The Worst Things to Store in Your Garage

For many households, the garage is a place where a lot of items end up simply because they can’t think of where else to put it. Tools, paint, sports equipment, luggage, the list goes on. But some things can cause some real issues if you keep them in your garage. This isn't something most people think about, so we made a list of the worst things to store in your garage and the problems with them.

Pet Food

Pet food is a pretty common thing to store in the garage- extra cans, or bags of dry food. Most people don’t think about this, but the dog food cans are going to go bad much faster since the garage isn’t cooled like your house. The canned food will spoil much faster in warmer temperatures, like in your garage. The bags of dry food can often attract rodents, a problem you definitely don’t want to deal with in your garage. We suggest storing these things in your pantry in the house- out of the heat, and where the pests can’t get to them.

Pool Chemicals

Another thing a lot of people store in their garage are chemicals for treating their pools. These are again items that become a problem with the heat. When the garage gets hot, the chemicals will leak, and are going to cause the metals in your garage to rust. To avoid the mess, keep these somewhere out by the pool.

Towels and Sheets

Many people keep extra towels in the garage, to use when washing the cars, or for the pool. The problem with storing any kind of fabric item in the garage is that again, it will attract rodents. Rats are attracted to these spots to make nests in them, especially when the cold weather hits. The best thing to do to keep them away is to free up some space in the closet and keep them there or at least put them in bins you can seal to keep the rats out.

Aerosol Cans

This is a tough one- a lot of us store cans of spray paint, WD-40, etc. on the shelves in our garage. Here’s the thing: if the garage gets too hot in the summer, these cans are likely to explode. Try to keep these out of the heat too- find a cabinet in the house to keep these cans in where the temperature will be controlled.

A Closet Gallery offers garage organizers like garage cabinets to keep these things out of the way- but even better, we can help you free up space in the closets of the house and the pantry, so these things are all kept out of the heat. We offer a free, in-home consultation that comes with no obligation, so call us today!