Many homeowners understand the frustration of overcrowded garages and sheds, particularly when the item you’re looking for is buried behind and beneath things, or when you can’t get your vehicle into the garage anymore.
While it may seem like a garage is either dedicated exclusively to excess storage or a vehicle, two Niverville businessmen say there’s no reason you can’t have both.
Wm. Dyck and Sons
Rod Reimer of Wm. Dyck and Sons says they have everything you’ll need to help clean up and organize your garage and garden shed this spring. The company carries a wide variety of wall and ceiling hooks for bikes, hoses, and extension cords. As well, they carry overhead hangars for ladders and an adjustable Stud Track wall unit for all your long-handled yard tools.
They also carry sturdy wall shelving options in both coated wire and solid Melamine. The Fast Track shelving system comes in lengths of up to 12 feet and is great for storing spare lumber, totes, and everything you can’t hang on the wall.
“You can add however many you want… and adjust your spacing,” Reimer says. “That’s what’s nice about this [system].”
Their Sterlite totes come in a variety of sizes and are strong, stackable, and durable enough for garage use. And once the garage floor is clear of all the things you’ve collected over the years, Reimer says do-it-yourselfers might want to consider patching up those concrete floor cracks. Wm. Dyck and Sons carries easy-to-apply crack filler for small cracks and hydraulic cement for bigger ones. When you’re done, a floor sealer can be applied for a protective finish. Knowledgeable staff are always available in the store to offer advice on the use of all the products they carry.
Once the garage clean-up is done and you’re ready to tackle the outdoors, Wm. Dyck and Sons also carries a wide variety of garden and yard tools, power tools, men’s and lady’s garden gloves, and everything you’ll need to get the yard in tip-top shape for summer.
Zone Garage
If you’re looking for the ultimate in garage floor and storage solutions without all the work, then Shawn Williamson is your man. Williamson is the Manitoba supplier for Zone Garage, a company which has made garage beautification their business.
The company specializes in applying polyurea and epoxy coatings to a variety of surfaces including concrete, wood, and even metal surfaces. This highly modified floor coating system provides a strong, abrasion-resistant finish. It also has flex, which typical coatings do not, allowing it to absorb blows or seasonal shifting which causes cracking and chipping.
“The [fact that] it’s protected is one of the hugest things,” Williamson says. “After road salt gets into any cracks in pavement, it just deteriorates. We go into some garages where we’ve been told that they have to rip the floor out, but we can fix it and then coat it and it’s protected.”
Coating your floor, he says, means saying goodbye to annoying concrete dust. It’s easy to clean and non-absorbent, protecting the floor from salt, water, oil, fuel, and rust.
“The clean-up is just a bit of water and a squeegee,” Williamson says. “It’s just beautiful. It can’t stain. I’ve seen oil sitting on it after a winter and it just wipes up with a paper towel.”
The product also comes with a 20-year guarantee and is quite affordable at a cost of $6 per square foot. The average two-car garage can typically be completed in a single day.
“Five hours after we leave, you can walk on it,” Williamson says. “Forty-eight hours after, you can park on it. Anyone that does it just loves it.”
The application is done in a multi-stage process with nominal drying time between steps. First, the Zone Garage team grinds down the surface of the floor to open the pores. Then a flaky polyurea finish is applied from corner to corner, and finally the epoxy topcoat is added for a complete seal and finish.
The flooring comes in 12 standard colours, although custom options are available. The application of custom graphics beneath the epoxy finish, Williamson says, has become very popular.
“We’ve done Honda logos, Harley logos, we’ve done lots of Jets logos and business logos.”
And due to the product’s versatility, they don’t stop at garage floors. It’s also the perfect solution for basements, laundry rooms, offices, front steps, and patios. The product is VOC-friendly, meaning it contains no volatile organic compounds that leach into the air and cause negative off-gassing for humans and pets. It’s also Canadian Food Inspection approved, making it useful in home or commercial kitchens.
“When we first come in, it basically makes you get everything off the [garage] floor,” says Williamson. “That’s the worst part, but then [you have] a brand-new floor and no one wants to put anything back in it after because it’s so nice. So then we provide other systems so that you can get everything on the walls. It forces you to keep things tidy and uncluttered.”
Zone Garage is a supplier for everything you’ll need to keep that new garage tidy. The slat wall includes full coverage PVC plastic slats that snap into place and hold up to 70 pounds per square inch. Colour options include white, grey, and wood tone.
A wide variety of attachments are available, including tire racks, bike hooks, baskets, and cabinets. Ceiling sliders can also be installed, providing high-up storage for bins and totes.
“Who doesn’t want a nice garage?” Williamson asks. “It always starts out with the guys wanting it… but then after the fact, the wives see it and then they’re like, ‘This is amazing,’ because it’s clean and tidy.”
