By Steel Power Shelving Team | Published: 20 September 2026
A single garage usually takes one straight run of 0.5m deep shelving across the end wall and very little else, while a double garage takes that end-wall run plus a full 0.6m deep work wall down one side — but in both cases the deciding measurement is the floor line your car doors reach when fully open, not the length of the wall.
Most garage storage plans fail at the tape measure rather than at the checkout. People measure the wall, order bays that add up to the wall length, then discover the meter box sits where the second upright wants to go, or that the driver's door now touches a shelf frame. This guide is only about measuring: what to measure, what to subtract, and which unit sizes survive the exercise in a single garage and in a double.
Key takeaways
- Your usable wall is what is left after the meter box, hot water unit, internal door swing, roller-door track and the fully opened car doors — in a single garage that is often the end wall and nothing more.
- Use 0.5m deep bays on a wall you only walk past and 0.6m deep bays on a wall you stand and work at. That 100mm is usually what decides whether a car door still clears the uprights.
- The shortest bay in the range is 1.2m long, so if your straight run measures less than 1.2m, a cabinet at 0.9m or 0.915m wide is the better fit for that space.
- Height follows the ceiling and the roller-door mechanism: 1.8m under a low ceiling or door track, 2.0m as the default, and 2.4m only where headroom is genuinely clear — 2.4m exists only in the 0.6m deep line.
- The worked layouts below come to about $563 AUD for a single garage and about $1,147 AUD for a double, at prices as listed on the site.
Why your usable wall is much shorter than your wall
Australian garages vary far too much to plan from a standard figure, so the only number worth trusting is the one you measure yourself. Think in proportions instead. A single garage is roughly one car wide plus the room to get out of the car, which means the two side walls are mostly consumed by the car and by the space you need to open its doors — the end wall in front of the bonnet is the wall that is genuinely free. A double garage is roughly two cars wide, and the gap between the two cars or beside the outer car is usually wide enough to stand in, which is what unlocks a proper work wall down one side.
Then subtract the fixtures. On a typical Australian garage wall the things that quietly eat your run are:
- The meter box or switchboard, which must stay accessible and clear.
- A hot water unit, often mounted on the end or side wall at exactly shelf height.
- The garden tap, hose reel or laundry tub.
- The internal access door into the house and the arc it swings through.
- The roller-door track running along the side walls and the motor unit near the ceiling.
- Power points and light switches you need to keep reachable once the shelves are loaded.
- Corners. Each bay needs its full length in one straight run — you cannot fold 300mm of a 1.5m bay around a corner.
Once those are marked on the tape, a wall that looked like it could hold three bays often holds two. That is normal, and it is much cheaper to discover it now than after delivery. If you are starting from an empty garage with no plan at all, our guide on how to plan a garage storage system from scratch covers the sequencing side; this article is the measuring half of the same job.
How to measure a garage properly
Do this with the car in the garage, not out on the driveway. The car is the constraint.
- Park as you normally park. Not neatly centred for the exercise — wherever the car actually ends up every night.
- Open both front doors fully and chalk or tape the floor at the widest point of each door. Measure from the wall to that mark. That figure, less the knuckle room you want, is your maximum shelf depth on that wall.
- Check bonnet and boot clearance. With the car fully in and the roller door closed, measure from the bumper to the end wall. If that is less than shelf depth plus room to walk, the end wall becomes walk-past only or shallow only.
- Measure the wall at shelf height, not at floor level. Skirting, slab rebates and wall sheeting all change the number a metre up.
- Mark every fixture along the tape and note its height as well as its position — a meter box at 1.5m only blocks the upper shelves, which can change which bay length fits.
- Look up. Measure floor to ceiling at the wall itself, then check where the roller door and its mechanism sit when the door is open.
- Protect a walk-through path wide enough to carry a box through with both hands full, not just wide enough to edge past sideways.
| What you measure | What it decides |
|---|---|
| Widest point of the fully opened car doors | Maximum shelf depth on the side walls — 0.5m or 0.6m |
| Bumper to end wall, car fully in, door closed | Whether the end wall can take shelving at all, and how deep |
| Wall length at shelf height, minus fixtures | How many 1.2m, 1.5m or 2.0m bays fit in one straight run |
| Floor to ceiling at the wall | Unit height — 1.8m, 2.0m or 2.4m |
| Position of the open roller door and motor | Whether the top of the unit must stop at 1.8m |
| Width of the path you carry boxes through | Which wall stays a walk-past wall |
0.5m or 0.6m deep: the 100mm that decides whether the door opens
Depth is the one specification that does two jobs at once. It sets the footprint that projects into the garage, and it sets what the shelf is rated to hold. Our 0.5m deep bays are rated at 200kg per shelf and our 0.6m deep bays at 300kg per shelf, both evenly distributed. Ratings here are always stated per shelf — what one shelf safely holds — rather than as a headline number for the whole unit, which is the figure that actually governs how you load it.
So you cannot simply take the deeper unit for the extra capacity. It costs you 100mm of floor, and on a side wall beside a parked car 100mm at shoulder height is frequently the difference between a door that swings clear and a door that kisses an upright. The decision rule is about use, not about ambition:
- A wall you walk past — the end wall in front of the bonnet, or a side wall in a single garage — takes 0.5m deep. It swallows storage tubs, paint, camping gear, boxed spares and tyres stood on edge.
- A wall you work at — the free side wall of a double garage, or the bench end of a workshop — earns 0.6m deep. The extra 100mm is what lets a toolbox, a battery or a 20L drum sit on the shelf with room to get a hand around it.
| 0.5m deep (200kg per shelf) | 0.6m deep (300kg per shelf) | |
|---|---|---|
| Heights available | 1.8m, 2.0m | 1.8m, 2.0m, 2.4m |
| Bay lengths | 1.2m, 1.5m, 2.0m | 1.2m, 1.5m, 2.0m |
| Entry price | $100 — 1.8m H x 1.2m L | $165 — 1.8m H x 1.2m L |
| Longest bay | $179 — 2.0m H x 2.0m L | $230 — 2.4m H x 2.0m L |
| Suits | Walls you walk past, cars parked close | Walls you work at, heavier and bulkier loads |
If you are weighing the two lines on capacity rather than on clearance, the detail sits in our explainer on 200kg versus 300kg per shelf.
Height: 1.8m, 2.0m or 2.4m against a garage ceiling
Height is decided by two things you have already measured — the ceiling at the wall, and where the roller door lives when it is open.
- 1.8m is the safe choice under a low or sloping ceiling, on a wall that sits under the door track, or anywhere you want the top shelf reachable without fetching a ladder. Available in both depths, from $100 at 1.2m long in 0.5m deep and $165 at 1.2m long in 0.6m deep.
- 2.0m is the default for a flat garage ceiling with clear headroom above the wall: $119 to $179 across the 0.5m deep lengths, $175 to $215 across the 0.6m deep lengths.
- 2.4m exists only in the 0.6m deep line — $185 at 1.2m long, $210 at 1.5m and $230 at 2.0m. Take it only where the headroom is genuinely clear of the ceiling, the door mechanism and any light fitting, and treat the top shelf as long-term storage you reach with a ladder.
Tall units standing next to a car are also the units you least want shifting, so plan the fixings at the same time you plan the height — see how to anchor steel shelving to a concrete floor or wall.
Two worked layouts from units in stock
Single garage — about $563 at listed prices.
- End wall, in front of the bonnet, walk-past: two bays of 1.8m H x 1.5m L x 0.5m D at $139 each. That is a 3.0m straight run, the top shelf stays reachable, and 1.8m keeps the unit clear of a door track.
- The narrow strip beside the driver's door: the heavy duty metal storage closet cabinet, 1.85m H x 0.9m W x 0.4m D, at $285. At 0.4m it is the shallowest full-height option, and a closed door gives a car door nothing to catch on.
- If the bonnet sits tight to the end wall, step down to a single 1.5m bay plus the cabinet, or to 1.2m bays at $100 each in 1.8m H x 0.5m D.
Double garage — about $1,147 at listed prices.
- End wall behind both cars, walk-past: two bays of 2.0m H x 2.0m L x 0.5m D at $179 each, giving a 4.0m run.
- One side wall as the work wall: two bays of 2.0m H x 1.5m L x 0.6m D at $195 each — a 3.0m run at 300kg per shelf, deep enough to work off. Where the ceiling allows, the same footprint in 2.4m H is $210 per bay.
- At the work wall: the heavy duty tool storage cabinet with drawers and pegboard, 1.80m H x 1.0m L x 0.5m D, at $399, so hand tools live vertically instead of eating shelf depth.
All 17 shelving sizes and all nine cabinets named here were in stock at our last check, and our store average is 4.8 stars. Prices are as listed on the site and subject to change. Measure first, then either collect the same day in Brisbane at Unit A4-142 Sherbrooke Rd, Willawong QLD 4110, or order for delivery Australia-wide; our Sydney warehouse is at Unit 2, 11 Newton Rd, Wetherill Park NSW 2164. You can compare every size in one place on the garage shelving range once your numbers are on paper.
How much wall length does one shelving bay actually need?
Its full nominal length in one straight, uninterrupted run — a 1.5m bay needs 1.5m of clear wall, and a little extra if you want to slide past the end upright. You cannot split a bay around a corner or across a meter box. Our shortest bay is 1.2m long, so a usable run under 1.2m is a cabinet space rather than a shelving space.
Will 0.6m deep shelving stop my car door from opening?
On a side wall beside a parked car it often does, which is exactly why we ask people to chalk the floor at the widest point of the open door before ordering. If the gap between that mark and the wall is tight, choose the 0.5m deep line and keep 0.6m for the wall you work at. The 100mm difference is the whole decision.
Can I put shelving on the wall the roller door opens over?
Only up to the height where the open door and its tracks begin, which in practice usually means a 1.8m unit rather than 2.0m or 2.4m. Measure the underside of the open door and its motor at that specific wall, because the clearance is not the same as your ceiling height. If in doubt, put the taller units on the end wall and keep the door-side wall low.
Is a 2.4m high unit worth it in a normal garage?
It is worth it when you have genuinely clear headroom and bulky, light items to get out of the way for months at a time — Christmas decorations, luggage, spare bedding. It only comes in the 0.6m deep, 300kg-per-shelf line, at $185 for 1.2m long, $210 for 1.5m and $230 for 2.0m. If the top shelf would sit above what you can safely load from a ladder, 2.0m is the better buy.
My only free wall is shorter than 1.2m. What should I put there?
Use a cabinet instead of a bay. The lockable metal storage cabinet with shelf is 0.89m H x 0.915m W x 0.6m D at $175, the full-height metal file cabinet is 1.85m H x 0.9m W x 0.4m D at $285, and the low two-door cabinet at 0.315m H x 0.61m W x 0.56m D is $145 for an awkward gap under a bench or beside a doorway.
What should I budget to fit out a single garage versus a double?
On the layouts above, roughly $563 for a single garage and roughly $1,147 for a double, at prices as listed and subject to change. You can land well under that by starting with one bay on the end wall — from $100 for 1.8m H x 1.2m L x 0.5m D — and adding bays as the run gets used. Buying the wall in stages is cheaper than buying depth you then have to work around.