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How to Get Your Garage Ready for Winter
The summer of 2019 is coming to a close. The kids are going back to school, most people have finished their summer vacations, and the days are slowly but surely getting shorter. Winter is just around the corner. During the summer, the garage door is the most used entrance to your home, but with the coming of fall, its use may significantly decline. Likewise, the shift in seasons brings new challenges for the maintenance of your garage, and you will want to be sure that you are prepared as the temperatures continue to drop. While it is still lovely outside, you should get started by following these simple steps to prepare your garage and garage door for winter:
1. Lubricate Your Garage Door
With its extended use during the summer, your garage door could be facing some damage from wear and tear. Use the last days of summer to make sure the moving parts of your garage door, such as the tracks, springs, and rollers, are well lubricated. This will help ensure that during the cold winter months, your garage door does not get frozen.
How to Reinforce Your Garage Door For Storms
Thegarage door is typically used the most during warm-weather months. The majority of this use comes from opening and closing the garage door when leaving the house. Other instances can include opening the garage to grab a toy for outdoor play or a tool for yard work. The constant use can cause a lot of wear and tear on your garage door. Another factor that can potentially damage your garage door is the impact of summer storms. Although the Midwest does not typically have gale-force winds like in the coastal states, we still have our fair share of nasty weather. Thunderstorms have the potential to wear down the foundation of your garage and cause significant damage. It is important to take precautions to protect such an important part of your home. By following these simple steps, your garage door will be safer and stronger even during severe weather conditions.
Install a Metal Door Frame
After time, wood will eventually wear down, rot, and fall apart. Precipitation such as rain and hail only increase this wear and tear, requiring routine maintenance. By replacing the wood frames of your garage door with metal parts, you can save yourself time and money. This includes man-hours performing the labor as well as the expense of constantly buying new parts.
Is It Time to Replace My Garage’s Roof?
Your home requires constant maintenance and upkeep. Throughout the years, various parts of your home and garage will need to be repaired, replaced, or upgraded. If you are particularly handy, you may be able to perform some of these fixes yourself, but there are some home repairs that require an expert. One of the most challenging areas to address is the roof above your garage and home. To ensure that repairs are performed properly, you need a roofing specialist to protect your garage from leaks and other outside elements.
Generally, a roof will need to be repaired between fifteen to twenty years after it was installed. However, things can happen that may force you to perform a repair or replacement sooner than expected. To see if your roof requires repair, there are some signs to look out for:
1. Your Roof Is Leaking
This is a visible sign, but one that can potentially go unnoticed. Leaking occurs when a crack forms between the shingles in your roof. Prolonged leaks or other water-based contaminations can lead to damage in your garage, such as rotten wood. This, in turn, can lead to insects nesting in your home, which can then lead to further infestation and additional bills being paid to exterminators.
How to Stop Your Garage Door Opener From Being Hacked
In Wisconsin, two 16-year-old boys were recently arrested for stealing a car, crashing it, and then stealing a second a vehicle after the crash. The boys had gained access to the cars by hacking an electronic garage door opener and then burglarizing the garage. Finding the keys inside of the cars, they took the cars and went for a joy ride before police apprehended them. During the summer, garage burglaries increase, and one of the ways thieves gain access to a garage is through hacking electronic garage door openers. To secure your garage and the belongings inside, follow these simple tips to avoid the possibility of your car being taken out for a joy ride by a thief:
1. Reset Your Garage Door Opener Code
A simple way to hack a garage door opener is to guess the passcode used on an external keypad. Most garage door openers initially use a generic passcode that needs to be reset once installed. Surprisingly, many homeowners do not set up this passcode, making their garage and home open to theft. Thieves only need to memorize a few generic codes, and this can allow them to gain access to a large number of garages. If you have not yet reset your passcode, you should do that now, using a code which you and your family are familiar with.
How to Prevent Fires in Your Garage
Many garages serve as in-home storage facilities where families keep items that are used outside or which cannot fit inside their home. Whether it be a car, summer toys, or old family photographs, garages are a great place to store things. However, many people also place dangerous chemicals and combustible materials inside of their garages. Sometimes, machinery such as a garage door or othergarage hardware can create friction or sparks, which can lead to a fire. Because of this potential danger, it is wise to take steps to prevent a possible fire in your garage.
1. Store Combustible and Flammable Materials Safely
This step may sound obvious, but a surprising number of people do not store flammable materials such as gasoline or oil safely in their garage. The excuse for doing so is that a person never thought an accident or fire would happen to them. The truth is that gas and oil can very quickly catch fire, and even the fumes are explosive. While it is advisable that you do not keep these materials in your garage at all, if you must do so, then be sure they are in properly sealed containers and stored away from electrical outlets and heaters.
3 Simple Ideas for Customizing Your Garage
When we think of custom garages, we tend to think of elaborate, high-tech designs which are likely to come with a high cost. However, there are many ways to customize your garage at a low price by using simple techniques. In many cases, these can be accomplished by reorganizing your garage and taking advantage of minimalist design styles. If you are looking for easy ways to customize your garage, here are a few ideas:
Use Old Doors as Shelving
In every home, the front, back, or side doors are likely to eventually need to be replaced. Instead of throwing them away, use those rickety old doors as shelving in your garage. You can take the door and cut it in half and to the needed length. Be sure to find strong L-brackets and securely install your "new" shelves onto the walls of your garage.
Use Boxes and Hooks for Storage
You would not believe how many people create piles of equipment and toys in their garages, making it very difficult to find an item when they want it. One of the simplest ways to customize your garage is by creating methods of efficient storage, including shelves where items are stored in boxes that are grouped according to how they are used. If some of your things are too big to be placed in storage bins or boxes, then you can install hooks that will allow you to hang these items on the wall or even the ceiling.
3 Examples of Top-Notch Custom Garages
Whether your garage is used for storing your car, as a zone for family activities, or as a man cave, you are likely to customize the space in one way or another. However, those who have a little extra dough are able to take garage customization to another level. If you are interested in creating a custom garage, then here are three garages which might offer you a little bit of inspiration:
The Mayor's Garage
A little known fact about New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio is that he collects custom cars and has built a custom garage to hold them. His garage, which he spent 10 years developing and completing, contains about 800 square feet of flooring. He boasts that it is very durable and waterproof, allowing messes from things such as oil spills to be easily cleaned up. Inside, he stores his 1995 black Chevy Impala SS, a '69 blue Chevy Camaro, and a '57 Chevy Bel Air. In addition to the cars, he has a collection of around 500 license plates which he has gathered since childhood.
What Is the Best Garage Door Opener for iPhone Users?
Garage door openers have entered into the new digital space of the Internet of Things (IoT). As we have previously mentioned on this blog, there are many different kinds of electric garage door openers that can connect to your home's Wi-Fi and allow your garage door to be operated wirelessly by a mobile device. However, when deciding which kind of equipment to use for your garage, it is important to consider whether it will work with your preferred mobile operating system. Many people are surprised to learn how different an Android phone can be from an iPhone, and they may be even more surprised to learn that different mobile operating systems interact differently with various IoT devices. If you are an iPhone user and are considering getting an IoT garage door opener, then one option that can provide benefits is the Insignia Wi-Fi remote controller.
What Is the Insignia Wi-Fi Remote Controller?
The Insignia Wi-Fi remote controller is an inexpensive option to consider when modernizing your garage. It consists of two separate devices, the first being the controller which commands your garage door opener to open or close. The second is a sensor which confirms whether this action has occurred and releases a beeping noise that alerts everyone in the vicinity that the garage door is about to open or close. The Insignia works in sync with Siri on an iPhone or any other Apple device, and it can be controlled through voice commands, such as "Siri, open the garage door."
Should I Install Low-e Glass Windows in My Garage?
During the summer, we are all trying to find a way to keep our homes and garages cool. In the hotter months of the year, this usually means keeping the air conditioning on 24/7, which can really increase the amount of electric bills. Thus, we all try to search for alternative means of keeping the summer heat at bay. One such way is through using low-e glass windows. If you are planning to replace the windows in your home or garage, then you may want to consider using low-e glass windows to make your home an oasis of cool during the summer.
What Are Low-e Glass Windows?
Low-e glass is a relatively new advancement in window technology. Low-e stands for low emissivity, and emissivity refers to the amount of energy released from an object. In a nutshell, low-e windows contain a small filament in the glass which reflects heat from the sun's rays. This filament is invisible to the human eye and is designed to block UV rays while allowing natural light into your home. During the summer, as the sun is beating down, these windows keep hot and humid temperatures outside where they belong. In addition, a similar process will take place during the winter, and low-e windows will reflect heat generated in your home back inside. In a way, low-e glass is like a natural thermostat that helps keep your home fresh during the summer and warm during the winter.
Should I Get a Keyless Lock for My House and/or Garage?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the area where technology and home appliances meet. As we have mentioned in previous blogs, many new wireless features are available with traditional home features, including new kinds of electric garage door openers and mobile apps that allow homeowners to monitor their home while they are away. But one of the newer and more revolutionary areas where home appliances have intersected with IoT is in wireless, or keyless, locks for entry doors.
What Is a Keyless Lock?
A keyless lock is exactly as it sounds: a lock which does not require a key to be opened. If you consider the number of times you may have had to rush out of the home to make a meeting or event and forgot your house keys, the appeal of a lock that does not need a key becomes evident. By avoiding the potential for lost keys, this type of lock could put the possibility of locking yourself out of your residence into the distant past.
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