Yard Tool Storage: 7 Ways to Get Rakes, Shovels and Trimmers Off the Garage Floor

Walk into most American garages and you'll find the same corner: rakes and shovels leaning against the wall in a bundle, a string trimmer lying on its side, and a push broom that falls over every time somebody walks past. It's the single most common reason a two-car garage only parks one car.

Long-handled yard tools are awkward. They don't stack, they don't fit in a bin, and they slide down every wall you lean them against. Here are seven ways to store them properly — ranked from the cheapest weekend fix to the setup that actually lasts.

1. Mount a steel rail with adjustable hooks

This is the version that solves the problem permanently. A single steel rail bolted into two wall studs, with hooks that slide along it, gives every tool a fixed spot and takes about six minutes to install.

Why it beats everything else on this list: the hooks are locked to the rail, not resting in a hole, so bumping into them doesn't send anything to the floor. And because the hooks slide, you can respace the whole wall when you buy a new tool instead of drilling fresh holes.

Our 68" wall-mounted tool rail holds 8 to 12 long-handled tools per rail and ships with the lag screws and drill template you need. Most garages need two: one for yard tools, one for cords, hoses and seasonal gear.

2. Pegboard (with a warning)

Pegboard is the default answer, and for small hand tools it's fine. For rakes and trimmers it usually isn't. Standard pegboard hooks sit in a hole and lift straight out — a loaded gas trimmer swinging on one is exactly how tools end up back on the floor.

If you go pegboard, buy the metal panel version, not the hardboard, and get hook locks. Hardboard pegboard is sawdust and glue; the holes wallow out and the inserts start popping loose within a year in an unheated garage.

3. Simple screw-in utility hooks

Cheapest option on the list. A pack of heavy-duty screw-in J-hooks costs about eight dollars and will hold a rake fine — if you hit a stud. Screwed into bare drywall, they'll loosen and tear out, usually while you're not in the room.

The limitation is permanence: every hook is a hole. Rearranging means patching drywall. It works well for three or four tools you know you'll never move. Our 10-pack of vinyl-coated utility hooks covers most of a wall for under twenty dollars.

4. A corner tool rack or freestanding organizer

A freestanding rack requires no drilling, which is the whole appeal if you're renting. The tradeoff is that it takes floor space back — usually about two square feet — which is the exact thing you're trying to reclaim. It also tips if the load isn't balanced.

Reasonable if you can't drill. If you can drill, don't.

5. Overhead ceiling storage

When the walls and the floor are full, the ceiling is what's left. Overhead racks work well for bulk seasonal items — holiday bins, camping gear, coolers.

Two rules before you buy one. First, check your ceiling framing before you order anything: a lot of garages have 2x4 trusses at 24" spacing that were engineered for the roof, not for 600 pounds of storage. Second, plan how you'll actually get things up there. Almost nobody thinks about this before buying, and then the rack sits empty because it's above ladder height — which is exactly what a pulley hoist solves.

6. Slatwall panels

Slatwall is the premium version of pegboard — horizontal grooved panels covering a whole wall section, with accessories that slot in and lock. It looks excellent and it's genuinely modular.

The catch is cost and labor. Covering one garage wall runs several hundred dollars in panels plus a half day of cutting and mounting into studs. It's the right call if you're doing a full garage remodel. It's overkill if you just need the rakes off the floor.

7. Build it yourself with 2x4s

A 2x4 screwed horizontally into your studs, with lag screws or bike hooks driven into it, is genuinely strong and costs about ten dollars. Plenty of people online will tell you this is the only answer you need, and they're not entirely wrong.

What you're paying for with a manufactured rail is the finish, the adjustability, and the fact that it takes six minutes instead of an afternoon. If you enjoy the afternoon, build it. If your Saturday is already spoken for, buy the rail.

The part everyone skips: find the studs first

Almost every "my garage organizer fell off the wall" story ends the same way — it was mounted into drywall alone. Drywall does not hold weight. It holds paint.

Three ways to find a stud, in order of reliability:

• Electronic stud finder. Twenty dollars, takes thirty seconds, and it's the one you should own.
• Knock along the wall. Hollow tone means a cavity; a solid, higher-pitched thud means framing behind it. Confirm with a small nail.
• Measure from the corner. Studs in US homes are usually 16" apart on center, sometimes 24". Find one and the rest are predictable.

Mark two studs, mount into both, and nothing you hang will ever come down.

What we'd do with one afternoon and $80

1. Pull every long-handled tool out of the garage and stand them on the driveway.
2. Get rid of the duplicates. Most garages have two brooms and three rakes for a reason nobody can explain.
3. Find and mark two studs on the wall behind where the car door doesn't swing.
4. Mount a rail at about 60 inches off the floor — high enough that handles clear the ground, low enough to reach.
5. Hang the heaviest tools nearest the stud anchors and the light ones toward the ends.

That's the whole project. It's the single highest-return hour you can spend in a garage, and it's usually the one that finally gets the second car back inside.

Ready to clear the corner? Start with the StowForge 68" Yard Tool Rail — buy one, get one free, with free shipping across the US. Or browse the full Wall Storage collection.