DIY

Turning Dead Space Above the Garage Door Into a Gear Wall

By Ryan Hurd · Published Sep 22, 2026

Every garage has that one stretch of wall that's technically usable but nobody uses it — for us it was the wall right beside the garage door. Not in the way of the door track, not really in the flow of the space either, so it just sat there blank. That's exactly why it made sense for a Gladiator GearWall setup: it just needed studs behind it and hooks on the front. Install was straightforward but not something to eyeball. I ran a laser level across the wall first to mark a true horizontal line and find the studs behind the drywall before driving a single screw — hanging power tools off these hooks means real weight pulling on the panel, so it's screwed straight into studs, not just drywall anchors. Get that line level and stud-located first and the rest of the install is just repetition. Once the panels were up, the hooks did the rest. Right now the wall's holding a genuine mix of stuff, not just tools: The garden hose and an orange extension cord, both looped over hooks instead of piled on the floor An impact driver, a finish nailer, and a nail gun, all within reach and off the workbench A dead-blow hammer A compound bow and a wakeboard, which isn't something I expected to hang on a "tool" wall, but the hooks don't care what they're holding as long as it's got something to catch on There's still open hook space and open panel further along, which is really the point of a slatwall system over fixed shelving — it's not a one-time layout, it's a wall that keeps adapting as whatever we're storing changes.