Tips for Maintaining Your Garage This Winter
Your garage is just as important to maintain as your house during the wintertime. Sometimes the garage is a place that gets overlooked, so storage items pile up, floors get dirty, and cold drafts enter the home through the garage.
To keep your garage in top shape, here are some tips for maintaining your garage this winter.
Clean your floors with warm water and either dish detergent or vinegar
Keep It Clean
Between the snow, dirt and salt, your garage can build up grime in no time. Even if you have a drop station in your garage where wet coats and boots go, you can still track dirt into your home.
A garage cleaning routine can prevent this from becoming a headache. Occasionally sweep the garage floors throughout the winter. Additionally, clean automatic garage doors. Ice on garage doors and a heavy buildup of grime can prohibit them from functioning correctly.
Additionally, your garage’s air quality will improve if you clean it throughout the winter, which is crucial if you or a family member frequently works in the garage.
Check for Drafts
Drafty doors and windows contribute to a rise in energy bills throughout the winter. Whether or not you heat your garage, check for cracks and crevices by doors and windows. This is especially important for attached garages to keep cold drafts out of your home.
Besides keeping your garage warm, sealing cracks will also prevent pests from entering. You can use caulk, weatherstripping or expandable foam to seal your garage.
If you heat your garage in winter, checking for and sealing cracks can help lower your energy bill, so if you want to save money, don’t forget this important tip to maintain your garage.
Observe Garage Doors
Overhead garage doors make your life easier because you can enter or exit your garage with the push of a button. However, during the winter months, some issues may arise with your door and you won’t want to leave your car stuck out in the snow or have to get out of your car in the cold to open it.
Before winter hits and throughout the winter months, carefully inspect your garage door for common problems such as:
- Slow lifting or lowering. Old age and insufficient lubrication could cause your garage door to move slowly.
- Jerkiness when closing. Garage doors will have some amount of shaking, but if it is excessive, check for loose screws.
- Coming off the track. An off-track garage door becomes a hazard. Check that everything is aligned on the rails and that all lift cables are intact.
- An unbalanced garage door will look uneven or like it is sagging which is a potential danger.
Observing the door for these issues before they happen will help you maintain your door throughout the winter.
Oil and Tighten Moving Mechanisms
Cold temperatures may freeze or stiffen up moving mechanisms in your garage. This could be the mechanisms for your overhead door or other stored items like lawnmowers, snowblowers or all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Make sure you keep the moving mechanisms of your garage door oiled through the winter.
Additionally, if there are any loose parts, tighten them. Doing this will ensure all of your moving mechanisms will work properly when using them.
Change the oil and gas on fuel-powered snow blowers
Inspect Snow Removal Items
On particularly snowy days, you need to be able to remove the snow from sidewalks or driveways so you can get where you need to go with ease. Check snow shovels for cracks. If they have a crack, it might be time to get a new one.
For snowblowers or ATVs with plow hookups, make sure you have gas for them so you’re not left with inches of snow that you can’t move.
Store Out-of-Season Items
Garages can become full of clutter throughout the year. Just when you need the winter items, you might be left crawling over fall, summer, and spring items to access them.
Place items you don’t need up against the walls or in the back of the garage. Make sure you can easily access winter accessories. Investing in storage bins with labels can help you cycle season gear throughout the year while keeping everything neat and organized.
Move Liquids to a Warmer Space
Liquids stored in a non-heated garage are prone to freezing in the winter. Weedkiller, paints, or stains could freeze if not moved to a warmer space. If they freeze, the product could be ruined, and you’ll be wasting money.
Move supplies that could freeze or crack in the cold weather to a warmer area. This could be a heavily insulated shed or your basement.
Defend Your Garage Against the Cold
Garages store our items and keep the snow off our vehicles during the winter. Take time this winter to upkeep your garage so it can continue to be of value to you and your family.
Another common problem in the winter is frozen pipes that could burst and lead to major water damage in your home. Pipes that are within a wall adjacent to an attached garage are especially vulnerable to freezing. If burst pipes cause damage in your home, make sure you call a professional that can restore the damage from burst pipes and sprinkler heads.
About Evelyn Long
Evelyn Long is the editor-in-chief of <a href="https://renovated.com/" target="_blank">Renovated</a>, a home improvement site with tips for homeowners and contractors.
