How to Clean Your Garage

Courtney is the perfect blend of 1950′s housewife and modern housewife. She keeps things simple. On her website, Homemaker Hero, she features tips and tricks of how things were done “back then” and applies them to modern living.  You can also find Courtney on twitter @HomemakerHero.

How To Clean Your Garage

While you might believe your bathroom is the ickiest place in your home, there’s one other place with just as much grime. Your garage! While I won’t go as far as polishing my water heater, I know my garage does deserve some TLC.

The garage area gets dumped on a lot. From asphalt, gravel, and leaves from the outdoors to car oil and fuel from your vehicle, the garage is a pretty dirty place! It’s up to you how often you maintain a clean garage. It could be a monthly sweep or seasonal overhaul. Bottom line – it needs cleaned.

For some, a seasonal overhaul works best when your garage is used as personal storage space. It’s not as easy to move out boxes of junk as it is to move out a lawnmower and back up your vehicle.

Easy Steps for Cleaning a Garage

That being said, moving everything out of your garage is the first step to cleaning it. Once you’ve moved it all out, get a broom and knock down all the spider and cob webs from the ceilings and walls.

• Next, wipe down the walls and shelves with a dry rag. Do NOT get drywall wet.
• Sweep the floor with a broom. You can put this dirt into your compost heap if it is free of oil, fluids, and other chemicals.
• Wash down concrete floors with a bucket of water (or hose it down if available) just enough to wet the floor. Sweep dry with a big push broom.

For those spills and gunk build up, rinse with buckets of water (or the hose) making sure to remove debris from corners. Go green by using a bucket of nonpetroleum, rapidly biodegradeable soap and water. Then let the floor air-dry. Most garages are built on a slight angle so water will flow outside and your garage will dry quickly.

Maintaining Your Furnace and Water Heater

There are two other areas (usually found in the garage) that need some maintenance: furnace and water heater.

Make sure the areas around your furnace are cleared of clutter, for safety and easy access. Most maintenance contracts include two house callas a year to make sure everything is working properly with your furnace and air conditioner. In addition, change your furnace filter once a month, especially if you have pets.

Wrap up your water heater. If your water heater gets a chill, it works harder to provide you with warm water (costing you more money). A tank wrap is a thick piece of insulating material or reflective metal film that can reduce your standby heat loss up to 45 percent (according to the U.S. Department of Energy). You should also cover the first few feet of piping from the heater with pipe insulation. You can find all of these materials at hardware stores.

Next, check out Housekeeping Heaven for “A Little Cleaning Goes a Long Way”. Get more tips and inspiration at Homemaker Mondays and Works for Me Wednesday.

Read more housekeeping articles here.

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