Garage Organizers near you

This is the rule almost nobody knows, and it is set by the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014, with HSE as the guidance authority and the local Petroleum Enforcement Authority as the regulator. You may store up to 30 litres of petrol at home or at similar non-workplace premises without telling the Petroleum Enforcement Authority anything. Above that, and up to a maximum of 275 litres, you must follow the legal requirements that go with it, which include notifying your local Petroleum Enforcement Authority in writing, giving your name and the address where the petrol is stored. Beyond 275 litres, the authority can issue a licence with conditions attached to your storage and dispensing arrangements.

The containers matter as well as the quantity. Since 1 October 2014 petrol may be kept in metal or plastic containers that are suitable and safe for the purpose and will not significantly degrade through exposure to petrol or to naturally occurring ultraviolet radiation, with the details set out in the schedules to the regulations. HSE's separate advice for carrying petrol is that up to 30 litres may be carried in a vehicle in a maximum of two suitable containers.

The siting advice is blunt and worth repeating in full: do not take petrol into any house, flat or anywhere where people live, keep it out of the reach of children, and keep it out of direct sunlight. A garage attached to a house is a better place than a kitchen and a worse place than a detached shed at the end of the garden. Wherever it goes, keep it off the route people walk, away from anything that can make a spark, and away from the boiler, the freezer and the consumer unit.

The assumption behind every wall-mounted storage system is that the wall can take the load, and in a British garage that assumption often fails. Many detached and attached garages are built in single-skin blockwork, sometimes only 100mm thick, with no structural role beyond holding up a light roof. Prefabricated concrete-sectional garages, common on estates built from the 1950s to the 1970s, are panels in a frame and will not take a heavy fixing at all. Neither will asbestos cement sheeting, which is a separate hazard discussed below.

Where the wall is doubtful, put the load on the floor. Freestanding racking with a full-width base spreads weight across the slab and can be loaded heavily without asking anything of the structure, and it can be moved. Where the wall is solid masonry and will take fixings, the right anchors matter: expansion bolts in aerated block will pull out, and resin anchors or purpose-made fixings for the block type are the answer. Fix into the block itself rather than into the mortar joints, and spread the load across multiple fixings.

Overhead platforms deserve their own caution. A garage roof is often a light timber or steel structure designed to carry its covering and nothing else, and hanging several hundred kilograms of stored goods from it is not a decision to make by eye. If the ceiling is being used for storage, the load path down to the walls or to a post has to be thought about, and on anything substantial that means asking someone competent to look.

Cold weather is when the condensation problem shows up. Warm, damp air from a car brought in wet, or simply humid outdoor air meeting a cold uninsulated roof, condenses on the coldest surface and drips. That is why a stack of boxes stored in September is soft by February, and it is the strongest argument for sealed containers and for keeping everything clear of walls and floor.

Cold also affects what should be stored at all. Water-based paints and adhesives are damaged by freezing, aerosols behave unpredictably in extremes of temperature, and batteries lose capacity and can be damaged if left flat in the cold. An unheated garage is not a neutral store for any of them, and the short answer for paint is that it belongs indoors in a cupboard rather than on a garage shelf.

The summer counterpart is heat and sun. A garage with a thin roof reaches high temperatures, and HSE's advice to keep petrol out of direct sunlight matters more in a garage with a rooflight or a translucent panel than in a dark one. It is also the season for going through what accumulated over the winter, because the one thing every garage organisation project needs is for less to be kept.

Garage storage is priced on the system chosen and on what the building can support. The variables are whether racking is freestanding or fixed, what the walls are built of and therefore what fixings are needed, whether an overhead platform requires anyone to assess the roof structure, the linear metres of shelving and cabinetry, whether a workbench and power are included, whether the floor is being sealed or coated first, and how much clearing and disposal has to happen before anything is installed. Clearance is the line most often omitted from a first quotation and most often needed.

LokalMatch is the introduction, nothing more. Describe the garage, what you need to store and whether the walls are solid or single-skin, once, with your postcode, and fitters and storage installers working in your area can get in touch. Using LokalMatch is free for homeowners; pros pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not fit storage, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone who replies, so checking their fixing methods and insurance before work starts is on you.