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At some point, you parked a car in here. You remember that. A long time ago, before the boxes, the piles of forgotten projects, the rusting tools, the mountain of things you swore you’d fix one day. Now it’s just an open-air storage unit with a flickering lightbulb and a smell you don’t want to trace back to its source. Maybe it started with a single misplaced wrench. A box you never unpacked. A bike you haven’t ridden since gas was cheap. Then, suddenly, this. You tell yourself you’ll clean it. But that’s the thing about garages. They don’t get cleaned. They get abandoned.
How to Clean a Garage: 6 Steps to Confronting the Chaos You Created
1. Admit That You Have No Idea What’s in Here
You think you know. You don’t. Beneath the cobwebs and dust, beneath the old paint cans and tangled extension cords, there’s history. Receipts for things you don’t remember buying. A half-disassembled lawnmower. A plastic bin full of miscellaneous screws, none of which match anything. The National Association of Professional Organizers says that most people store 80% of their unused possessions in garages. Translation: you’re hoarding junk. Start with the easy stuff—trash is trash. If it’s broken, expired, rusted, or unidentifiable, it’s gone. No exceptions.
2. Fight the Dust, the Cobwebs, the Smell
It’s in the air. Thick, stale, the scent of old cardboard and forgotten projects. You cough. You wipe your hands on your jeans and they come away gray. A broom isn’t going to cut it. The Environmental Protection Agency warns that garage dust is a delightful mix of mold spores, dried insect parts, and toxic particles from things you should have disposed of years ago. Get a shop vac. A real one. Industrial strength. Suck up everything. The cobwebs, the layers of neglect, the unspeakable filth collecting in corners. Because the deeper you go, the worse it gets.
3. The Sorting: Keep, Trash, Donate, Lie to Yourself
This is where things get complicated. The old drill? Keep. The three other drills that don’t work? Trash. The bucket full of rusty nails? You tell yourself they might be useful. They won’t be. The How to Declutter a Closet guide says if you haven’t used it in a year, you won’t. Be ruthless. Hold it up, ask yourself why it’s here. If the answer is anything other than I use this regularly, it goes. Don’t create a “maybe” pile. That’s just a stall tactic.
4. The Oil Stains That Will Outlive You
There’s no such thing as a clean garage floor. Not really. The moment something leaks, spills, drips onto the concrete, it stays. Decades-old oil stains, mystery fluids that might be motor oil or might be evidence of some crime. The How to Clean Concrete Floors guide suggests baking soda, cat litter, and degreasers—but let’s be honest. You’re not getting it all out. You scrub. You pour chemicals. You try not to think about what’s soaked in deeper than you can reach.
5. Shelving: The Last Line of Defense
Garages have one fatal flaw—flat surfaces. Tables, countertops, even the floor—all magnets for clutter. The How to Organize a Storage Room guide suggests vertical storage. Shelves, hooks, cabinets. If you can’t see the floor, you’ve already lost. Install wall-mounted shelves. Hang the tools. Contain the madness before it starts all over again. Because it will start all over again.
6. Accept That This Is Temporary
You did it. You can see the floor. You can walk from one side to the other without knocking over a tower of misplaced regret. The air is clearer, the shelves make sense, the garbage bags are full. But you know the truth. It won’t last. The moment you leave, entropy returns. The next project. The next thing you don’t have space for in the house. The slow, creeping return to what it was before. And one day, you’ll step inside, look around, and say, I should clean this place up.
How Professionals Clean a Garage
Some people pay others to handle this mess. Industrial vacuums, power washers, entire teams of professionals armed with dumpsters. The International Sanitary Supply Association recommends deep-cleaning garages seasonally to prevent clutter buildup. If the job feels impossible, you can always call in reinforcements. Or just burn it all down and start fresh.
Final Thoughts
Your garage is clean. For now. But you know the truth—this is a war, not a victory. Things will pile up again. The dust will settle. The boxes will return. And someday, you’ll open the door, take a long look inside, and realize you’re right back where you started.