Your garage can be a great place to store things that you don’t need to use everyday. It can be helpful to clear out some room inside your house and utilise your garage space.
However, some people may not realise that some items don’t really belong in the garage, and could end up having a negative effect due to the conditions your garage faces.
Installing roller shutter doors can definitely help reduce the effect of some of these, but if you do not have them then you need to be in the know. Here are 7 things that you probably shouldn’t be keeping inside your garage.
Paint
It’s more than likely that you’ve currently got a half used tin of paint lying around somewhere in your garage currently.
Are we wrong?
It’s okay for you to not get rid of that spare paint, but you shouldn’t be leaving it in the garage. Warm summer temperatures and freezing winter temperatures will make the paint go off quicker, with the paint not drying properly and facing other issues as well.
Storing your paint tins on cold, cement floors can also cause them to rust a lot quicker. In order to get the best result, paint should be kept in a dry environment.
If you need some tips on choosing the right flooring for your garage, we’ve got you covered – read this article.
Photographs & Documents
Over the years, we’re sure you’ve collected a lot of cherished photographs of loved ones and great memories. Photos that you love to look back on, and that you definitely don’t want to get rid of.
The same can be said for important documents such as birth and marriage certificates, passports and qualifications. Documents that you don’t need on a daily basis but are important nonetheless.
If you’re storing these important parts of your life in the garage, you’re doing it wrong.
By keeping old photos and documents in the garage you’re putting them at risk of moisture, allowing them to get stuck together, damp and ruined forever. Ideally you don’t want this, so keep them tucked away in a box somewhere else in the house.
Food & Drink
As we’ve discussed, temperature has a big effect on the contents of your garage. As you can imagine, this extends to any food or drink that you have lying around as well.
Leaving food lying around in your garage, even wrapped can attract some unwanted attention from the likes of mice, rats and other unwelcome guests. It’s understandable to buy food in bulk, especially around the holiday season but store them in a safer, dry part of your house. This includes the likes of canned food as well, as the dipping and increasing temperatures can cause the quality of food to lower.
Whilst we’re on the subject of food, your fridge or freezer doesn’t belong in the garage either. In the summer time when we finally get some sunshine, your garage will heat up and force your fridge or freezer to work harder to keep your chilled/frozen items nice and cold. This results in a bigger energy bill, so it’s just not worth it.
Wooden Furniture
Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but storing any unused wooden furniture in the confines of your garage isn’t the best idea.
Changes in temperature can cause wooden pieces of furniture to contract and expand, damaging the furniture in the process. This can cause the wooden furniture to warp and also potentially ruin the finish.
You can help avoid the temperature changes and intake of moisture by installing one of our DRS Premier Garage Doors. But we’ll talk more about that later on.
Electronics
Next up on the list are computers, games consoles and old DVD players.
Condensation and moisture are your enemies when it comes to any electronics, damaging the circuits and potentially stopping them from even booting up. If you’re keeping them in there with the aim to eventually selling them or donating, do it now rather than later.
Let’s face it; you’re never going to use that old PlayStation 2 again so it’s better just to get rid now. Store any electronics you want to keep inside the home and away from damp situations.
Hazardous Materials
This should be an obvious one, but hazardous materials and chemicals have no place in the garage.
Storing any hazardous materials could present you with a few issues. First off, you could be putting any other occupants of your home at risk if they do not have the correct labels or if children manage to get their hands on them.
We’ve spoken a lot about temperature in this list, but hazardous chemicals exposed to the warm cannot be a good thing. Keep yourself safe and dispose of correctly.
Cardboard Boxes
Weather conditions can have a huge effect on what happens to the contents of your garage. As you already know, we don’t exactly have the nicest weather in Britain and we’ve seen some pretty nasty rain in our time.
If any rainwater finds it’s way into your garage, this could spell disaster for the likes of cardboard boxes filled with precious items. Moisture doesn’t help either. Whilst convenient, cardboard boxes don’t tend to fair too well when met with water – so it’s best to try and avoid keeping your things in them.
Occasionally we get rain so hard that it starts to flood, and this is definitely not good news for your cardboard boxes – especially if you are storing them low to the ground. In the event of a flood, make sure everything where possible is off the ground and prepare the door as best as you can.
Good alternatives to cardboard boxes are waterproof plastic boxes with clip on lids, giving your items a lot more protection.
Summary
Some of these may sound a little extreme, but if your garage isn’t protected then your items could suffer.
Flimsy garage doors can open your garage up to many issues, including the different temperature changes and weather conditions affecting the contents. You can counter this by installing one of our DRS Premier Garage Doors.
Our doors have insulated profiles made from aluminium and filled with CFC free foam to help strength the doors and provide insulation, reducing heat loss and exterior noise as well.
If you’re interested in learning more about what makes our garage doors so safe, then click here.