- Avoid nicks with carpet
If your garage is cramped and you tend to bump your car door on the wall when you get out, attach carpet offcuts to the garage wall where the door hits. The carpet will soften the blow and prevent nicks and dents.
- Install a bumper
If you need to reverse your car all the way into the garage until it almost hits the back wall, fix an old tyre onto the wall at bumper height. If you do reverse in a little too far, your bumper will hit the pliant tyre and save both the car and the wall from damage.
- A combination work seat and tool caddy
If you’re tinkering with something on a low part of your car, you may find it hard to keep squatting or kneeling as you work, when in fact you don’t need to. Instead, make an easily constructed combination seat-tool caddy out of a sturdy plastic crate or wooden box. Bolt a 2 x 7-cm strip of wood onto two parallel sides of the underside of the box or crate. At the ends of each strip, attach screw-cap casters. You can now store your tools inside the crate or box — and you can sit on top of the caddy as you work. Just be sure to put the lid on — or put a sheet of plywood on top of the box to use as a seat.
- Slide right under on vinyl
You don’t have to buy a special trolley to work under your car. Simply place a 1.2 x 1.5-m scrap of vinyl flooring on your garage floor or driveway pavement — shiny side up — and park the car over it; keep a metre or so of the vinyl protruding from under the car. Lie on your back on the vinyl and you have a slippery mat that lets you easily slide underneath the car.
- Prevent spots leaving stains
Many garages and driveways are spoiled by unsightly — and sometimes dangerously slippery — grease stains from oil leaks or greasy tools. Prevent stains when you work by covering the area with newspaper or paper bags. If your car is leaking even a little oil, place an unopened brown paper bag or a flattened cardboard box under the leak and replace as necessary.
- Contain dust with newspaper
Before sweeping out a dusty area of the garage, shred a bunch of old newspaper, dampen it with warm water and scatter it around the area. The soggy paper will keep the dust from rising and resettling as you’re sweeping.
- Stop water seeping through a garage door
If water sometimes seeps in through your garage door during heavy rainfall, spray the seal on the door with WD-40. The seepage should stop, even when the rain doesn’t.
Credit: Reader’s Digest
Picture Credit: Google
