Once the warm weather arrives, it’s worth spending a weekend getting your garage ready for summer. And if you and your family have to stay home over the coming months, you’ll appreciate being able to take full advantage of this space. Here’s our guide to preparing your garage for summer.

Make Some Space

If anything needs a spring cleaning, it’s your garage. Once winter ends, it’s time to put away the snow blower, shovels, skis, ice hockey gear, and other seasonal paraphernalia you keep in your garage. It’s also time to bring out your lawn care equipment, gardening tools, lawn chairs, and other summer items.

While you’re doing this, tidy up your garage as much as possible. If you use your garage for miscellaneous storage, it probably needs to be decluttered. This means going through everything and deciding what to keep, sell, and throw away.

If you’re running out of storage space, consider installing shelves. Alternatively, you could use cabinets, hooks or hangers. For more storage solutions, read our article on this topic.

Make Your Garage Kid-Friendly

If you have young kids, you’ll want to take some extra precautions when organizing your garage. For example, it’s important that you place all chemicals out of your children’s reach. This includes fertilizers, pesticides, adhesives, paint products, windshield wiper fluid, and fuels. The best place is a locked cabinet. You’ll want to do the same with sharp tools and other items that could potentially harm your children.

It’s also important that you ensure that the safety features of your garage door opener, specifically the photo eye sensors and auto-reverse mechanism, work correctly. To test the photo eyes, simply introduce an object in between them as the door is closing to see if the door reverses. To test the auto-reverse function, place a two-by-four or similar object under the garage door and see if the door reverses after making contact. If these safety systems aren’t functioning correctly, read our article on this topic for advice. If you’re unable to resolve the issue after reading the article, call in a qualified garage door technician.

Beautify Your Garage Door

Winter has likely left its mark on your garage door. It’s important to clean up all the dirt, mud, and debris that has built up over previous months in order to keep your garage door in good condition. Washing a garage door isn’t hard. You simply need to clean the surface with soapy water. If you have a steel, aluminum or fibreglass door, you may also choose to wax it. If you have a wood garage door, it may be time to repaint or re-stain it. Read our guide to cleaning your garage door for more information.

Perform Garage Door Maintenance

You should perform garage door maintenance tasks several times a year. This helps you avoid sudden breakdowns and extend the lifespan of the door’s components.

Start by doing a thorough inspection. Look for damaged or worn parts, such as frayed cables, cracked panels, bent tracks, broken hinges, or worn rollers. Also, check that the hardware is tight and no pieces are missing. If you come across any problems that you can’t resolve yourself, don’t wait to call in a garage door technician, as the issue will likely only get worse with time. You should also inspect the safety systems to ensure they’re working.

The final step is to lubricate the door, in particular the rollers and hinges. Read our guide to lubricating your garage door rollers.

Consider Converting Your Garage for Extra Fun!

If you’re going to have a full house this summer and could use an extra room, consider converting your garage. It’s possible to turn a garage into a man cave, exercise room, or office on a low budget. Other possibilities include renovating the space to create an extra bedroom, a playroom, or a hobby room. If you’re interested in transforming your garage, read our article about garage conversion projects.

Dependable Garage Door Repair in Western Canada

Garage door problems should always be dealt with in a timely manner to ensure the safety and security and your family. If you have any issues with your garage door this summer, trust the experts at Creative Door Services™ for superior garage door repair service.

Contact us to schedule an appointment with one of our technicians or to get additional summer maintenance and safety tips.