Garage Storage
Happy garage, happy life.
A coated floor is the half everybody sees. The other half is finally being able to walk through your own garage. We build tote racks that hold your totes like drawers, so the pile never comes back.
Why We Started Building These
Nobody stacks totes twice.
On install day we carry everything out of a garage and put it all back two days later, and it is the same story in nearly every one: a wall of totes stacked four high, and whatever you need is in the one on the bottom. So it gets dug out and left on the floor. A year later there is a pile again, sitting on a floor you just paid good money for.
A rack fixes the reason the pile comes back. Every tote gets its own slot and slides straight out, so putting it away is easier than not putting it away. That is the whole trick.
Nobody ever says they want shelving. What they want is to park both cars, find the Christmas tote in October, and not step over anything on the way to the door. A clean slab and a clear wall get you there.
We are already carrying your totes out on install day if you take the +$1/sq ft option. A rack just means they go back somewhere better than the floor.
How It Works
The tote hangs. It doesn't sit.
This is the difference between a rack and a shelf, and it is the only thing worth understanding before you buy one.
Two rails, one gap
Every slot is a pair of 2x4 rails with a gap between them, cut narrower than the rim of your tote and wider than its body.
The rim catches
The body drops straight through and the molded lip rests about half an inch onto each rail. The tote hangs in its own slot instead of sitting on the one below it.
It slides like a drawer
Rails run longer than the tote and there is clearance above it, so it pulls out, tips open, and drops back in. Nothing gets lifted onto a shelf over your head.
Built from standard 2x4 and 3" construction screws, pilot-drilled at every end so nothing splits. We measure your tote and confirm the exact dimensions with you before we cut a single board.
Sizes
Pick it by the wall you want gone.
Sizes are columns wide by rows high. All four are cut for the HDX 27 gal Tough Tote (Home Depot). Final dimensions get confirmed against your own totes before we build.
3 wide × 4 high
12 totes
- Widthabout 6 ft wide
- Heightabout 6 ft tall
- Depthabout 2 ft 6 in
- DeliveryBuilt in the shop, rolled in
Clears a standard garage door opening, so we can build it in the shop and roll it in finished.
The one most people want. Fits a single wall, still movable, and it is the size in the photos on this page.
4 wide × 4 high
16 totes
- Widthabout 7 ft 9 in wide
- Heightabout 6 ft tall
- Depthabout 2 ft 6 in
- DeliveryAssembled in your garage
Too wide for a door opening, so we assemble it against the wall it will live on.
A full wall in a two-car garage without going up to head height.
4 wide × 5 high
20 totes
- Widthabout 7 ft 9 in wide
- Heightabout 7 ft 5 in tall
- Depthabout 2 ft 6 in
- DeliveryAssembled in your garage
Assembled in place. Needs the ceiling height, so we check your door tracks and opener first.
Same footprint as the 4x4 with a fifth row of totes, if you have the headroom.
5 wide × 5 high
25 totes
- Widthabout 9 ft 8 in wide
- Heightabout 7 ft 5 in tall
- Depthabout 2 ft 6 in
- DeliveryAssembled in your garage
Assembled in place. At nearly ten feet wide it does not move once it is loaded.
Shops, barns, and three-car garages. The most totes per foot of wall we build.
Need something between these, or a rack that has to dodge a water heater, a window, or a side door? We build to the wall you've got. Say so on the form and we will work it out.
Add-Ons
Four things worth deciding.
- Locking casters Ask
Four 4" locking swivel casters so the rack rolls away from the wall. Only worth it on the 3-wide, since nothing bigger fits through a door.
- Plywood top surface Ask
A finished plywood top that turns the rack into a work surface. You can see it on two of the racks in the photos.
- Anti-tip wall strap No charge
Anchored to a wall stud. No charge, and we fit it on any rack that lives where kids or a vehicle are around.
- Cut for a different tote Ask
Costco, Lowe's, and Sterilite totes are all different sizes and will not sit right in a rack cut for HDX. Bring us one and we build the slots around it.
Loaded, a rack is heavy and tall.
Twenty-five full 27-gallon totes is real weight standing seven feet up. We load the heaviest totes on the bottom rows, lock the casters when it is parked, and anchor an anti-tip strap into a wall stud on any rack that lives where kids or a vehicle are around. Ask for the strap and we fit it at no charge. We would rather talk you into one than not.
Questions
Straight answers.
What totes do these fit?
The HDX 27-gallon Tough Tote from Home Depot. That is the one we build to, and it is what you see in every photo on this page. Costco, Lowe's, and Sterilite totes are all slightly different sizes, and a rack cut for one will not hold another correctly. If you already own a different brand, bring us one tote and we cut the slots around it at no extra design charge.
Why does the tote brand matter that much?
Because the tote is not sitting on a shelf, it is hanging by its rim across a gap. The gap has to be narrower than the rim so the lip catches, and wider than the body so it drops through. That is a window of about an inch. Get it wrong and the tote either will not go in or does not sit right. This is why we measure your actual tote before we cut anything.
Do the totes come with the rack?
No. We build and deliver the rack; you buy the totes. That keeps the price down, lets you fill it a few totes at a time, and means the ones already sitting on your garage floor go straight into it.
How much weight will it hold?
Each tote hangs on a pair of 2x4 rails screwed into 2x4 posts, so a full tote is well within what the wood will carry. The honest limit is not the rack, it is stability: loaded, a five-foot-wide rack of full totes is heavy and tall. We put the heaviest totes on the bottom rows and we will anchor an anti-tip strap into a wall stud at no charge.
Can I buy a rack without getting the floor coated?
Yes. We deliver racks anywhere we coat floors: Granbury, Weatherford, Stephenville, Glen Rose, Aledo & the southwest Fort Worth area. Most people add one to a coating job because the garage is already emptied out on install day, but it is not a requirement.
Can you build a size that is not listed?
Yes, and we do it often. Width is limited by your wall, height by your ceiling and your garage door tracks. Tell us the wall you want to fill and we will build to it.
Get a Rack
Tell us the wall.
Send us the wall you want to fill and the tote brand you own, and we will come back with a size and a price. Getting the floor coated too? Say so and we will have the rack ready for install day, while the garage is already empty. Or just call (817) 904-3634.
Doing the Floor Too?
Coat it first, then fill it.
A rack rolls in and out over a coated floor without marking it up, and install day is the one day your garage is already empty. Our coatings are $6 per square foot, all in, and the price is on the page.