How to choose the perfect hook

Seldom does anything so simple solve so much disorder as the humble hook. While hooks can range from deer antlers to railway spikes, consider these options to find true organizational bliss in the hanging of things.

Put hoses, rope, lifejackets, boat bumpers, shovels, and garden gear in their rightful place with 81⁄2" vinyl-coated J hooks. Screws through the hook’s top plate make for an easy-to-mount and beefy support—up to 40 lbs. Or hang a couple of similar strap hooks from the ceiling to hold fishing rods or bits of wood trim. Good for parking a ladder too.

Elephant hooks get their name from their trunk-like snout. Often mounted to a ceiling via a self-tapping screw, these hooks rotate, ideal for growing, drying, or turning things that need to face the sun. Holds up to 100 lbs in wood, 20 lbs in drywall. Also good for keeping all those ratchet straps in line, or, perhaps, hanging a piñata.

Lengths of black 1⁄2"-diameter iron pipe fastened to a round floor flange (that you mount to the wall) can make for a sturdy support for hefty items such as leaf blowers or waterskis when fastened to a stud. Assemble individually or run in a series.

Tool hooks (such as these from Lee Valley) are not only good for hanging impact drivers or drills— they can also hold up a compost or garbage bin, frustrating those raccoons who like to tip the pails over and lather in the mess.

Gladiator makes a heavy duty wall storage system with a variety of specialty hooks (from $8 per hook at Home Hardware) that fasten to its channelled wall strips. Hang up anything from bikes and wheelbarrows to baskets and paper towel.

Chains, tools, cable, bush saws— even pots and pans—will be happy hanging via clevis slip hooks, the kind found at the end of a winch rope. Remove the rope pin, and fasten the hook to the wall or plank with a lag bolt through the hole. Or run a steel rod through several hooks for a row of hardy sliding holders.