Turning your Garage Into a Man Cave – Phase 1, Clean it out

The garage can make an excellent place for a Man Cave. The first step to turning your garage into a Man Cave is getting rid of all the clutter and creating a clean and open space that you can transform into whatever type of cave-dwelling you desire.

What is in your Garage?

So let’s talk about what is in your garage and what will be done with it. Is your garage clean or messy? If your garage is clean, and by clean, I mean completely empty, you can sweep the floor and check out phase 2 where I talk about painting.

For the rest of us, we will fall into the category of having a messy starting point. We will have to deal with the mess, years and maybe decades of accumulation. But don’t worry, let’s break it down section by section.

Using, Trashing, Storing

Your messy garage will have a mixture of two categories. Things that you want gone, which we will call Stuff. And the second category we will call Storage, these are items that are not going anywhere because you need them for everyday use or you want to store these things for future consideration.

In the Stuff category, you will be able to get rid of things in three different ways.

• Donate or sell. If the items are good enough, you can donate to charity. If donating, some charities will pick up large pieces. See what charities are operating in your area and take advantage of this option. You can sell items online using Kijiji, eBay or local buy and sell websites. Having a garage sale is another way to sell things fast, but you usually have to take a lower price.
• Recycle. Cardboard boxes and plastic containers can easily be recycled with the household waste pickup. Be aware of size restrictions and cut big boxes down to size. Scrap metal or old appliances could be picked up for free by people who sell scrap metal. Or cut out the middleman and take those items to the scraper yourself and get paid for your scrap. If you have engine oil or other hazardous materials, you can dispose of it at your township’s local drop-off.
• Garbage. After you have donated, sold and recycled everything that you can, you will be left with waste. Bag it up in heavy-duty black garbage bags. But follow the rules, the city won’t pick it up if an individual bag is too heavy, spread out the weight accordingly. If your garbage is rejected, you will have to haul it to the dump yourself or get a third party disposal company.

In the Storage category, we will find the things that you need or want to keep. Since you are claiming the garage to create a Man Cave you want to move everything out of your space if you can. For example, move garden tools or the lawn mower to a garden shed, maybe other items will be better suited in the basement. If you find things that are on loan, it is a good time to return it to its rightful owner (or start charging them for storage). And then there are things that you will be keeping in the garage. Keep a list of these items because they will have to be factored into your floorplan.

Using your Tools and Toys to decorate your Man Cave

Displaying tools on a peg board or having your motorcycle in the space can set a theme and be a part of your decor. It is practical storage but also looks really cool. For the items, you want to hide, box it up in plastic containers and build shelves or overhead space to stack them neatly.

At this stage, it would be nice to get everything out of the garage,  and I do mean everything! If you don’t like the old bench or worn shelves, take it all down. Rebuild it the way you want it. You will be happy with the outcome.

Put all the items into a temporary storage area so you can have space to work. With your space empty, it will be much easier to paint and build than having things in your way while you are trying to renovate.