How to Winterize Your Garage

If you live in a region that experiences cold winters, winterizing your garage is very important. Not only can winterizing your garage make the temperature more comfortable during the winter, but it can also prevent damage from happening to the structure of your garage and any supplies or equipment you store in the garage.

Why Winterize and Ventilate Your Garage?

Some problems that can occur when your garage is unventilated and unwinterized include:

• Humid air
• Condensation
• Indoor air pollution
• Ice dams
• Cold temperatures

Humid air and condensation can rust metal equipment and supplies and lead to rot, mildew, and mold. Slick surfaces can make your garage dangerous and can lead to injuries.

If you keep any gas-powered vehicles, gasoline, cleaning supplies, or other volatile chemicals in your garage, indoor air pollution should be a serious consideration.

In some garages, like garages with an attic space, warm air can build up and cause ice dams, leading to more costly repairs.

Lastly, if you spend any time in your garage during the winter, it won’t be comfortable if the garage isn’t winterized.

How to Winterize Your Garage

1. Inspect Your Garage. The first thing you should do is do a thorough inspection of your garage. Look out for air leaks around the windows, and electrical outlets, and cracks and chips in the walls and floor. Check the weatherstripping to ensure it’s in good shape.
2. Remove clutter and organize. Spend some time to go through everything in your garage. Get rid of anything you haven’t used in the last year or anything that’s trash. Check out any chemicals or cleaning supplies to see if they need to be disposed of. Once your garage is tidy, inspect any areas of the floor or walls that the clutter was covering up.
3. Seal it up. Get outlet foam for electrical outlets to reduce air leaks and then cover them with outlet plug covers. Get new weatherstripping if needed. Pay special attention to your windows and doors. Seal up any cracks.
4. Insulate. Upgrading your existing wall insulation or installing wall installation for the first time will significantly improve your garage’s ability to stay warm. Consider insulating the garage yourself if you’re up for a challenge, or hire a professional to do it.
5. Seal and waterproof your garage floor: If you want to go a step further, you can better winterize your garage by sealing and waterproofing the floor with floor coating or epoxy.
6. Install a heater: A heater will keep you warm and comfortable while you hang out in the garage or work on winter-time projects. There are several options for gas heaters, or you can always opt for a portable electric heater.
7. Install and winterize your garage exhaust fan: Ventilation is paramount to keeping your garage in good shape, even during the winter. All you need to do is use a garage exhaust fan to prevent trapped air from causing problems due to a buildup of moisture and pollutants. While you’re at it, you can easily winterize your garage exhaust fan to prevent warm air from escaping.

This year winter begins on Saturday, Dec 21, 2024 and lasts until Thursday Mar 20, 2025. Now is a great time to winterize your garage before winter officially kicks in.