Thread: Protecting your garaged car thru the winter

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What do you guys do to keep things like the kid's bikes, ladders, shovels and the rest of the family away from your car while it's tucked away for the winter? I'm looking for some ideas. I'm almost to the point of building a garage within my garage to keep the clutter away.

Hang the bikes upside down from the rafters. It's good for them and the car

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Ahh...the bikes are in and out all day long, cant hang them. My wife will be parking in the garage all the time now, which means kids, groceries, backpacks etc potentially brushing up against it.

I was either going to cover the car up well with blankets, build some sort of freestanding 1/2 wall to create a barrier or maybe even make a sliding wall that I could hang on rollers from the ceiling or something. I figured I cant be the only guy in this predicament.


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Although I don't have your and the many other friends who live in cold,snowy areas, I wouls suggest a excellent car cover with added old blankets etc for added cushioning with your idea of a solid wall that goes up to maybe 3/4 height to protect the car. I like your thinking of having the wall on rollers to aid moving around. I would park the car against the furthest wall away from the internal doorway and where Mother parks her vehicle and build a wall isolating the car from there.
We are enjoying a late start to our summer down here but I hope your winter isn't too bad or long.
Merry Christmas to you and your Family.

a partisan is the only thing that will work. a cover wont keep dents away .

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

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what brand are those door openers ? i recently bought one i could not make work

Originally Posted by HOSS429

what brand are those door openers ? i recently bought one i could not make work

They're Lift Master belt drive. I always hated the noise of the change drive openers. These work with the hand-held controllers that came with them, an outside unit (electronic, not hard wired) and the built-in opener in the sun visor of my Ford Escape. It was just a matter of following the instructions for activating the controllers.

Originally Posted by Gusaroo

I was either going to cover the car up well with blankets, build some sort of freestanding 1/2 wall to create a barrier or maybe even make a sliding wall that I could hang on rollers from the ceiling or something.

Be careful with blankets. Moisture or chemicals from washing can really mess up the paint on the car. Blankets are OK for padding ON TOP OF a good car cover.

I have it a little better than you. My wife doesn't drive and no kids are going in and out. Keeping away the dings and dents is all on me.

I have a separate building that is 16"x10" that houses all the yard stuff, mower, shovels, wheelbarrows, etc. I told the wife, the garage is meant ONLY for cars and and car stuff.
I have a California Car Cover on my car as well as Marine grade(the green) Sta-Bil in the tank.Also have a Battery Tender on the battery. Was told the marine grade works better for longer periods of time. Have been using it now 3 years with no start up problems in the spring.

When I took a quick glance at the first few posts and saw that "hang 'em" was offered as a solution for misbehaving rugrats I thought, "now you're talkin'....".................then I realized they meant the bicycles...........oh well!

I'll toss out another alternative I find interesting (pic below). It's called a "touchless car cover". The first advantage is it gives a visual barrier some distance from the car surface. A determined vandal would probably still figure out how to be inconsiderate enough to cause damage, but this is better than nothing. This thing folds up to a very compact package. The temp wall is okay, but it can also be a storage/space eater problem in the "on season". Another multi-tasker would be a heavy duty curtain wall (look up Goff for professional examples), again a good space definer that could also be used at other times to contain airborne debris when working on a project.

Bob P, now that's interesting, never seen such a thing...we have a beach tent that uses the same concept. That could work in my garage too due to my high ceilings. It is probably sturdy enough to withstand the occasional bump from a passerby, and it can packed up in the warmer months! I'm gonna check it out.

We use to have steel hooks in the wall on the side of the garage, and we'd hang our bikes from the front tires from them in college. This worked great for 4 guys for 4 years!
Basically like the picture below with a hook like the second photo.


similar to this but we reinfored the wall with plywood screwed across the hook areas that was secured to the wall studs, also keeps tires from mucking up drywall in a finished garage.

I've never been allowed to display any of my treasures or have a hand in decorating any thing in the house..... Soooooo none of their stuff is allowed in my garage...
There is a little shed out back for lawn & garden tools and bikes.

Thanks guys! all good ideas

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