Choosing Garages and Sheds for Property Protection

A car is a significant investment, and garages and sheds are one way to protect that investment and ensure that it lasts for many years. There are many different varieties of garages and sheds that can house a car, which can be customised to suit the style and colour of the house and surrounding property. Here are some of the most popular options:

American Barns

American barns are an affordable option for protecting one or more cars. In addition, these useful and stylish buildings offer complete protection for boats, motorcycles, and lawn mowers, and can even act as horse stables. There is plenty of room in each building plan to add a workshop, so that car buffs can not only protect their vehicles, but maintain and repair them as well.

Carports

Solidly constructed steel carports are a cost-effective solution for protecting the family vehicles. Carports come in both flat and gabled roof styles to suit the architectural theme of the adjacent home, as well as the local weather conditions. Carports can also double as outdoor entertainment areas, shielding people from the sunshine on warm summer days.

Farm Sheds

Fair Dinkum farm sheds have so many uses. From protecting one car in each stall of the shed to doubling as a place for equipment storage or an open stable, this investment will be certain to pay for itself in no time.

Quaker Barns

Quaker barns provide plenty of headroom and height for a tall sport utility vehicle, a car with a luggage rack, and other items that require extra clearance. The upper space of the Quaker barn could be used as an alternative living or working environment, such as a home office, mother-in-law suite, or a studio apartment to generate rental income.

Garages and sheds are investments that make a property more valuable for resale and also protect vehicles, equipment, and livestock. When high-quality storage space is needed, look no further than Fair Dinkum Sheds!

Designing Your Optimal Storage Space

Whether you need a garage for your cars, a shed for storage, or any combination of the two, you should have control over the design of your product. Each home or farm has its own unique dimensions and needs, and customizing a shed or garage can optimize the space and landscape. The ability to dictate the size, shape, dimensions, and various designs of what you need can cut down cost and stress, resulting in a product that is exactly right for you.

But you have to know what to consider when designing a storage space. There are many options available to you, and coming prepared to a purchase is a favorable position to be in. The design of your product depends on whether you are looking for a garage or a shed, and exactly what you need the product for.

A regular garage is great for, of course, cars to park in, as well as storage space for any amount of items. Yard work tools, construction tools, extraneous household items, even office supplies can be kept in a garage. There are many options in garage design, beginning with how many carports you need in it. After you decide how many rooms you need, you can move on to the details.

Choose the color of the sheeting, roofing, gutters, and more. Pick what pitch you want the roof to slope at, whether it is a slight incline (11%) or a steep incline (45%). You can get any combination of doors, such as roller, personal access, glass or steel sliding, or a security door. Add some windows, and it’s almost complete!

If your garage is only for cars, you don’t need much insulation or ventilation, but you can get varying degrees if you are choosing to use your garage as an office or play area.

You can go through a similar design process for a shed. Again, first know what you are using your shed for. It can vary from a garden shed all the way up to a large farm shed for farm equipment and hay. This will determine everything from the door type to the size to how many bays it has.

Farm sheds do well with any combination of sliding doors and open bays. This allows fast and easy access to anything stored inside. A garden shed will have a normal door on it. There are also various sizes to choose from, so you can get exactly the storage space you need.

Garages and sheds are both highly customizable, and you can get a product that will fit both your needs and the space you have. Make sure you ask an expert about the construction of it. Your life will be more organized immediately, and you’ll get lots of good use out of your product.

Don't Sacrifice Good Taste for Space with Large Garages: The Perfect Example

Many Australian companies build garages that are downright eyesores.  They do this because of the false connotation that all large garages are unaesthetic and cheap-looking.

This is clearly not true, and you're going to see some samples of proof today.

The fact is: if you own a company or have a need for additional storage space, you can get a garage that's attractive, affordable and spacious.  Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't have to be just one or the other. The old days of single solid garages and sheds are dead! 

Today, people are investing in enclosed storage spaces that complement a community's surroundings – residential homes, schools, stores, etc.  In other words, no longer are garages sticking out like sore thumbs.  With modern design and fair garage prices, land owners and companies are building garages that serve their purpose AND look good.

Let's take a look at the approach you can take to make your garage visually appealing.

The Bi-Color Approach

Below are large single-door garages and large double-door garages.  As you can see, they look better than your standard metal garage with rust spots.  Instead of sticking out and detracting from the beauty of the outdoors, the colors make each garage type blend in nicely with its surroundings.

Contrasting a dark color with a light color is always a good idea with garages.  Here, we have an off-yellow tan coating the sidewalls and a matte black coating the garage doors, roof and corners.

Here's an example of an even larger garage  - a product of this bi-color approach.  Unlike the previous example, both colors are fairly similar.  Although the garage door and roof color are darker than the sidewall color, it's not as dark as black.  Each color has a tan base.  As you can see, surrounding structures like the large cylindrical storage bin use the same tan color.  Complementing surrounding structures with the same color as your garage is always a good idea aesthetically.

After looking at these examples, it should be obvious that your garage should and can be attractive.  To find the perfect color blend and style, work with your local garage supplier and ask for a professional opinion.

The Most Popular Organizational Tools for Your Garage

Many people build garages for one purpose: they need an enclosed space to park their car in.  And after they start using their garage for parking, they notice the extra space available in the garage for storage. 

So they begin piling stuff up in the corners of the garage – useless stuff they don't plan on using.  Their basement is full, so the garage becomes the new place to store junk.  Eventually, there's so much junk lying around that the car can't even fit in the garage – the purpose of building the garage in the first place.

If you're looking at garages or have recently built a garage, don't let this happen!  Use your garage for car storage and general storage the smart way.  With various organizational tools, you can turn your garage into a haven for both cars and junk.  You know the junk that's important to you!

Below are some of the best organizational garage tools that will make the most of that empty space in your garage.

Plastic Rack

In the picture above, you can see the 5-shelf plastic rack to the left of the door.  Having a 5-shelf rack like this maximizes original storage space on the floor by 5 times.  Also, compared to metal storage racks, plastic ones are about 30-50% cheaper, plus they can support around the same amount of weight.  If you're interested in buying a storage unit like this, go with white.  It will add a clean quality to your garage and won't stick out like a sore thumb.

Peg Board

The peg board is the best way to organize tools and keep them readily accessible.  Whether you have a work bench or not, peg boards offer amazing convenience and storage features.  In addition to hanging small items like screwdrivers, you can also hang hammers, brooms, extension cords and other large items.  There are about a hundred different metal attachments you can put on pegboards.  Get an assortment (they're relatively cheap) and experiment with them to find out which ones are most effective in your garage.

Hanging Ceiling Board

In the picture, this is directly above the door.  Unlike the plastic rack that's designed to hold commonly used items, the hanging ceiling board is meant to hold items used less frequently.  In addition to keeping the items you rarely use out of the way, you can access them easily with a small step stool.

Bike Racks

For a bike being as narrow as it is, it sure takes up a lot of space.  They sit awkwardly when stationed and can take up as much space as two garbage cans.  With bike racks, you can hang numerous ones vertically up and down your garage's wall.  Using a step stool, you can take them down and hang them back up again with minimal effort.

Metal Tool-Hanging Strips

These metal strips are for hanging heavier tools that the pegboard can't handle: shovels, pick axes, branch clippers, etc.  Unlike a pegboard, these metal strips already have the holders built into them.  The holders use spring action, so until you snap a tool in they remain shut.  This feature allows the holders on the metal storage strips to keep a firm hold on the tool.  With tool-hanging strips and the other items listed above, you'll have the most organized garage on the street block and possibly within the entire community.