5 Items Never to be Stored in Your Colorado Garage
The garage, commonly used as a catch-all space, should never be home for certain items
The garage is a true extension of your home and should be a safe and secure space to store appropriate items and enhance the functionality of your home, especially in Colorado where the temperature can change from day to day.
In Colorado we use our garages. In addition to protecting our cars from sun, hail, and snow, our garages give us space to stash our outdoor gear, gardening tools, and odds-and-ends. Some of us are extremely cautious about what we put in our garages, but over time the garage often becomes a catch-all. Items that don’t fit in your house, don’t have a set location, aren’t used that often or — one we are guilty of — becoming a pile for “deal with later” items. While this is the reality of how we use our garages, there are some items that should never go in your garage.
Here are 5 items you should never store in your garage:
Food Items
Food items may attract rodents and pests if stored in a garage. Additionally, temperature fluctuations can impact the quality and safety of certain food products. For optimal food safety and quality, it is recommended to store both canned and perishable items in controlled indoor environments, such as a pantry, kitchen, or basement, where temperature and humidity levels can be more easily regulated.
Storing pet food in the garage is also discouraged due to the potential for temperature fluctuations, which can affect the nutritional integrity of the food. Extreme heat or cold in the garage can lead to spoilage, loss of essential nutrients, and a decrease in the overall quality and safety of the pet food. Additionally, the garage environment may attract pests, putting the stored pet food at risk of contamination. Store pet food in a cool, dry place indoors, away from temperature extremes and direct sunlight. Seal the food in airtight containers to preserve freshness, prevent contamination, and deter pests, ensuring the nutritional quality for your pets.
The best choice is to store food items (including pet food) in your house. We do because John has a huge fear of mice!
Propane Tanks
Propane is highly combustible, and storing tanks indoors, especially in enclosed spaces like garages, can lead to serious safety hazards. If there is a leak or any other malfunction, propane can accumulate in the confined space, creating an explosive and dangerous environment. The safest location to store propane tanks is outdoors in a well-ventilated area. This allows any potential leaks to disperse into the open air, reducing the risk of a dangerous buildup.
Valuables
Garage thefts are becoming more common, and valuable items can be an easy target for burglars who can quickly grab items and drive away. However, some items, especially our outdoor equipment, sports equipment (do you even know how much baseball bats cost these days!), or firearms are valuable and need to be stored in the garage. For these items we recommend keeping them hidden from the view of the street or using locking cabinets to secure those items. See our full line of custom secure locking garage cabinets. Don’t give burglars a reason to look twice at your garage.
Ideally, valuables of any kind would not be stored in a garage but for those high value items that are (golf clubs, tools, sporting gear) locking cabinets are a functional and stylish solution. See our full line of custom secure garage cabinets.
Wine
Temperature is a critical factor in wine storage, and fluctuations outside the optimal range can accelerate the aging process, leading to undesirable changes in flavor, aroma, and overall quality. It is recommended to store wine in a consistently cool, dark place, maintaining a temperature between 45-65°F and humidity around 70%. Garages don’t provide the consistent environment wine needs. Our suggestion is to drink wine in the garage on a nice summer night, just don’t store it there!
Paint
Wait, we know this one hurts! But storing paint in the garage is not going to keep it usable in the long run. The temperature fluctuations, of extreme heat or cold, can lead to paint separation, spoilage, or even freezing. Paint should be stored in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures, ideally in a basement or utility room.
Storing paint in the garage can render the paint unusable due to temperature fluctuations. We recommend opting for a more climate-controlled storage space, such as the basement or a hall closet.
Life gets busy - and we are all guilty of chucking items into the garage to “deal with later.” The above items come with a hefty price if left in your garage. Take a moment to check and make sure that you don’t have any of these five items in your garage. We promise it will be worth your time!
If you are curious about upgrading the garage space in your Colorado home, you can learn more about our Custom Garage Solutions Floor Systems, garage doors, cabinets and shelving or other custom upgrades that we can provide.
You can also request a free estimate here. We’d love to work with you anywhere in the Denver area!
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