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Installing a garage pegboard is an excellent way to optimize the efficiency of your garage space.
The bottom line is that we aren’t all Jay Leno with some sick, pimped out dream garage. I remember the days when I didn’t even have a garage at all. My first bike sat outside, and my first real restoration project was done partly outside and partly in my living room.
Moral of that story is that when you are passionate about something, you make it work. That said, being your average Jack or Jill, doesn’t mean with some hard work and careful planning you can’t have your own version of a dream garage. I did an overhaul of my garage last weekend and am loving it.
Okay, going back to installing a garage pegboard. If you are limited on garage space or want to free up some space in your tool chest, installing a garage pegboard is an excellent way to get things hanging on the wall within easy reach.
Honestly, the best part of pegboards is the quick and easy access to tools – you don’t have to rummage through the tool chest each time you need something. Simply grab off the pegboard and start wrenching.
Installing a Garage Pegboard
The steps to installing a garage pegboard are straight-forward, but still worth going over for those contemplating one and unfamiliar with the process.
Step 1: Determine the wall type you are dealing with. Most garages are concrete or masonry block, but an interior wall (i.e. a wall shared with the house interior) may be traditional dry wall.
Step 2: Select your fasteners based on the wall type. For an interior wall, you should use a box of combo anchors and screws. For a concrete or masonry wall, you should use Tapcon screws or other screws meant specifically for that purpose.
Step 3: Buy yourself a set of “rails.” These are your standard 2″x1″ rods that you get at your local hardware store. Super cheap and easy to cut yourself to size. Inspect them in the store, as some of these aren’t as straight as they should be. Wood warps over time and with moisture, so try to buy the straightest ones you can find.
Step 4: Determine the size of the pegboard you are looking to install and cut the rods such that they are the vertical length of pegboard you are looking for. In other words, we are going to install rods in a vertical orientation onto the wall every 18 inches or so across the width of the pegboard. This is the key step of the process. You install the rods on the wall and then attach the pegboard itself to the rods.
Step 5: Fasten the rods to the wall. For anchors, drill a pilot hole, gently hammer in the anchor, then install the associated screws through the rod into the wall. You need rods every 18 inches or so width wise, and you need screws every 12 to 18 inches vertically depending on the amount of weight you plan to hang on the pegboard. For concrete screws, you need to drill a pilot hole into the concrete wall using a concrete/masonry bit and a drill with a hammer drill setting. Masonry bits have a special tip to help pound the concrete as it is also drilling – the hammer drill setting is meant to pound the concrete a little with the special tip as it is also trying to drill into the wall. KEY PIECE OF ADVICE: THE WRONG BIT AND THE WRONG DRILL WILL BASICALLY MEAN YOU ARE GOING TO GET NOWHERE. A concrete bit will make the job faster and easier. Trying to use a drill bit meant for wood or metal will take hours and may not work at all.
Step 6: Finally, once the rods are installed on the wall, you can attached your pegboard. I like to use 1.25″ drywall screws to go through the existing holes in the pegboard into the rods that you just mounted on the wall. The final product should be something like the black pegboard you see over my workbench. I painted it with abrasion resistant truck bed coating before putting it up on the wall so that it would match the black, white, red theme I got going.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this post about installing a garage pegboard. Please like or share on Facebook, tweet on Twitter, or like on Instagram.
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