How to Store Clothes in a Garage
Sometimes, the closets in your home don’t offer enough space to store all your clothes. For example, you might have some seasonal items that you won’t need for another few months, or you may have more than you can fit in the house and need a new place for those garments. Turning to your garage is a natural solution to this problem, but that comes with some potential issues. In addition, the environment in your garage might not be suitable for clothes, so the tips in this article will help you create a plan that allows for the successful short or long-term storage of your favorite items.
Of course, if you still need to build a new garage to create this storage space, Carport Kingdom should be your partner for that project! Explore our Build & Price tool today to check out the many custom options that we have available. Or, if you’d like, you can also contact us directly for immediate assistance. We’re excited to work with you!
It Starts with a Wash
You don’t want to put dirty clothes into storage. When your clothes are dirty, they have oils on them from your skin, and they might even be slightly damp from sweat. Putting clothes in that condition into storage is just asking for trouble. By the time you take them back for use again, they are likely to smell rather unpleasant, and they may have developed mold if they were even a little wet.
So, the starting point for any clothes storage project is a trip to the laundry room. Get everything you want to store cleaned and thoroughly dried before you stow them. Also, after the clothes are clean, fold them nicely, so they come out of storage later with clean lines rather than looking like a wrinkled mess.
Clothes Need Air, Not Water
We mentioned above how water can be trouble for clothes that are in storage. That means you don’t want to put them away wet, and you certainly don’t want to allow them to get wet while in the garage. Using sealable containers, rather than just standard cardboard boxes, is an excellent way to keep clothes dry for as long as they are stored.
With that said, you don’t want to eliminate all the air in the container where your clothes are stored. Instead, you want to let the items breathe, so just set them into a container and leave plenty of space around them for air to fill up the space. Also, garments made with natural fibers like cotton will degrade rather quickly if you remove the air, so don’t seal them up tightly in a plastic bag or anything like that.
Pick the Right Location in the Garage
All spots in your garage are not created equal. When looking for a good place to store your clothes, you’ll want to keep two main priorities in mind – up off the floor and away from the light. If you store your boxes of clothes down on the floor, they will be in the way, and they’ll have a greater chance of being disturbed by curious critters that might find their way in looking for a new outfit. If you don’t have a sound storage system in your garage, think about adding some shelves for clothes storage and other purposes.
On the point of light, consistent exposure to sunlight may cause your garments to lose some of their colors over time. This is a concern when you store clothes in clear plastic boxes that allow the most light to pass through. If you know that your garage will be lit most of the time for various reasons, consider choosing black plastic totes that will block out the light while closed.
Do You Need It All?
There is a good chance you don’t need all of the clothes you own. While going through the storage process, take some time to think carefully about each piece and whether or not you are likely to use it again. Cutting down on your wardrobe by even 10% can go a long way toward making it easier to store the items effectively. Of course, this concept can extend to everything else in your life, and cutting back on how many things you own will make your house less cluttered and even help your mind be more at ease.
Carport Kingdom Has You Covered
We hope you enjoyed this guide on how to store clothes in the garage! Setting up your garage for practical clothes storage will help open up space in your closets without having to get rid of garments you still want to use. Make sure that garage is big enough by working with Carport Kingdom to create a custom structure that maximizes the available space on your property. You can start by exploring our free Build & Price tool! If you have any questions along the way, don’t hesitate to contact our team for assistance. Thanks for stopping by our blog; we hope to serve you soon!