool storage ideas.

Garage tools come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small enough to easily fit into a drawer eg your spanners and screw drivers. But even these can be a struggle as their size grows. They can also be very heavy, so having them all in one drawer is not always the smartest idea.

About 12 months ago, I decided to build my own wall storage space. The wall panel is about 1m x 1m and has a 18cm shelf at the bottom. I added about 6 hooks across the top so that I could hand the longer tools. The shelf has been used to store cans of spray, glue, putty and basically anything that would fit.

It turned out OK in the end but when I discovered the StoreWALL range, I knew my panels were a bit amateur. StoreWALL has better garage tool storage ideas that are not only durable but do more with the space. My wall panel has very little depth outside of the shelf. Tools are also hung vertically using the hooks. The problem with this is that the middle area space is kind of wasted.

StoreWALL has a great range of hooks which come in varied depths. They can hang your garage tools both vertically and horizontally. For $400, I could have ended up with a much stronger and more versatile solution. It’s not only hooks however, StoreWALL has shelves and brackets can be really useful and easy to move around. They come in a range of sizes and depths to assist any garage.

Compare the StoreWALL hook range and see for yourself how it can help with your garage tool storage ideas.

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Save Space with Garage Storage

garage solutions

Surprisingly even with so much new building going on, space for your car(s) and storage for everything we need to just put away is actually getting smaller. With garage storage at a premium, we need to think smarter about how we organise and declutter.

Your garage is not just a place to park your car, it stores so much of what we can’t fit or don’t want in the house. The demand for smarter storage solutions for the garage is growing.

Better Use of Your Walls
Garage walls offer significant potential in a garage and are often under utilised.  Your wall storage can include adjustable shelving, dedicated racks for those bulky items like bikes and tools and adjustable hooks for your tools. These garage wall solutions can then be complimented with wall-mounted cabinets and multilevel shelving.

Get the Expert or DIY
Search online and there are plenty of garage storage solution experts who will review your space, your clutter and design the perfect layout for you. They will also recommend the garage storage solution you need and build and install it. This can cost you between upwards of $5000. You can also Do It Yourself for much less. For around $1000, you can fit out an entire wall with StoreWALL panels and a great range of adjustable shelves, brackets and hooks. All of StoreWALL’s equipment can be easily installed and then maintained.

A popular addon for your Garage is ceiling-mounted storage. This is shelving that sits above the bonnet of the vehicle.

How to get Started

  • Step 1 is to declutter. Pull everything out and divide into three piles: everyday, occasional and deep archive. Throw out what you don’t need.
  • Store frequently used items at hand height, occasionally used ones at shoulder height or above, and heavy items down low.
  • Keep the lawnmower and bikes near the garage door so they don’t track in dirt.
  • Drawers are great for small, similar items. You can use the cabinet top as a work surface.
  • Create a ‘clutter trap’ near the door to the house to prevent mess entering – think coat hooks, boot storage, and generous baskets.
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Doing More With Garage Shelving

Best use of shelves

Whether it’s elaborate, sleek, wood, plastic, deep or shallow, when you’re organizing your spaces, nothing is quite as simple and functional as well-placed garage shelving. Shelves are an easy way to make use of your wall space getting them off your floors, tables and counters. And unlike cabinets tthey don’t require you to open doors.

Here are a few tips and tricks for more effective shelf use:

Being shallow can be a good thing.

Using shelves that are way too big for the items you need to store is a giant waste of space, and an effective organization killer. Keep shelves the proper size – use garage shelves that are as deep as the items you want to put on them.

If you need to reach behind an item to get to something else, you risk knocking or pulling things off the shelf you didn’t want to. If items fall off your cluttered shelf they can break, or even worse, they can cause injury.

StoreWALL Shelve Depths

StoreWALL offers a great range of shelf depths:

  • 127mm shelf – Used for small items such as spices, picture frames or bottles of household cleaners. They come in different lengths to fit all your spaces and mount easily into storeWALL wall panels. StoreWALL panels make adjusting and moving shelves really easy
  • 254mm shelf – Perfect for bigger items such as boxes and books of all sizes
  • 381mm shelf – Ideal for large items such as kitchen appliances, softdrink cases or laundry baskets.

Don’t let them buckle under pressure.

The internet is a great tool for spreading new, creative ideas. While many of these ideas look great, you have to sometimes wonder how much the shelves can actually hold before they rip out of your wall and dump everything sitting on them onto the ground.

Make sure any shelf you hang is rated to safely hold the amount of weight you want to set on it. StoreWALL shelves are made from lightweight thermoplastic that’s also incredibly strong. Using InstallStrips with your wall panels ensures they can safely hold the recommended weight.