Overview
A Garage is the area of your home that is typically where a car can be parked.
A Garage will have a large door (or doors) which can be opened and closed to allow a car (or cars) to come in and out. If this area does not have a large door (or doors) for cars to come through, then this area is a ‘car port,’ not a Garage. A Garage can also have a ‘people door’ (or doors), which as the name implies, are made only for people and pets to go through.
If the Garage is an ‘attached’ garage, then the Garage will have a door connecting directly to your home. But if it is a ‘detached’ Garage, then the Garage will only have doors that go outside, and will not have any doors that connect directly to your home.
Since your garage has cars driving in and out, it will accumulate significant amounts of dirt and dust, which can easily be tracked into your home.
Routine Care Task
Lubricate and inspect garage door
Lack of lubrication puts additional strain on the garage door leading to premature failure.
For attached garages, poor weather-stripping or leaky windows cause heat losses which increase energy costs.
Timing: April (yearly)
Sweep dirt and salt from garage floor
Dirt from the garage is easily tracked inside, leading to carpet wear, air-borne dust, etc.
In areas where road salt is used to melt ice, garage floors may begin to flake as the salt seeps into the concrete.
Timing: April (yearly)
How To
Garage door maintenance consists of the following:
- Clean the tracks, rollers and hinges. Since oiled tracks collect dirt, clean the tracks, rollers, and hinges with a rag dampened in paint thinner.
- With the door in the down position, apply penetrating oil to the tracks, rollers and hinges. Wipe away any excess oil with a paper towel or rag.
- Inspect bolts and screw to ensure all are properly tightened and secured.
- Check the mechanical components (chains, pulleys, rollers, hinges, etc.) for signs of excessive wear.
- Check for loose putty around windows.
- Inspect weather-stripping at the bottom of the door to ensure it makes a tight seal when the door is closed.
Note: Garage door springs are under great tension. Use extreme caution.
Using a broom, garden hose or power washer, sweep out dirt and accumulated road salt from the floor of the garage. Be careful though that you don’t wash the road salt onto areas of grass or shrubbery, otherwise, the road salt can damage these areas.
Benefits
The benefits of this task are extending the useful lives of your garage doors, and energy efficiency.
Less wear and tear on your home from tracked in dirt.
Costs
Lubricating and inspecting garage door cost moderately high from an investment of time standpoint. Depending on the number of garage doors that you have, this task could take several hours to do properly.
Sweeping dirt and salt from garage floor cost very low from an investment of time standpoint. Depending on the size of your garage, it is estimated that this task should take about 30-60 minutes to complete, and the task is relatively easy to do. No specialized tools are required, however, a power washer can help speed up the task.
Garage De-Cluttering and Safety Tips
A cluttered garage wastes space, and it also creates significant safety risks. This article gives you tips for organizing your garage to make the best use of available space, and it also gives tips for helping to keep your garage safe.
Garage De-Cluttering Tips
One of the unique features of most garages is that they have very high ceilings. This creates the opportunity to create storage areas by installing shelving, hooks, hoists, etc. That allow you to take advantage of this free space up high in your garage (see types, costs, and reviews of shelvings).
If you are attaching shelving, hooks, hoists, etc. To the walls or ceiling of your garage, you will want to be sure that you are attaching them securely enough to the studs in the walls or the joists in the ceiling (see types, costs, and reviews of: garage hooks; garage hoists). If you are not sure exactly how to do this, then you should contact a professional to install these items for you. The last thing you want is for the items you are storing to come crashing down on members of your family or onto your car.
Even installing a simple pegboard can give you plenty of space to hang items for easy access, and it gets them off the floor or helps keep them from getting buried in boxes or drawers (see types, costs, and reviews of pegboards).
Garage Safety Tips
Here are some safety tips for storing items in your garage:
- Make sure that any gasoline is stored only in approved containers, and these are properly sealed (helpful accessory: approved gasoline cans).
- If you must keep flammable materials in your garage, then be sure that they are as far away as possible from any sources of ignition. But if you can, flammable materials should be stored in a locked outdoor shed.
- Keep hazardous chemicals separated. For example, if bleach and ammonia are mixed together, they can form deadly chlorine gas.
- Store any dangerous chemicals (anti-freeze, pesticides, paint thinners, etc.), Dangerous equipment, or sharp tools in locked cabinets which cannot be accessed by children.
- Never store any oily rags in your garage, as they can spontaneously combust into flames.
- Keep spill control materials on hand, such as cat litter, sawdust, or oil clean-up dust.
Originally posted at http://www.petermuehlbronner.home-wizard.com/articleDet/art_garage_declutter