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A set of patio furniture can help you enjoy the outdoor space around your home during the spring and summer months. But warm weather will eventually come to an end as the colder months creep in. Depending on where you live, keeping your patio furniture out in harsh winter conditions could damage it beyond repair. To ensure your outdoor furniture is in great shape for next spring, use this guide on how to store patio furniture for the winter.

American Steel Carports, Inc. has a variety of steel structures that are affordable, durable, and fully customizable! Use our Build & Price Tool to explore the many possibilities for your new building, and receive an instant quote!

Secure a Dry Location

Finding a dry location to store your patio furniture is crucial. If you happen to have space in your current garage, that would work nicely. Unfortunately, many people don’t have a garage. Or, if they do, there’s likely not enough room available for additional furniture. If putting your patio furniture in a garage is not an option for you, consider the following ideas that will keep your items dry throughout storage:

• A storage unit. You could rent a storage unit in a facility near your home to store your furniture and other items. This option will keep your belongings dry, but it does come with a significant expense. You may need to pay as much as $100 or more per month to rent a storage unit.
• Under a tarp. Rather than storing your furniture inside, you could gather it up on part of your property and place a tarp over it. A good tarp should keep everything mostly dry, but it won’t be the same as a roof. Also, it’s likely the little critters will make their way under the tarp to stay warm, so you might have quite a mess to clean up in the spring.
• In a detached structure. This option will provide the best results. Whether it is a small shed or a larger detached garage, a building with a roof and walls will offer the best protection for your patio furniture. Plus, you’ll be able to fit more in this space than just your patio furniture, so other valuable items can be stored here, as well.

If you build a metal structure for additional storage on your property, that decision will start to pay off in short order. Given the affordable nature of steel buildings and the expense of options like renting a storage unit, this is a financial decision that makes a lot of sense.

Preparing for Storage

Before you put your patio furniture away for the winter, there are a few tasks you can do to make sure it’s in great condition when you pull it out again. For starters, thoroughly wash the furniture according to the manufacturer’s directions. By washing away all of the dirt and grime that accumulated over the summer, you’ll protect the finish on all of your pieces.

If you wash your furniture, make sure it is allowed to fully dry before you stack it up and put it away. You don’t want to put away wet items, as this could allow mold or mildew to develop.

Work with American Steel Carports, Inc.!

We hope this guide on how to store patio furniture for the winter keeps your belongings in top condition. It would be a shame to have to replace your patio furniture because you left it out in the elements all winter long. With a little help from American Steel Carports, Inc., you can avoid that outcome without breaking the bank. Order one of our sturdy metal structures and have a dry place to keep your patio furniture, along with many other items, throughout the winter. Get started with the Build & Price tool today!

Hay is an essential supply on many farms. If you want to keep your farm running smoothly, you need to have a healthy supply of hay, which means keeping it dry to avoid spoilage. Fortunately, these outdoor hay storage ideas can assist you, and many of them are quite affordable.

American Steel Carports, Inc. has a variety of steel structures that are affordable, durable, and fully customizable! Use our Build & Price Tool to explore the many possibilities for your new building, and receive an instant quote!

The Fundamentals of Hay Storage

Storing hay isn’t particularly complicated, but you’ll want to make sure you get it right. If you make any significant mistakes when storing your hay, you could waste some—or all—of the supply. That’s an expensive error if you have a lot of animals to feed.

Experience is an important piece of the puzzle when storing hay, but we can help you get started with a few simple tips:

• Proper bundles are important. One of the first decisions you need to make is how your hay is going to be baled. From small squares up to large rounds, there are plenty of options here. The right choice for you depends mostly on the equipment you have available. It takes less time to create large round bales than smaller square versions, but you need to have sizable equipment to get the job done. Remember, you’ll not only have to create those large bales, but you will need to move them into and out of storage.
• Protect from moisture. One way or another, you need to keep your hay dry. This is easiest done by storing your hay under a roof, where it is protected from rain and snow but can still breathe. If you aren’t able to store your hay under a roof, it needs to be covered out in the field to keep it from going bad.
• Feed from the older supply. You’ll want to design your storage in a way that makes it possible to feed your oldest hay first. Rotating your supply rather than putting out the freshest hay for the animals each time allows you to minimize waste throughout the year.

Every farm has to experiment with different techniques to find what works best for that property. With that said, the basic keys are the same from place to place. By keeping hay dry, bundling it properly, and feeding the oldest hay first, you should be on the right track.

A Potential Danger

Hay bales are nothing more than big bundles of dry grass—meaning they are extremely flammable. In addition to keeping your hay dry so it doesn’t spoil, you’ll also need to take steps to prevent it from catching fire.

The obvious place to start here is keeping the hay away from anything that could provide a spark. Don’t store hay in a building where work is done that can produce sparks or an open flame. Also, don’t smoke or allow anyone else to smoke around your supply of hay. With such a large supply of flammable material, a hay fire can turn into a major emergency quickly.

The risk of fire is one of the many reasons to consider a metal structure for your hay storage needs. A metal agricultural building isn’t going to burn like a wood barn if there is a fire. Of course, even with a metal barn, you still want to take all precautions to prevent a fire from happening in the first place.

As Much Space as Possible

When planning your new hay storage building, remember that you want to have as much room as possible to store this material. Not only do you need room to place the hay, but your equipment should also be able to get in and out when retrieving part of the supply. In addition, you don’t want to pack it so tightly in the building that the hay can’t breathe, as poor ventilation will raise the risk of spoilage.

Work With American Steel Carports, Inc.!

We hope these outdoor hay storage ideas assist you! There is enough hard work to do on a farm as is—you don’t need to make life harder by struggling to find the storage you need. If you decide to construct a steel building on your property, you’ll be sure to have dry storage for your hay supply all year long. Get started viewing all the possibilities for your new structure with our Build & Price tool!

There is a lot to love about steel sheds. For starters, they come at a lower cost than their wooden alternatives, and they can easily be customized to suit your needs. For these reasons and many more, steel sheds have grown rapidly in popularity in recent years. However, one concern people often have about steel sheds is if they have the ability to rust. Here, we’ll take a closer look at the matter of rust on steel sheds and how you can get a long life out of your new metal building.

American Steel Carports, Inc. has a variety of steel sheds that are affordable, durable, and fully customizable. Use our Build & Price Tool to explore the many possibilities for your new structure, and receive an instant quote!

The Basics of Rust

To prevent rust, you need to understand how it works—at least on a basic level. It is the combination of moisture, oxygen, and metal that can lead to rust, so you need to take one of those elements away to keep your new building free from corrosion. Obviously, if the building is made of steel, you can’t take that away. Also, oxygen is everywhere, so removing that from the equation probably won’t work.

So, we are left with water. If you want to prevent rust, you need to keep your shed as dry as possible. By keeping the inside of the shed dry throughout the year, you’ll limit the opportunity that rust has to form on the steel. You probably won’t be able to keep your shed completely dry at all times—it lives outside, after all—but some basic steps can limit moisture and reduce rusting.

Building on the Right Base

The surface under your shed is going to have a lot to do with the level of moisture inside the building. If you simply build the shed on bare ground, you will likely have moisture problems, and hence, potentially rust down the line. The ground always has some amount of moisture content, and that is going to lead to condensation in certain conditions.

A better choice would be to build your shed on a concrete pad. That approach will limit how much moisture is available on the floor and it should cut down significantly on the overall opportunity for rust to form.

Don’t Introduce Unnecessary Moisture

If you bring wet items into the shed and leave them to dry regularly, it stands to reason that you may end up with rust problems. One common example is parking your lawnmower in the shed while it is still covered with wet grass clippings. As those clippings dry, the water they release will be trapped inside the building, and you could be contributing to rust. Instead, clean off the mower before you park it, and you will have kept out a significant potential source of moisture.

Address Any Openings Immediately

This one might sound pretty obvious, but it’s easy to overlook if you aren’t careful. If there is a leak in the roof of your shed, that’s something you will want to address right away. Such a leak is going to allow in a lot of water during the rainy season, and you might find that rust starts to develop quickly. Not only is it important to fix any leaks to stop corrosion, but you also want to protect the condition of whatever you store inside the building.

Buy from a Quality Supplier

Rust is a far bigger problem on cheap metal sheds than it is on quality products from a respected manufacturer. If you order from American Steel Carports, for example, you will find that our 12-gauge products carry a 20-year warranty as an indication of the trust that we have in the buildings we sell. If you were to opt for a lesser product from a company that doesn’t stand behind its structures with this kind of guarantee, you may run into more rust issues in the years to come.

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Order from American Steel Carports, Inc. Today!

As you can see, steel sheds won’t rust if you take a few simple steps to prevent it. That said, the issue of rust is certainly not something that should stop you from ordering a steel structure! In fact, these buildings are incredibly durable and tend to require far less maintenance than wood structures. To explore the options we have available, get started with our Build & Price tool. We are excited to serve you!

Grilling has become a favorite pastime for millions of Americans. When warm weather moves in for the summer, people all over the country gear up to grill out. However, when it’s time to store your grill away for the winter, you need to protect it so it’s ready to go when warm weather rolls back around. Read on to learn how to store a gas grill for winter.

One way to keep your grill in great condition is to store it in a steel building from American Steel Carports, Inc. We offer a variety of metal sheds that are affordable, durable, and fully customizable. Use our Build & Price Tool to explore the many possibilities for your new structure, and receive an instant quote!

Clean Your Grill for Storage

The first task to check off your list is to clean the grill. You’ll want to clean the grates thoroughly to remove any leftover food particles, oils, etc. If the grates go into storage dirty, they might be pretty nasty after a few months of inactivity. Beyond the grates, wipe down all of the other surfaces with an appropriate cleaning product. Basically, the grill should be as clean as it can be before entering storage.

Address the Propane Tank

Another piece of the prep puzzle is dealing with your propane tank. Even if your grill is going to be stored inside, the propane tank should live outside. Make sure the valve is closed, disconnect the tank from the grill, and use plastic caps to cover the fittings.

Moisture is the Enemy

A big goal for your winter grill storage is to keep moisture away. Water poses the biggest risk to the health of your grill, as extended exposure to moisture could lead to rust—and that rust may render your grill unusable in time. Rusted grates are no good for cooking food, plus, rusted valves can interfere with the flow of propane. So, as you plan how you will store your grill, think first and foremost about keeping it dry. Consider the following options:

Grill Cover

The simplest solution for storing your gas grill is to place a cover over it when not in use. There are cloth covers available for nearly every grill model on the market, and they are relatively inexpensive to purchase. Using one of these covers during grilling season is a reasonable option for days when the grill isn’t in use, but they probably won’t offer the protection you need during the winter months.

One of the problems with a grill cover is that they are open on the bottom. So, after rain or snow, the moisture on the ground can evaporate up under the cover and into the grill. This isn’t as bad as leaving the grill uncovered out in the rain, but it’s still a moist environment that can lead to rust.

Under a Roof

While a grill cover is better than nothing, the best way to keep your grill safe in the winter is to place it under a roof. With a roof over the grill, the area around the grill will stay dry and there will be far less opportunity for rust to develop throughout the offseason. Here are three roof options that could serve as excellent grill storage locations:

• Metal carport. Your grill would still technically be outside when stored under a carport, but it would be nicely protected from the rain and snow. One plus about using a carport is that it will be easy to bring the grill out when you are ready to use it. For example, if you get a nice stretch of warmer winter weather and want to use your grill once or twice, it will be easy to retrieve. Shop Now.
• Storage shed. Many grill owners use their backyard shed as a storage option during the winter. You probably aren’t using your shed as much in the winter, since there isn’t as much yard work to do, so parking the grill here could be a nice option. Shop Now.
• Metal garage. If you have room on your property to add a metal garage, this would be a great place to store your grill—along with using the space for many other purposes. Metal garages are surprisingly affordable compared to their wooden counterparts and can be constructed on a short timeline. Shop Now.

Work With American Steel Carports, Inc.!

It’s important to know how to store a gas grill for winter. The best way to protect it from the elements is by keeping it in a steel structure from American Steel Carports, Inc.! Get started today by exploring our Build & Price Tool, and feel free to contact us with any questions you have along the way!