This is the time of year we all start opening our doors and windows, giving our carpets and rugs a good shampooing, but it’s also the perfect time of year to care for that part of your home you might not consider all that often: your garage. Your front and back door areas, as well as your foyer might get the most foot traffic, but your garage gets a daily trampling by thousands of pounds of glass and steel, all riding on four rubber tires that have been through countless miles of dirt, oil, and asphalt. Taking the time to clean your garage needs to become a priority in your spring cleaning list, and here’s why:
1. Salt and sand. During the winter months, the occasional storm means that corrosive magnesium chloride is used to treat highways and city streets. This chemical stays on your vehicle and once you park your car in your garage, any residue remaining will wind up on your floor, possibly pitting the concrete or even become tracked into your home where it can damage your floors. It also wreaks havoc on metallic parts on your garage door, leading to early failures if not properly maintained. That squeak you hear is probably a result of all that magnesium chloride.
2. Oil and asphalt. These substances also wind up on your vehicle and contain tar which can also damage your home once they are tracked in. Not to mention just being dirty and unpleasant to look at. Over time these petroleum based substances will build up and be more difficult to get out of your garage. Take the time each spring to clean it out!
3. If your door isn’t functioning properly, you might be reluctant to even use your garage. Get your car back inside! If you’re like a lot of people, your car might not even make it into the garage. For a lot of us, the garage becomes a de facto storage area, filled with empty boxes, Christmas decorations, and junk left over from the winter when it was too chilly or rainy to deal with it properly (at least that’s the excuse, right?) There’s no better time than now to fix that door and put your car back where it belongs!
4. Upkeep and maintenance. Over time the hardware that you find in your garage can wear out. Springs, cables, and even the motor of your garage door opener have probably seen a lot over the last year or so. Taking time to clean and maintain them will extend the life of what makes everything work well.
If you find your garage door needs more TLC than just a spring cleaning, contact Smokey’s Garage Door for service, upgrades, or replacements! Your home and your car will thank you later!
