Picking the right storage locker

Spring is almost upon us and as usual the kids have spring fever and my wife is ready to begin her detailed cleaning. I also get the same feeling and begin going into the garage and rearranging all my stuff. One of the things I am looking to do this year is begin to organize my tools. Therefore, I have been shopping for storage lockers. I don’t know if I should fork out the money for steel storage cabinets or whether I should go a little cheaper on the plastic storage cabinets. One of my concerns with metal is they usually tend to rust unless you have them in an absolute dry place.

Plastic Storage locker

The plastic one is typically cheaper to buy and it weighs less which allows me to move them around to helping organize them easier. I also like that they are water proof. However, I have noticed with plastic they can simply break or come apart easily if they take any abuse such as the small plastic bin I use from my trash. If you have kids they definitely don’t take an easy on things. I really enjoy the small horizontal locker that is used to hold trash until pick up day. This was the first plastic storage cabinet I had purchased and I was surprised at how sturdy it was. However, looking at the vertical lockers it looks like the doors could easily come off if pressure was applied.

Metal Storage Locker

Although the plastic lockers are prone to breaking the metal lockers can rust or could suffer from a dent if something falls on the locker or it gets dented. However, depending on where the dent is, sometimes it can be pushed out only leaving a small dent to show where the larger dent used to be. The only way to prevent the metal from rusting is to paint it every couple of years. A feature of a metal vertical storage locker is the ability to lock the cabinet up to keep my kids out. The plastic version does not offer the same deterrent and does not come with a key that can easily be locked.

A Versatile storage configuration

I have noticed with the plastic lockers they offer more configurations with the shelving. At least with the plastic lockers I have reviewed. The vertical ones mostly have the horizontal shelves which allow you to remove or adjust the shelf up and down. This allows for larger tools or tool cases. This is excellent if you have power tools for that you want to store in the unit. I have a couple of nail guns and power drills that are in a plastic case and removing one of the shelves allowed me to place them all on the bottom allowing for most of the room to be used by other things such as fluid such as oil, cleaning supplies and windshield wiper and other similar things that can be found in a garage.

I think in the end I am going to have to go with the plastic one because it is lighter and easier to move around. I also like the ability to arrange shelves into small cubbies which are not as prevalent with the metal storage lockers. Of course, I could mix it up and buy both a metal storage. The metal one that has a lock to keep the kids out and a plastic storage locker. I definitely need more than one to get everything organized.