Neighborhood Garage Door Service of Phoenix, AZ sees garages in all different states of repair and use. We encounter garages that are stuffed to the rafters with all kinds of items, some of which don’t belong. Here’s a list of 5 things you shouldn’t store in your garage.
Paint
It’s always a good idea to keep around leftover paint in case you ever need to do touch-ups on your walls or molding. The garage is not a good idea for where to store these paint cans over the long haul. Extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, cause the paint to age and separate faster than they normally would. This leads to a severe drop in quality that will render the paint virtually useless very quickly.
Food
Obviously, you wouldn’t store your perishable items in your garage for fear that they will go bad. However, even canned goods are not appropriate for storing in a poorly insulated garage. When canned food freezes due to extremely low temperatures, it can destroy the quality of the food inside, or even spoil altogether.
Dry stock items like beans, rice, or other shelf-stable dried items will stand up to extreme temperatures better than canned goods. However, even these types of foods will spoil in damp, humid conditions. It’s safer overall to avoid storing food in your garage completely.
Electronics
In the same way that extreme temperatures are bad for food and paint, these extremes are also very damaging to electronics. Electronic components are very temperature sensitive and cannot handle very hot or cold temperatures. Even worse is rapidly fluctuating between the two, which can put a great deal of stress on delicate parts and cause damage.
Propane
Propane tanks can occasionally leak due to either faulty construction, damage from age or misuse, or even someone forgetting to completely shut off the valve. When this happens, there can be a dangerous build-up of propane gas in your garage. Even a small spark, like your car starting, for example, can ignite this gas causing huge amounts of damage.
Paper Products
Paint separates, food spoils, and electronics can break all due to extreme temperatures. These same temperatures don’t really have an effect on paper plates, napkins, newspapers, and cardboard boxes. However, there’s an entirely different problem that results when you store these items in your garage.
All of these paper products are very enticing to rodents of all kinds and sizes. They love nibbling, shredding, and gathering these materials to nest in. Not only are you running the risk of having these items destroyed by rodents, you’re also inviting the furry little critters into your garage to take up residence.
Call Us for a New Insulated Garage Door
Neighborhood Garage Door Service of Phoenix, Arizona knows that there are ways around some of these temperature concerns that might allow you to maintain some of the things you shouldn’t store in your garage. Getting your garage well-insulated, starting with a new insulated garage door, is the first step. Call us today and a technician will come out right away to help get you started.