Preparing Your Garage for a New Vehicle: A Handyman’s Guide

Should you leave your car inside the garage, or outside? If keeping it inside, what type of flooring is best for your garage, and what steps can you take to improve it?

Below we’ll go into how to prep your garage for a new vehicle, with insider handyman tips to help you prepare the best garage possible for your new car.

Ready to get insider handyman tips? Read on down below.

Assessing Your Garage Space

Before you purchase your new vehicle, it’s best to assess the dimensions of your garage. Leaving your vehicle inside the garage is preferable as it keeps it out of sight, and out of harm’s way. However, if the garage is already crammed and the vehicle will only make it worse, you may want to keep it outside the garage.

Adapt your car purchase to the size of your garage so you can stow it away and sleep soundly while your car is out of any danger of potential theft. If you’re adamant about stowing your car away in the garage long term, then a big truck or SUV may not be able to fit.

Decluttering and Organizing

Garages often end up with boxes and any leftover mess that’s been there since you’ve moved in. A new car purchase is a great time to declutter your garage and organize all of the mess that’s been piling up for years.

Make three piles: keep, throw away, and donate. Take a few hours with the help of a few family members to organize your garage so you can make room for your new car. It’s also a good time to clean the walls or the floor before your new car is parked inside.

Flooring Improvements

As time goes by, with structural defects, concrete can start to crack over time. As your car drives over the flooring of the garage, you’re going to have more and more damage being done by wear and tear. Simply putting a coat of epoxy is not going to fix any structural damage.

Before you put down a new coat of epoxy or polyaspartic, take care of any damage that has surfaced. You may need to hire a professional handyman to help with maintenance. There are concrete crack kits you can purchase, but the bigger jobs are best left to the professionals.

Lighting Upgrades

Great overhead lighting can make it easier to work during the nighttime. If you’re interested in working on your car after work, proper overhead lighting is going to be paramount. Task lighting is also vital if you’re going to be working in dark corners, like inside of the engine.

A separate light can shine directly onto what you’re working on. It’s also a good idea to get proper lighting for any workstations you have, as overhead lighting can cast shadows which isn’t going to be ideal for intricate work.

Creating a Maintenance Station

A maintenance station can go a long way when it comes to taking care of your new vehicle. Even if you aren’t going to be doing regular maintenance on your vehicle yourself, there are times when you’re going to need to do some quick maintenance checks.

Joe Webster from A1 Auto Transport says: “Rather than paying someone to do a maintenance check before you send your vehicle for transport or a long-distance ride, you can keep a station in your garage so you can quickly check the fluid levels, tire pressure and monitor the battery’s health. It can go a long way, rather than paying someone to do it each time.”

Smart Garage Additions

Older homes may have old garage openers that rely on a handheld device to open. Newer models may be able to integrate directly with your vehicle, so before you purchase a new garage opener, check with your new car’s manufacturer if your car can integrate with certain openers.

You may still want to get a dedicated clicker just for your garage opener, just as a fail-safe. If you have an electric vehicle, you can also look into setting up a charging station so you can charge your vehicle overnight.

Conclusion 

Regardless of if you’re going to be purchasing a new car or not, garage maintenance is going to be vital for long-term homeowners. As the years pass by, the clutter in the garage piles up, and eventually, it can be so cluttered there isn’t any room for even a single car. It’s always a good idea to stay on top of garage maintenance before it becomes a problem.

Before purchasing a new car, check the garage’s dimensions, and prepare it with proper additions like a maintenance station, or a garage opener that works with your vehicle directly. Check the floor as well if there are any cracks, and consider putting down a coat of epoxy to have better long-term durability. 

With proper planning, your new vehicle will find its new home in your garage, and you’ll be happy you took the effort to get it done!