Did you know that around 64% of all homes in the United States alone have at least one garage? Garages can be very convenient since you can use them not only to store your vehicles but also other items that might require storage. The thing about garages is that many people don’t bother to clean them very often.
Instead, they might leave them to collect dust, dirt, and all other sorts of debris. Then, when it finally is time for garage cleaning, it can be a real hassle. If you need to clean out your garage, you might be wondering where you should start.
Keep reading and learn more about it below.
Declutter Your Garage
The first step in cleaning your garage is decluttering it. As mentioned before, many people use their garages to store items. Some people don’t even bother to put their vehicles in the garage and instead leave the whole space for storage space.
Whatever the case, your garage is likely filled with a bunch of stuff that you haven’t moved in a long time. It might contain boxes and tools and all sorts of stuff that have begun to collect dust over the years. When you leave items sitting around like that for a long time, all sorts of things will begin to pile up.
You might have not only a lot of dust in your garage but also cobwebs and dead insects lying around, especially behind items that you haven’t moved in a long time. This is the main reason why it is important to start decluttering your garage before you even bother to start cleaning it.
If your garage is full of various objects and boxes, it will be impossible to clean around all that stuff. If you try to do that, you will be missing a large amount of dirt behind everything stored in the garage. To start decluttering, think about what you need and want to keep and what you don’t need.
The Details
Once you start separating items like that, it will become easier to throw away junk that you haven’t touched in years. Once you start to do that, you will find that your garage will become much more open. Even if you haven’t started cleaning, it will look cleaner as well since it will naturally be less cluttered than before.
Also, while you’re decluttering, consider moving some of the stuff outside of your garage at least temporarily. If you want to give your garage a deep clean, it is important that nothing be inside it. That way, you can reach every corner that the garage has to offer and you won’t have to worry about trying to maneuver around certain objects that you didn’t bother to move.
Once you do all that, your garage should be the perfect blank slate for cleaning, although it may still look pretty grimy, especially if you haven’t cleaned it in a while. But what’s the next step in cleaning your garage?
Sweep and Scrub
The next step is grabbing a broom and getting to work. Sweeping your garage is important because it will pick up all the large debris that might be sitting around on the floor. This could include sweeping up dust bunnies, particles of dirt, dead insects, and so on.
Never forget about the corners of your garage. The corners are often where all sorts of things build up. Besides that, you might find cobwebs and other things inside corners that you should brush away with your broom. If you have allergies or are otherwise sensitive to dust, you should consider wearing a mask over your nose and mouth while you do this.
That way, you won’t have to breathe in the dust you sweep up. Besides sweeping the floor, make sure you use the broom to sweep away any debris that might be stuck to your garage door, walls, or windows. Once you’re done sweeping, it will be time to bring out a scrub brush and some water.
The floor in your garage will likely look pretty clean once you’re done sweeping since most of the big debris will be gone. However, the broom will only be able to catch so much and it will likely miss a lot of finer particles as well as dirt or liquid that seeped into the concrete a long time ago. For that reason, if you want to deep-clean your garage, it is important to scrub the floor.
You only need a firm brush and a bucket of soap and water to do this.
What You Need to Know
If you want an especially thorough clean, you can always add some cleaning solution to the water, but this isn’t always necessary unless your garage floor is stained. Whatever the case, once you start scrubbing the floor, be sure to start from the far edge and work backward so you won’t end up stepping on what you just cleaned.
For the best results, move the brush in a circular motion. This will make it easier to remove dirt and dust from every inch of the floor. If the floor is stained, you may have to spend a bit more time cleaning that area, and some stubborn stains may be impossible to remove, though you may be able to fade them somewhat.
Whatever the case, once you’re done scrubbing the floor, you’ll need to rinse the soap and cleaning solution out of your floor. You can do this by using a garden hose to spray down the entire floor or you can pour a bucket of water over the surface.
Once you do that, you will find your garage floor cleaner than ever before and you will also find that garage floor cleaning isn’t that hard. However, it can take a lot of time, and you might be wondering what you can do to keep your garage floor clean for a longer period.
The answer has to do with a polyurea floor coating.
Polyurea Floor Coating
Many people are familiar with epoxy floor coatings but not polyurea floor coatings. This kind of coating is far more advanced than epoxy and it also has a lot of unique benefits. The first benefit is that this coating is very resistant to most forms of damage.
For example, if the floor gets wet or if you happen to spill something on it like oil, you won’t have to be worried about the floor getting stained. Concrete stains because it is porous, but polyurea is not. So, if any liquid happens to spill on it, you can easily clean it up without any consequences.
Besides that, it is resistant to the sun’s UV rays as well. Epoxy flooring has the problem of becoming discolored when it is exposed to the sun, especially for prolonged periods. It will often become an ugly yellow or even brown shade which obviously won’t look great for your garage.
Polyurea, on the other hand, won’t do this because it is far more stable when it comes in contact with the sun’s rays. Polyurea as a material is also very flexible while the epoxy is not. Over the years, your concrete garage floor will start to shift as the ground beneath it shifts.
What to Know
Epoxy flooring will crack or bubble if this happens since it won’t have the flexibility to move along with the concrete. Polyurea, on the other hand, is far more durable and won’t crack when the concrete starts to shift. For that reason, it will stay looking great for a lot longer.
Another benefit is that polyurea floor coatings are super easy to clean. Again, this is because they are non-porous. For that reason, fine particles of dirt and dust won’t get stuck in the polyurea coating as they would with regular concrete.
For that reason, you would rarely, if ever, need to scrub a polyurea coating as you would need to scrub a concrete floor. All you need to do is occasionally sweep it and your floor will stay looking as good as new.
All About Garage Cleaning
Garage cleaning doesn’t have to be complicated, but there are a few things you should consider. For example, you should start by reorganizing your garage clutter and getting rid of what you don’t need. Then, follow that by sweeping and scrubbing the floor.
To ensure that your floor stays clean and protected, consider a polyurea floor coating. To learn more about how it works, click here.
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