Is your garage a tight fit?  Here is a tutorial on how to make a DIY car door garage bumper to protect your car doors when opening them in the garage.

Last month, we finally traded in our 12-year-old Dodge Caravan for a new-to-us 2012 Chrysler Town and Country. Our new van is awesome, but it is slightly larger than our old van.  

I have teenagers whose goal in life is to ride shotgun in any vehicle.  And because this van is bigger, when they open the door, they bang the passenger door against the garage wall.  Not good!  There is now a nice line in the wall where the door hits.  Grrr…

Our solution? A DIY car door garage bumper!

We recently received a poster in a large mailing tube.  The tube was 3 feet long, and made out of nice thick cardboard.  We were going to recycle it, but my husband thought this would be the perfect car door garage bumper.

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Here’s a close up of the tube. (But if you don’t have one already, here are some on Amazon)

How to find the wall studs.

Hubby found the studs first so the bumper could be mounted to wood not drywall.  Do you know an easy way to check for studs?  Rap your knuckles along the wall.  Since there is space behind the drywall it will sound hollow.  But, when you rap on the drywall over a wood stud, it will sound solid.  

Most studs are placed every 2 to 3 feet, so it makes it easy to find where they are once you have found the first one.  If you’re not sure where to start, start by a door or window.  Many times, the electrical box for an outlet is mounted on a stud, so checking right above the electrical outlet is another good place to check.

Grab your free vehicle maintenance log!

Attach the bumper.

After he found the stud, he simply screwed the tube right onto the stud.  Where the other end of the tube is attached, there was not a stud, but the tube is very light.  So it wasn’t an issue, since it was solidly attached to a stud at the other end.

Success!

No more hitting the wall with the door!

Other bumper ideas.

If you don’t have drywall or don’t mind having adhesive on your garage wall, you could also mount the tube using sticky-backed Velcro. Velcro is my hanger of choice for just about everything!  Just attach one side of the Velcro to the wall and the other to the tube.

I have also seen people use pool noodles attached to the wall as well.  And I think that is a great, inexpensive solution, too!  A pool noodle could also easily be attached with Velcro instead of screws.

Our DIY car door garage bumper was easy to install, FREE because it used items we already had on hand, and works great so we can keep our car doors and garage wall dent-free!

So, if you have issues with a tight fit in your garage like we did, why not give this a try?

Now that your car door and garage wall are safe, here are 10 ways to organize and clean your car!

And here are some awesome ways to organize your garage using 5 forgotten garage storage areas, too!

Happy DIY-ing!

~ Pam

P.S. Cars are expensive. Keep track of your service schedule – for FREE. Download a free vehicle maintenance log to keep your car repairs and tune-ups organized. Because regular maintenance is key to keeping your vehicle running smoothly.