Garage storage doesn’t always have to be basic plastic racks and messy shelves. When a homeowner called the team at Ask This Old House for help with her garage storage before her new baby arrives, master carpenter Nathan Gilbert knew just what to do: Look overhead.
How to Install Overhead Garage Storage
Pro Tip: When planning your overhead rack layout, think about what else you might want to store above. As This Old House demonstrated in a recent garage organization project, overhead ceiling space is often a “blank slate” — perfect not just for one rack but potentially for additional storage like a rope-and-pulley bicycle hoist system mounted into adjacent joists. Map out your full ceiling storage plan before drilling so you can space everything efficiently.
- Start by inspecting the ceiling framing above the drywall. Note the direction the ceiling joists run and the spacing (typically 16 or 18 inches on center).
- Using a tape measure and a known joist location, measure and mark the location of the ceiling joists you’ll be installing the rack on. Make sure you hit a joist; otherwise, the rack may pull out.
- Place a mounting plate over the joist and use a pencil to mark locations to drill.
- With the correct size drill bit (according to the included hardware), drill into the joist at the marked locations. Install the brackets using the included hardware per the instructions. Repeat at all four locations.
- Follow the assembly instructions. This usually starts by bolting the shorter cross-members to the uprights, then installing longer stretchers between them.
- Install the cross members between the stretchers according to the assembly instructions.
- Install the wire rack over the cross members, according to the assembly instructions.
- Load your rack with bins for easy, accessible storage in the middle of your garage.
This Old House reader Steve Lavender, of Renton, Washington, took ceiling-mounted garage storage a creative step further by rigging his aluminum patio table and chairs overhead using eyebolts, slotted angle brackets, and snap hooks — all secured into ceiling joists with 2½-inch lag screws. The same principle applies to overhead rack systems: always span at least two joists per mounting point for a secure hold. “Of course, you’d never do this with a glass table,” Steve says. “But mine’s aluminum.”
Finding Joists: If you’re having trouble locating ceiling joists through drywall, try tapping on the ceiling and listening carefully — a solid sound indicates a joist, while a hollow sound means you’re between joists. Once you find one, measure 16 inches to locate the next, and confirm with a stud finder or by driving a small finish nail to verify solid wood before committing to your lag screw locations.
