If you’ve not attended to your garage for the last few years, chances are that you have a lot of things in there that you don’t need anymore. Whether that was due to lack of time or because you just didn’t want to get your hands dirty, if you’ve finally run out of space, it’s time to get in there and start cleaning up. It is no doubt a daunting task, however, you can manage it if you start with the right strategy. Here is how you should approach the problem.
Remove Everything
First, you need to get everything out so you know what you are dealing with. This is when you will find a lot of things that you forgot you had and hopefully some useful gems along with the rubble. Pick out any empty space on the property and start removing everything from the garage and placing it over there. It would also help to lay a sheet of plastic if you have liquids like engine oil that have spilled in the garage and have drenched the things that you are pulling out. Especially if you are laying the junk out on your lawn, having a plastic sheet will protect the grass and the ground from contamination.
Discard Waste
Set aside the things that are still in usable condition and the things that can still be restored and put to use. In another pile, you want to set aside all the things that are of no use at all. The junk removal team at north-bay-junk-removal.com suggests that you categorize things by material. Have a separate pile for metal, one for plastic, one for wood, and so on. This way, if you hire a junk removal expert, it will be much easier to manage the junk and you can sell the junk according to the material. For instance, if you have a lot of metal, you can sell that per pound and make some money from it.
Categorize
Within the pile of all the things that are still usable, you also need to categorize the different items. If you have a bunch of old clothes, set those aside. If you have things made of metal that need to be brought back to life, set that in a separate pile. This way you can batch process all the things according to the material. You can wash the clothes at once, treat all the metal items at once, and so on.
Clean
Next, you need to clean out the garage itself. If you have a hard floor that is easy to clean then you can do this yourself with a pressure washer. A much easier option is to get an expert to help you out. They will have all the equipment needed and they can get it done much faster. With the garage clean and all your belongings also cleaned, you can then start properly storing them in the garage.
If you have things that are going to be stored in the garage for a long time then it is a good idea to treat them with some kind of protective chemical. This could be surface cleaner or anything else that will help them retain their shape and form. If you are storing things like engines or other components that have fluids in them, make sure you drain these all out and then store them in a dry state. This will help give them a longer shelf life.
