How to Hang Bikes and Sports Gear on Garage Walls

Getting the bikes and the sports gear up off the garage floor

The garage is where unfinished projects go to live, where the garden tools end up leaning in a corner, and where sports gear seems to breed overnight, and then you try to fit a bike in around all of it and the whole thing turns into a wrestling match. The fix is not a bigger garage. It is getting the bulky stuff onto the walls, and the only part that needs any thought is what you fix it with.

Why the wall is worth it

Floor space is the thing you are actually short of, so every bike, ladder and cricket bag that goes up a wall gives you a patch of concrete back. Gear stops getting scratched, kicked over and run into, and you can see what you own, which means you stop digging through a pile of bats to get at the tennis racket underneath.

Pick the hook or rack to suit the thing

• Vertical bike hooks. The bike hangs by a wheel or by the frame, takes up very little wall, and it is the easiest option if you are hanging more than one bike side by side.
• Horizontal bike racks. The bike sits level on two arms. It takes more wall but it is much kinder on your back, and it suits a heavy bike or anyone who is lifting it up there every day.
• Screw hooks and cup hooks. For helmets, extension leads, hoses, folding chairs and all the odd shaped things. Cheap, and you can put up a dozen in an afternoon.
• Shelves and labelled bins. Balls, pads, gloves and the small stuff that will never hang off anything. One bin per person in the house saves a surprising number of arguments.

The fixing matters more than the hook

This is the part people get wrong, and it is the part that decides whether the bike is still on the wall in two years. Work out what your wall actually is before you buy anything.

• Plasterboard. Anything heavy goes into a stud, no exceptions and no getting clever about it. A bike is 10 to 15 kilos swinging on a single point, and plasterboard on its own will not hold that. For lighter gear between the studs, a hollow wall anchor or a spring toggle is the right tool, because both open out behind the sheet and spread the load instead of relying on the crumbly bit.
• Brick or concrete. Drill the hole, then use a masonry anchor or a wall plug so the screw has something to bite into. A sleeve anchor is the one to reach for when the load is real, because the sleeve expands against the sides of the hole as you tighten it.
• Timber framed shed walls. Straight into the frame, and keep the screw long enough that it is properly in the timber rather than just in the lining.

If you are not sure what is behind the lining, tap along the wall and listen for the change, or measure out from a corner, because studs usually sit at a regular spacing. Guessing and then filling three holes is a slower way to get to the same place.

Plan the wall before you pick up the drill

Heavy things low, light things high. That way you are not standing on a ladder to get a bike down when you want to go for a ride, and the helmets and the pool noodle nobody has touched in a year can live up top where they are out of the way.

Leave yourself room to actually walk past a hung bike. Handlebars stick out further than you think, and a bike that catches you on the hip every time you go to the bin gets taken down again within a fortnight.

Then make it yours

Once it is up, the small touches are what keep it working. Rubber coated hooks stop a frame getting scratched. Colour coded labels on the bins mean the kids put things back in roughly the right place. A few offcuts of PVC pipe screwed to the wall will hold hockey sticks or fishing rods neatly, and that costs almost nothing.

And if you are not sure which anchor suits your wall, bring in a photo of it and we will work it out with you at the counter. That is a two minute conversation and it saves a wasted trip.

Shop related products

• Macsim Hollow Wall Anchor 8mm x 16-23mm Yellow Zinc. Opens out behind plasterboard so the fixing is not relying on the sheet alone.
• Macsim Spring Toggle 3mm x 75mm. Wings fold through the hole and spring open behind, good for a hollow wall or a ceiling.
• Hex Nut Sleeve Anchor Masonry Bolt 6.5mm x 75mm. The one for brick or concrete when the load is genuinely heavy.
• Round Screw Hook Zinc Plated 87mm. A smooth round bend that takes a rope or a chain without chewing through it.

Did you know we keep a whole run of cup hooks, screw hooks, wall plugs and toggles in the shop that never make it onto the website, because the sizes are what matter and there are a lot of them. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.

Where to go next

• Fasteners and fixings. Anchors, plugs, toggles, screws and bolts.
• Hardware. Hooks, brackets, latches and the general bits.
• When to use a construction adhesive instead of a screw.
• Sorting out the screws and nails while you are at it.

A garage that works with you frees up the Saturday you were going to spend tidying it, which is the whole point.

Cheers,
Candeece

My own garage is a work in progress and I am not taking photos of it any time soon.