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How to Safely Store Chemicals in Your Garage

February 25, 2014 by Rick Scully

Last time we talked about items that should never be stored in your garage. However, care must be exercised with another group of materials that often find a home in our garages—chemicals. Quick, think of all of the chemicals currently stored in your garage. There are probably household chemicals like cleaners; chemicals for the maintenance of your car, like anti-freeze and window washing fluid; and gardening chemicals, like pesticides and fertilizers. If you have a pool, you have a host of additional chemicals stored in your garage.

While all of the chemicals listed above are commonly found in garages, they can be the source of household accidents if not stored properly. Let’s consider a few precautions needed to protect your home and family when storing chemicals.

Keep Hazardous Chemicals Out of Reach

garage storage - household supplies, shelving, door, house, finished garage wallsAnimals and small children are notoriously curious. This can serve a child well in many ways. However, a child or pet’s natural curiosity combined with improper storage of chemicals in a garage can turn deadly. Therefore, all chemicals should be stored well out of reach of children and pets. Consider not only a child’s height, but children’s propensity to climb. Make sure that chemicals aren’t easily accessible if the child climbs on a shelf or nearby crate. This is especially true of chemicals like window washing fluid and antifreeze which resemble colorful drinks.

Keep chemicals off of the ground and well out of reach of children and pets to ensure their safety and prevent accidental poisoning.

Store Chemicals in the Proper Containers

As a general rule, chemicals should always be stored in their original containers. However, there might be an occasion when you need to store a chemical in another container. For instance, you might borrow paint thinner from your next door neighbor. Rather than taking the entire container, you pour a few ounces in an old water bottle or some other discarded food container. When you’re done with the project, you store what’s left of the chemical on a shelf in your garage. Doing so could potentially lead to accidental poisoning if a child mistakes that paint thinner for what’s actually on the label.

Additionally, certain chemicals can only be stored in particular types of containers. For instance some chemicals will corrode a metal container or eat through a thin plastic one. Read the label and store the chemical according the manufacturer’s instructions.

Properly Label Chemicals

Let’s say that you stored a clear liquid chemical in a suitable jar or bottle, but didn’t bother to label it. Now it’s two years later. You’re looking for paint thinner and you happen across the unmarked container. You think it’s paint solvent, but you’re not sure. Maybe it’s something else altogether. While many household chemicals have fairly distinct smells, others do not. Besides, sniffing a noxious chemical isn’t the safest way to determine what it is. Labeling all of the chemicals stored in your garage ensures that you know exactly what you’re dealing with.

Invest in a Lockable Chemical Storage Cabinet

Earlier, we talked about keeping chemicals stored out of the reach of children and pets. A high shelf can work well, but a lockable storage cabinet works better. It doesn’t have to be huge, or take up valuable garage floor space. There are a variety of options available, from cabinets with a small footprint to those that can be installed on a wall.

Poisonous, highly-flammable chemicals are found in most homes and garages. They play a critical role in keeping our homes clean, our cars well-maintained and our gardens lush and green. However, to protect your home and family, you must safely store such chemicals. Keep household and other chemicals out of the reach of children and pets. Store chemicals in appropriate containers, preferably the container in which it came. If the label on the original container loosens, secure it with tape. If you must store the chemical in another container, ensure that it is properly labelled. If possible, invest in a lockable cabinet suitable for storing chemicals.

If the configuration of your garage, or the volume of items you currently have stored in it, makes it difficult for you to properly store chemicals, contact a garage organization specialist who can help.

Filed Under: Garage Storage Solutions Tagged With: anti-freeze, corrode, fertilizers, footprint, garage floor space, garage organization specialist, garages, gardening chemicals, health and safety, highly-flammable chemicals, homes, household accidents, household chemicals, household cleaners, label chemicals, lockable storage cabinet, metal container, paint thinner, pesticides, plastic container, pool chemicals, prevent accidental poisoning, proper containers, storing chemicals, water bottle, window washing fluid

Selling your house? Let your garage help set the stage.

September 25, 2012 by Rick Scully

 

When you’re thinking about putting your house up for sale, you can’t just hang out a For Sale sign, let people stroll through an open house and expect a great offer or incite a bidding war.  Even though the current real estate market is overheated, the trend toward timed offers and increasingly savvy buyers combined with the popularity of interior design and home makeover shows have created new challenges to attract buyers willing to go the distance.

 

garage interior design - home stagingHouses are now staged, often by professional companies that remove your personal effects and replace them with stylish home furnishings and décor.  Home staging, or fluffing as it’s sometimes known in the industry, might also include upgrading flooring, lighting and painting to give your home a fresh, new look.  Since curb appeal is important, it’s not uncommon for agents to suggest some minor landscaping or at the very least putting out a large planter with flowers.

 

Generally speaking, when showing houses, real estate agents don’t spend much time in the garage mainly because they’re usually a mess.  That’s unfortunate since a garage is another asset that adds value to your home.   A clean, tidy garage with well-organized storage provides another feature for agents to point out to their clients.  Not only does it highlight useful storage solutions, it’s also a place to show a home’s personality, utility and suitability for potential buyers.

 

While “garage staging” isn’t an industry standard yet, I have been called in to install slatwall and flooring by a contractor who was finishing a house on the Bridle Path.  In addition to setting up a system for organizing the garage, I supplied bikes, golf clubs, tennis racquets and gardening tools to make it look authentic so that prospective buyers could envision how the space might work for their needs.

 

When you’re considering minor upgrades to make your home market-ready, don’t forget about the garage. It can be so much more than the place to stow packed boxes and Rubbermaid bins before your move and really showcase the flexibility and livability of the house.

 

One of the more popular upgrades we do is creating customized overhead storage shelves. Suspended from the ceiling the shelves create a half storey and increase the storage space footprint for items like snow tires and seasonal decorations that are only accessed once or twice a year.  We can also paint and install slatwall, which can be outfitted with cam lock hooks to hang everything from shovels, rakes and power tools to skis and bikes.  Flooring is another easy option.  Unlike concrete, which soaks up oil and shows other stains, our low-VOC polyaspartic floors don’t absorb liquids and can be washed with soap and water.  Plus, depending on the complexity, the renovation can usually be done in two days.

 

Buyers are critics.  While they’re looking for reasons to buy your house, they’re also considering reasons not to buy it. One way to ensure good reviews is to put everything in its place.  A garage upgrade is a cost effective, efficient way to increase the value of your property before you sell it. 

 

Filed Under: Garage Interior Design, Garage Storage Solutions Tagged With: bidding war, Bridle Path, buy your house, challenges to attract buyers, concrete, consultation, contractor, cost effective, current real estate market, footprint, garage, garage interior design, garage staging, golf clubs, home makeover shows, home staging, home’s personality, house, increase the storage space, interior design, large planter, low-VOC polyaspartic floors, minor landscaping, minor upgrades, organizing the garage, overhead storage shelves, personal effects, professional companies, prospective buyers, real estate agents, real estate market, savvy buyers, showcase, skis and bikes, storage solutions, upgrading flooring, well-organized storage

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