Let's celebrate your clean garage

Is your garage a hazardous haven for dents, damage, and danger? A survey of U.S. adults by The Lehigh Group, Aurora, Ill., makers of organization products, reveals that 39% have tripped over an item in their cluttered garage; 27% have hit an object when opening a vehicle door; and 22% accidentally have hit something when parking.

DESIGN Daly Genik Architects, Santa Monica (dalygenik.com or 370/656-3180)Ben made two trips to finish the job, and each journey took the salesman about an hour round trip.Go vertical. Use the vertical plane to keep the floor free of clutter. Garages provide ample wall and ceiling space that easily can be converted into storage. Install hanging shelves, pegboards, storing rails, and overhead systems to secure items. Even tall and long pieces that are awkward are hung with no trouble thanks to modular storage components.Huge folding doors made of perforated metal panels keep the bedroom areas private but cool; they let breezes through, but won't be ignited by wind-carried embers. Bonus: Similar panels serve as awnings--they tilt up, like garage doors--for the living room's glass walls."I talked to Cal Fire a lot as we made plans to rebuild our house to make it as fire-safe as we could. We now have a metal roof and stucco. Our old place was a log home. It was gone in half an hour."--SU SCHLECHT, 2001 POE FIRE, BUTTE COUNTY, CAThe home's signature glass walls are made of laminated glass, which is much stronger and more fire-resistant than even double-paned. It's also more expensive, though. If you can't afford to replace all the glass in your house, use it on the windward side, which is most likely to face oncoming flames.

"Two key risk areas in the garage are falls from trip hazards and poisoning from improper storage of toxins like fertilizer or paint thinners," points out Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council, Washington, D.C. "Taking time to declutter, organize, and securely store dangerous items is an investment we should all make for the safety of our families."