Racor Home Storage Products Review
Racor Home Storage Products
Keeping my garage space clean and organized has always been a chore and something I’ve neglected. We have two young children with bikes, bats, balls and toys. Along with that we have the usual gardening equipment and home maintenance tools. Needless to say our garage needed some serious organization.
So I had no problem when Racor Home Storage Products asked me to test out some of their storage solution products for a review. Racor offers a wide ranging selection of products to help you organize your home from basic yard tool storage to all your sporting gear. For this review we tested quite an assortment from each other their categories including hooks, bike lifts, hose storage, and even their GaragePro series pictured at right.
Tornado Hooks
First up we tested out quite a few of their Tornado Hooks. I’ve used other hooks for years and they typically look like a lag bolt with a hook attached to them. The “lag bolt” portion worked for both drywall and wood framed construction so long as they hit the stud or blocking. Racor products can be used in direct wood contact applications like I’ve shown above or with drywall only.
The photo above shows one of the hooks I used to use with the “lag bolt” design. They are difficult to install (hard screwing the lags in by hand), they have smaller gauge prongs and don’t seem to be available in as many sizes. Adjacent to the competition is Racor’s Tornado Large U-Hook. I love how the larger hook allows me to store multiple tools in the same amount of wall space. Also the Racor Hooks are far stronger than my older style lag hooks.
The Tornado hooks are also great for hanging small yard equipment like string trimmers, leaf blowers and hedge trimmers. The large hook and high weight rating are perfect for these type of tools.
In my garage I am using the Tornado hooks to hang: shovels, rakes, string trimmers, leaf blowers, pitch forks and misc. buckets and tools. The hooks can be screwed into both wood and drywall. Each hook comes with a drywall anchor that’s easy to install and provides great holding power. If you want to screw them to wood like I’ve done they you’ll need to supply the screws.
Hose and Cord Storage
Racor also offers several options for storing hoses (air and water) and electrical cords. I tested two different items from their Snap2It line-up including the Cord Wrap and Hose Rack. Pictured below you can see both of them in my garage holding an electrical cord and an air hose. I really like these because they easily snap off the wall bracket allowing you to carry the cord or hose to the job area and more easily wrap them up after working.
Bike Storage
Bikes are great but they sure do take up valuable space in any garage. Having a way to easily lift them up off the floor and out of the way is something I’ve been looking for. Racor has several great solutions for storing your bikes. I decided to use their Bike Lift so that I can store our bikes up over the lawn mower.
For our situation we used two Bike Lift kits. You screw the cam/pulley assemblies to the ceiling structure and a rope cleat on the wall. Installation takes about 10 minutes with the easy to follow instructions. Once the hardware is installed all you do is put a let of hooks under the seat and handlebars, then pull the rope until the bikes reach the desired height.
Each set includes a break/cam that allows you to lock the rope into place while you tie off the rope to the wall cleat for added protection. The pulley’s create a lifting advantage that makes the bikes feel about half their weight when lifting them.
Racor GaragePro
Another great option from Racor is their GaragePro system. This system allows you to have a very flexible system for storing your basic tools in one organized place.
This system includes a heavy-duty mounting rail with several adjustable items including:
- 1 storage shelf for small tools and general storage
- 1 Long U Hook for shovels, brooms, and more
- 1 Large J Hook for extension cords, rope and more
- 1 Dual S hook for long handled tools
- 3 Straight Pegs for small items like dust pans, canvas bags, and more
Overall Impression
Racor offers a wide range or products to help you organize your home and garage. Their products are built from quality materials with a serious focus on flexibility. The wide range of products makes it really easy to organize any space large or small. I would recommend any of the products we tested and I would HIGHLY recommend their Tornado Hooks.
All of their products are available on their website or online at Amazon and stores like Home Depot.
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