How to Clean Out Your Shed and Garage

Sheds and garages are extremely useful for those who want to maximise their living space. They are great for storing bulky boxes, large appliances, and other items that you’re looking to sell or give away in the future.

Unfortunately, despite their usefulness, people often neglect the condition of their sheds and garages. Since most homeowners tend to focus on the more presentable aspects of their property, these spaces are often left unkempt and dirty.

If you don’t take the time to maintain your shed and garage, a number of problems might start emerging. Excessive clutter, infestations, and damaged items are just a few of the issues that you might encounter.

To help you avoid these problems, here’s an easy-to-follow guide on how to clean your shed and garage.

Set a Goal

Before you do anything, it’s important to figure out what you’re looking to achieve. Are you looking to downsize and get rid of items you don’t need anymore? Are you trying to re-organise and make certain items more accessible?

Whatever your goal might be, you should make it as clear as possible and note it down. A well-defined goal will allow you to streamline the cleaning process and make your job that much easier.

If you’re just looking to tidy everything up, you might want to look at getting garage shelves, cabinets or even a workshop bench. On the other hand, if you’re looking to get rid of a large number of unwanted items, you should rent a skip bin and look at hiring rubbish removal services.

Clear the Space and Spread Everything Out

After you’ve figured out what you want to do, it’s time to clear out the space. You should empty all your boxes, clear the shelves, and clear the walls. When doing this, be careful when handling heavy items and other potentially dangerous items. Additionally, make sure to sort your items from top to bottom to ensure that nothing falls on you while you’re cleaning.

Once that’s done, spread all your items out either in your backyard or on your driveway. This will give a clear view of all your possessions, making it easier to sort through them.

If you have pets or children in your home, make sure to keep them away from dangerous items. Also, if you choose to spread everything out in your driveway, it’s a good idea to always have someone present to make sure that nothing gets stolen.

Separate Your Items Into Categories

The next step is to separate your items into different categories. Depending on the goal that you’ve set for yourself at the start of this process, these categories might differ. It can be as simple or as comprehensive as you want it to be.

In general, however, you should have at least three groups:

• Keep
  
  These are the items that you’re planning to bring back into your home or put back into storage. This category can also include items that need to be repaired or cleaned up in the future.
  
  
• Sell/Donate
  
  This category includes items that you’re looking to sell online, give away to friends and family, or donate to a charitable organisation.
  
  
• Waste
  
  All the items that you’re looking to throw away will fall under this category. This includes rubbish, broken items, e-waste, and more.
  
  As much as possible, try to limit the number of items that you throw away. The more waste we produce, the more harm that we do to our environment. Excessive waste typically leads to landfills running out of space and ecosystems getting contaminated.
  
  Because of this, you should try your best to find a way to reuse or recycle every item that you have.

Freshen Up Your Shed and Garage

Before putting everything back, you should take this opportunity to clean up your shed and garage. This is your chance to clear the cobwebs, sweep the floors, clean the windows and so on. It’s also a great time to use a power washer to get rid of stubborn stains, grimes, mould and algae.

If you have a wooden shed, make sure to replace any damaged planks and re-stain the entire surface if necessary. If you have a concrete garage floor, this is an ideal time for resurfacing and resealing.

Put Everything Back

The final step is putting all your items back where they belong. During this step, you should try to place the items that you frequently use towards the front of the shed. This will keep you from having to dig out the items that you need each and every time.

If you’re stacking boxes on top of each other in your garage, you should keep useful items on top of the pile as much as possible.

Even though it’s not the prettiest part of your property, your storage space still deserves care and attention. Hopefully, this simple step by step guide will help you stop procrastinating on the evitable andmotivate you to tackle this problem once and for all.