Winter Is Here-Prepping Your Shed

Winter season started with a bang in much of the United States this year with rain and snow early in the winter season. It’s not too late to do some smart winterization of your outdoor shed so it keeps it’s usability over the years. With Winter comes dark days, lots of rain and moisture, ice, and snow! Your shed will last longer and remain in good condition if you prepare it properly for the winter season.

Just before the cold season starts is a good time to check up on your shed, but better late than never, and make sure nothing in it needs to be replaced or fixed. Once Spring comes, you are going to want to be able to jump right into yard work, so you will want to have already prepared your shed well! And, if you want to be able to use your shed in the wintertime, you will need to ensure that it is prepared to stay warm and dry.

Organizing & Cleaning Your Shed for Winter

First, you will want to do some cleaning. spring cleaning is more conventional, but sheds tend to get dirtier in the warmer months, and you don’t want a mess sitting around all winter. Cleaning now on a clear day, will also help you later when you are inspecting your shed for any repairs that need to be made. I would recommend, if possible, that you take everything out of your shed and give it all a good cleaning, both the stuff you store in your shed, and the interior of the shed itself, before putting it all back in organized fashion.

If snows have started in your area, just lay out a tarp to decant your shed contents to and it’s a great task on a crisp winter day. This is especially true for garden tools and other motorized or metal tools. Metal tools can rust over the wintertime due to increased moisture, so be sure to take this time to give all of your tools a good scrubbing and then coat them, if appropriate, with a thin layer of oil to protect them from moisture.

Inspect Your Shed for Damage

Now that you have a clean, organized shed, it’s time to inspect it! You may have already noticed some issues with your shed while you were cleaning. Check the walls and floor for any cracks, weak spots, or holes. Cracks and weak spots pose a big problem for your outdoor structure. They cause drafts, which prevents you and the stuff you store in your shed from keeping warm. They will also let in moisture that can damage the structure as well as any items in your shed. Cracks and weak spots, especially near the floor, allow for pests to get in, both rodents and insects – neither of which are good. Pests can also damage your structure and anything in your shed, so you will want to make sure your shed is sealed tight!

If you haven’t installed any weatherstripping in your shed’s windows and doorways, now is the time. If you have already, don’t forget to check that all the weatherstripping is still there and not developing cracks or peeling away. If you have double paned windows, check your shed on cold mornings for condensation in between the panes of the window or the inside of the window. This tells you that the seal between the window panes is failing and outside air is able to get in. If this happens, you can easily get just the seal replaced and not the whole window.

Roof Inspections Are a Must

It is especially important to check your shed’s roof for leaks, weak spots, and bad tiles and shingles. If you leave your shed all winter with a leaky roof, you can expect to come back to a deteriorating and smelly structure in spring.

Repairing mold and mildew growth can be expensive and difficult, and will cost you time that you could have spent enjoying your shed, your garden, or your next DIY project, so it’s important to be proactive.

Extend Your Shed Use Season

If you are going to use your shed throughout the cold season, install and/or inspect the appropriate heating appliances. Make sure that all electrical outlets are working and safe, and if you have them, check the timers on your heating appliances to make sure they are accurate and representative of when you will be using the shed. Also ensure that your heating appliance is installed in such a way that is not dangerous. Your heater should not be surrounded by furniture or other items in your shed; a heater needs space to heat effectively and also to be safe.

Shed Exterior Maintenance

Once you have gotten the interior of your shed cleaned, inspected, and repaired, you can take a look at the exterior. You’ve probably found any leaky spots near windows, doors, and in the roof already, but it’s always good to check from the exterior as well. There could be weak spots in the exterior of your roof or walls that have not affected the interior structure yet, so you wouldn’t have spotted them from inside.

While cleaning up and repairing the outside of your shed, you should also check on any vegetation growing around your shed. Just as you would do with your home, clear away any tree branches to overhand too close to your shed’s roof. This can be dangerous if a branch were to fall in heavy storm winds, and could do some damage to your roof in just normal winds. You should also make sure the plants around your shed aren’t growing to close to the base of the shed, if you have any. If plants grow to close to the shed’s foundation, mold, mildew, and dry rot can develop due to too much moisture. Plants should not be growing within 3 to 5 inches of the foundation of your shed to prevent this damage.

Prepping your outdoor shed for winter is hard work, but you will feel justified when it and all of your tools are ready to use come springtime. And, if you are able to enjoy it as a warm, cozy, hobby station throughout the winter, even better! Check out Shed Windows and More catalog for shed windows, shed accessories, and hard to find shed parts to repair your shed and keep your shed in top shape for years to come.