Winter in Iowa can quickly turn a neat, clean garage into a huge, dirty, salty mess. Here are several ideas to help you winterize your garage to help protect your floors and vehicles and prevent you or your family from tracking gunk into your home.
How to Weatherize Your Garage and Protect the Floor
Check Your Garage Door’s Weather Stripping
One of the most effective ways to keep rain and snow out of your garage is to make sure the seal at the bottom is doing its job. If it’s worn, ripped, or cracked in places, the seal will be broken. Replace the rubber piece at the bottom of your door if necessary to increase your garage's energy efficiency and keep out moisture.
Add Floor Mats
Concrete is porous, so it can easily become stained and damaged, especially in the winter with all the extra snow, mud, and slush. The cold temperatures can also affect concrete, making it more prone to chipping and cracking when water melts and freezes on the floors. Protect your garage floor from moisture and salt by adding absorbant containment mats. Easily squeegee or vacuum the mats to release the water outside instead of spreading it around the garage. When the winter is over, you can roll up the mats and store them until next year.
If you’d rather not invest in containment mats, you can grab cardboard boxes and lay them down in your garage where you park your car to help absorb moisture and protect your floor. Simply toss them when they need to be replaced.
Also consider adding mats near the entry door to your home. You can wipe off your shoes and remove them before going inside to avoid tracking contaminants from the garage into your house.
Wipe Down Vehicles Before Parking in the Garage
If you have chunks of muddy snow on your vehicle that you drive directly into your garage, those chunks will likely fall right onto the floors and turn into a dirty puddle that could then spread around the garage and be tracked into your home. Consider hopping out of your vehicle before driving into the garage to brush off the snow and wipe off the mud so it’s all left outside. Have a scraper or broom handy to make this process quick and easy.
Seal the Garage Floor
Consider coating your garage floor with epoxy to make it moisture and stain resistant. Epoxy also can make your floors much easier to clean and can give your garage a facelift. Make sure you follow instructions carefully and don’t apply the coating when temperatures are too low. Temperatures should fall between 60 and 90 degrees, so it's best to do this during the spring or summer. Learn more about the benefits of epoxy coating in our previous blog article: Should I Epoxy-Coat My Garage Floor?
Give Your Floor a Good Cleaning
When spring-cleaning time hits, be sure to clean both your vehicles and the floor in your garage to cleanse everything of the remnants of winter. Grab a mop and bucket and clean your floors with warm water and either dish detergent or vinegar; use one cup of vinegar or detergent for every gallon of water. Removing salt and dirt from your garage will keep it stronger longer. After mopping, use a squeegee to push excess water outside.
We hope our tips are helpful for you! If you find yourself in a pickle this winter and need help with your garage door, give us a call! We offer residential garage door services around Des Moines, and we’d love to work with you. Contact us anytime!
