Reading is a beloved hobby for millions of people. But if you are an avid reader, you may find yourself facing a particular type of problem: Finding space to store all of your books.

As the shelves inside your home fill up, you may look to the garage for relief. That’s a great idea, but you’ll need to take this step strategically to avoid doing any unintentional damage to the books you love. This article covers how to store books in the garage without damaging them.

But of course, you can’t store books in a garage unless you have a garage available for that purpose! So if you need a new place for your book collection to call home, American Steel Carports, Inc. is the perfect partner for that project. Here, we proudly offer durable, fully-customizable metal structures with financing available to help you get started. Check out our Build & Price tool to see what’s possible, and please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

#1 – Control Temperature Swings

One of the first things to consider when keeping your books in a garage is the potential for temperature swings. If you have a garage that gets particularly hot during the summer and extremely cold during the winter, your books will struggle to stay in good condition.

Fortunately, you can mitigate this issue with proper insulation. If you take the step of insulating your metal garage, you’ll cut down on the thermal transfer between the garage’s interior and exterior. As a result, the insulation moderates the temperatures inside, and you avoid shifting hot and cold conditions. Of course, this step alone isn’t enough to protect your books – we have a long way to go on our list – but it’s an important starting point.

#2 – Moisture Is Your Enemy

While managing the temperature in your garage is a crucial baseline for book storage, the battle here is really against moisture more than anything else. If you allow damp air to linger in your garage, the pages of your books will inevitably be damaged. In the best case, they’ll curl up around the edges, reducing their visual appeal and making them a little harder to read.

That’s just the best-case scenario, however. A worst-case outcome would be the development of mold and mildew, which is certainly possible when the pages of a book come into contact with a humid environment for an extended time. If you live in a climate with excessive humidity, you may find that mold multiplies, thus destroying your collection.

Mold is also a particularly significant problem in garages because there typically isn’t much sunlight to fight back against the mold. Mold loves to grow in damp and dark spaces, so those books you have tucked away in the back corner of a humid garage are just asking to be visited by this type of organic growth. While it might be possible to recover some books with minor mold or mildew damage, some may become unreadable after this event.

So, what can you do about it? As a starting point, consider using a dehumidifier in the space. Most likely, you’ll only need to use this device during the humid part of the year – which will probably be the summer or late spring. In the winter, when the natural humidity is lower, you can probably turn off your dehumidifier and give it a break.

#3 – Defend Against Critters

As much as we might not like to think about it, there is always the chance that some curious little critters will make their way into your garage. Whether it’s mice, rats, or some other furry pest looking for a snack, you need to make sure your books are protected from the possibility of a small animal chewing on the pages and destroying a part of your collection.

The obvious starting point is to ensure your garage is as well-sealed as possible. If there are small gaps around the doors or elsewhere, it will be easy for critters to slip inside. Remember that many pests don’t need much space, so pay attention to even small holes in the exterior, especially those along the ground. You can use caulking, spray foam, and other products to effectively seal up gaps and make it much harder for critters to cause you any problems.

In addition to cutting down on access points for small animals to get into the garage, you can also make it a less desirable place for them to visit. These critters are always after a meal first and foremost, so don’t leave anything in the garage they’d like to eat. Keep it neat and tidy, don’t store bags of garbage in this space, and ensure any food items kept in the garage are well-sealed inside plastic to prevent access. When there is nothing to eat inside a garage, you will likely find that any critters in the area will move on to look for other places to dine.

#4 – Consider Plastic Tubs

Plastic tubs are one of the best options for book storage in a garage. Of course, this is not as convenient for book access since they’ll be stacked in bins without the ease of access that a shelf offers. However, if you have some books that you want to keep but don’t need to access regularly, this is an ideal solution. Here are a few of the many benefits of using this technique.

It’s affordable

Plastic bins are easy to acquire and relatively inexpensive, so you can quickly build up a collection that can house your books and anything else you might need to store safely.

Make great use of space

Once loaded up, you can easily stack these tubs to get the most possible storage out of your available space. If possible, stick with one size and style of bin. This way, they nest nicely on top of one another and remain stable even if they get jostled around a bit.

Keep the books clean

Garages tend to be dirty and dusty, so putting your books in plastic bins with lids will keep them clean no matter how long they are stored. That way, when you are ready to use them again, you can pull down one of the bins and start reading immediately with no cleanup.

Critter defense

We mentioned the critter problem above, and bins are perhaps the best way to ensure that you don’t have any issues with rodents chewing on your books. With the books safely and soundly tucked away in a suitable plastic bin, mice and rats will be locked out, and you won’t have to worry about any surprise damage showing up later.

Tips for choosing the proper bins

If you use plastic bins for book storage, it’s essential to consider the weight factor in this equation. Books are heavy, especially when you gather them into boxes or storage bins. The best solution here is to choose relatively small containers so only a modest number of books fit in each one. That way, even a full bin won’t be too heavy to handle, and you can still move it around easily. On the other hand, if you opt for big containers, you might spend some time packing one up carefully – only to find that you can’t even lift it when you are finished.

Another note on plastic bins relates to the shelves you place them on after you pack them up. Again, it’s a weight issue here, as stacking up several plastic totes full of books on an old shelf could be a recipe for disaster. Always be sure that the shelves you are using are up to the challenge of the weight you add to them and consider simply stacking the bins on the floor if you don’t have strong enough shelving for this job.

#5 – Keep Light Low

You’d like to avoid exposing your books to too much direct, natural light. Unfortunately, when the sun beats down on your books, it can damage their condition and degrade them over time. So, books kept near the front of a garage with frequently open doors will be at risk of damage during the sunny parts of the year.

We mentioned how damp and dark conditions could be a recipe for mold growth in books, but it’s important to note that both conditions need to be present for mold to grow. So, there is no risk of storing your books in a dark place as long as it is sufficiently dry. Perhaps the best possible situation would be to have your books collected in plastic bins and then stored near the back of the garage, in a corner that rarely sees the light of day.

American Steel Has You Covered

We hope you enjoyed this guide on how to store books in the garage! It would be a shame to get rid of some of the books you’d like to keep just because you run out of storage room on your property, and a detached metal garage is an affordable and convenient solution to this problem.

Get in touch with American Steel Carports, Inc. today to get started on this exciting project! Or, if you’re looking for another solution to your book storage problems, read our blog on how to build a library shed.

Remember to explore our free Build & Price tool when you’re ready to start building your dream garage. Thanks for stopping by our blog; we hope to help you soon!

It’s hard to think of a more relaxing, peaceful place to spend time than a library. Whether you are looking for information or entertainment, a library has more than enough of both. But, of course, to get to your nearest library, you may need to take a long walk or even get in the car to drive to that physical location. So why not bring the library experience home?

By creating a library shed, you can start to compile your own collection of books that will always be just a few steps away. This is a more straightforward and affordable process than you might think at first, and we’ll discuss the necessary steps in the article below.

You’ll want something affordable, durable, and customizable for your backyard library. Those words accurately describe what we offer at American Steel Carports, Inc. Thanks to our Build & Price tool, it’s easy to design a shed that will serve your needs perfectly while fitting in the available spot on your property. Have questions? Just contact us, and we’ll be glad to work with you.

Start with the Books

Without books, you don’t have a library. So, the care of those books is where you’ll want to start when thinking about your new library shed. Adding a set of shelves to your shed will likely be the best bet for organizing and storing the books. You’ll want to ensure your shed design includes at least one long, uninterrupted wall that will make for a good spot for these shelves to stand.

In addition to some shelves where the books can live, you will also want to ensure the conditions inside the shed are suitable for paper books. Moisture is the enemy of paper, so a damp, shed environment will quickly lead to books that are falling apart and maybe even moldy.

You can take a few steps to avoid excessive moisture, including adding a window for ventilation or installing a dehumidifying unit that can run periodically to pull water out of the air. However, the latter option will require power, so keep in mind that this option will require electrical work, which will drive up the cost of your process. On the other hand, cordless humidifiers are a more affordable and convenient option.

Keep in mind that sheds made by American Steel come with a 20-year warranty from the date of completion of installation. However, this warranty is forfeited if the owner modifies structures. Therefore, we recommend moving forward with battery-powered dehumidifiers. We also offer options so your shed can be fully insulated to help regulate indoor temperatures.

Make it Functional

Collecting your books in a shed is a good starting point toward an enjoyable library space, but you still need somewhere to read the books in peace. So, consider adding a comfortable chair and a small table on the opposite side of the shed from the bookshelves. With a nice chair and a spot to set down your book – or a beverage – you’ll have everything necessary to enjoy reading in peace and quiet.

Additionally, the inside of a shed will be pretty dark, so adding light will be necessary. Of course, this is easier if you have electricity added, but you could opt for a battery-powered light source if no electricity is available. You can also add as many windows as you’d like to your design for more natural light.

Additional Comfort

Sheds are often cold, utilitarian spaces. That’s fine when it’s used for potting plants or storing a lawnmower, but it’s not exactly the vibe you are going for when building a library. So, consider taking other design steps to make this a more welcoming place to spend time. Here are a few options:

Bring in a rug

Adding a rug to the floor of your library shed will not only make it cozier but might also bring the temperature up a bit by providing a bit of insulation under your feet.

Cover the windows

If you add a window or two to the design of your shed – which is easy to do when you work with American Steel Carports, Inc. – you might want to find some curtains that can make the space feel more finished.

Artwork or other decorations

The focal point of a library will undoubtedly be the books, but you don’t have to stop there in terms of what you bring into the space. If you have any artwork or interior décor that you particularly like, add those elements around the shed to further the ambiance and make this place uniquely your own.

Start Your Project with American Steel

We hope you enjoyed this guide on how to build a library shed! Once completed, your new library shed will likely become one of your favorite places to spend time. Of course, we’d love to be a part of this process, so don’t hesitate to contact our team at American Steel—whether you are ready to get started or need more information.

Remember to explore our free Build & Price tool to discover the possibilities! Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog, and we hope to serve you soon.

When you think of growing plants, you think first of being outdoors. After all, the outdoors is the natural environment for plants to grow, as it needs to have access to the sun to go through the process of photosynthesis. But what if you could take the plants through that process indoors? Particularly in spring before the last frost. A whole new world of possibilities opens up when you grow your plants inside, and a shed can be the perfect structure to do just that. This article will explain some basic steps of building a shed to grow and care for plants.

When the time comes to order your shed, American Steel Carports, Inc. is the perfect partner for the project. We have been leaders in this industry for many years and have the reputation, quality products, and customer service to prove it. Start with our Build & Price tool, or contact us to ask any questions you may have. We hope to serve you soon!

Keep in mind that sheds made by American Steel come with a 20-year warranty from the date of completion of installation. However, this warranty is forfeited if the owner modifies structures. Therefore, we recommend moving forward with battery-powered grow lights for the colder months and then moving plants outdoors. We also offer options so your shed can be fully insulated to help regulate indoor temperatures.

Start with Sizing

Any shed you use for a grow room will need to be a suitable size for the task. Without enough space, you won’t be able to grow as many plants as you would like, and the project will be a disappointment. On the other hand, a bigger shed will take up more space on your property, so it’s a balancing act to choose the right size for your situation.

Only have room for a small shed? Not to worry – you can still create a small growing space that will serve you well as you prep your plants before spring’s last frost. One of the benefits of working with American Steel Carports, Inc. is how easy it is to customize our structures to suit what you need. Our team will help you finalize your order so that the shed you receive is ideal for your plans.

Addressing Electricity

For the average backyard shed, electricity is not required. If you plan to grow plants in this shed, however, the story is a little different – you will need to use a grow light to help your plants thrive, and those lights will need to be powered somewhere. Therefore, the shed will need to be wired for electricity as soon as possible. Or, you can simply opt for battery-powered grow lights and skip this involved process.

This is a job that should be left to a licensed electrician. Even if you are an avid DIYer, some jobs are better left to the pros – and this is one of them. You might want to reach out to some local electrical contractors to determine how much this work will cost. That way, you can add the cost to the price of the shed itself and know exactly how much this overall project will cost before you start.

Add Some Fans

Another piece of this puzzle – and another element that will demand electricity – is the fans you will need to control the air inside the shed. Due to the way plants use the air while they grow, you will need to have the ability to both move fresh air in and move stale air out regularly. The plants will struggle to stay healthy without moving air around, and the humidity inside the space will be consistently elevated. Of course, battery-powered fans are another option.

When you design your shed, keep in mind the need to move air around effectively. For example, adding some windows to the shed will open up spaces you can use to move air around with some fans – if you don’t add any windows and have just a single door for access, air management will be tricky.

Consider This Option

If you have the space available on your property for a more oversized shed than you need for growing plants, you might want to go ahead and build that big shed and then divide it into a couple of different sections. Then, in the plant growing space, you could add grow lights and create a controlled environment for the plants to thrive. Then, the rest of the area could be used for standard shed functions like storing yardwork equipment and other supplies.

You likely won’t want to grow all of your plants inside a shed. Of course, there is still something magical about tending to an outdoor garden, but there is no reason you can’t do both.

We hope you enjoyed this guide on how to build a shed for plants. Remember to explore our Build & Price tool, and reach out to American Steel Carports, Inc. when you are ready to start this shed project! Thanks for visiting our blog, and we hope to serve you soon!