Spotlight on the garage

Are you interested in a well-appointed, multifunctional garage? When selling a property, a well-organized garage is a major selling point. Garage makeover is a good investment, since you can recoup up to 70% of its cost.

Reorganizing your garage is no longer a luxury, but a real necessity when you realize the value of this room, too long considered the poor relation of the house. More or less neglected, the garage is often transformed into a warehouse used for everything but parking. As soon as a piece of furniture, a decorative accessory, books or CDs are deemed undesirable upstairs, they spill over into the garage, right next to the Christmas tree and in the middle of skis, boots, sledges, windsurfing boards, leftover tiles, logs, gardening tools… This gradual deterioration of the space is all the more regrettable given that it is in fact an additional heated room averaging 28 m2 (300 ft2), often used as a transition room to access the interior of the house. Cleverly laid out, it could serve as a garage, a workshop, an extra room for storage and even a playroom for the kids.

Originally published in La Presse’s promotional magazine XY, Summer 2009

Turnkey solution – But how do you go about making this space look inviting while keeping its purpose? You can either roll up your sleeves and make the changes yourself, or call in the help of a professional. In this field, specialists such as Espace Garage Plus can offer you a wide range of specialized and personalized conversion services. One of the owners and founders of this company has personally experienced the problem of a non-functional garage. It was while looking for solutions that he found out how to optimize this space. Now, he can meet the expectations of a large number of people who want to make a change in a place where a lot of odds and ends are piled up. For a turnkey service, all you have to do is make an appointment with an installation technician, who will first assess your needs and then draw up a formal estimate. It will take around three weeks for the transformation to materialize. Depending on the layout chosen, installation generally takes two to three days. Everything will be done on schedule, as this company always makes a point of meeting its commitments.

Room for change – Depending on your needs and the dimensions of your garage, different elements can be easily installed to maximize space. For example, floating cabinet bodies made of high-density thermofused melamine or floor-standing steel cabinets are equally valid choices. In both cases, these are high-quality, resistant materials made in Quebec. For hanging various objects, a wall-mounted hanging system with a steel grid secured at six anchor points can support loads of up to 135 kg (300 lb). Equipped with hooks of different sizes, this suspension system allows you to keep frequently-used items such as golf bags, bicycles and gardening tools close at hand. For the floor, there’s a new, safe and hard-wearing product that seals concrete to give it an impeccable, easy-to-maintain appearance. Approved by Agriculture Canada, the industrial epoxy applied in the residential context offers a choice of 24 different colors and three varnishes. Finally, a new steel wall bracket for eight rim tires will be available in September. How much do such installations cost? For a single garage, around $5,000; a double garage, $10,000; and a triple garage with steel cabinets, around $40,000.