Cars are expensive. Whether you buy new or used, a car is sure to set you back a significant sum of money. Given the investment you have to make to purchase a car, it’s important to do what you can to prolong the life of your car. With that in mind, we’d like to dive into a list of seven ideas to keep in mind when caring for your vehicle. 

Perhaps the most powerful idea you will find on the list below is to park your car in a covered spot. With shelter provided by American Steel Carports, Inc., you’ll be doing your vehicle a huge favor.

Read more

For many pieces of equipment, it’s the winter season that requires long-term storage. For a snowmobile, however, it’s just the opposite. This machine comes to life in the winter months, and it needs a safe, secure place to rest when summer rolls around and the snow melts away. In this article, we’ll discuss some of the basics of how to store your snowmobile over summer, so you can make sure your snowmobile is ready to go next season.

One of the best things you can do for your snowmobile during the summer is to park it under a roof. Leaving your machine out in the sun all summer long could take a toll. But American Steel Carports, Inc. has a variety of metal structures available—like metal garages, carports, and sheds—that would make perfect summer homes for your snowmobile. Read more

Adding a shed to your property is a great way to gain indoor storage space without taking up room in your house. Plus, by picking metal as the material of choice for that shed, you’ll get an affordable structure that should last for many years to come. However, moisture levels can be a problem inside metal sheds in some settings, so it’s important to think about this topic and how it can be resolved. Explore the top moisture control tips for metal sheds, below.

American Steel Carports, Inc. offers a variety of metal sheds that are affordable, durable, and completely customizable. Use our Build & Price tool to design your structure and receive and instant quote!

How Is Moisture Getting into the Shed?

If you’ve noticed moisture accumulating in a shed that you thought was sealed up properly, you may be confused as to where that water is coming from. In most cases, the problem isn’t a leak that’s allowing rain to get into the building. Rather, the problem is condensation.

When the air in your shed is warm and humid, it’s holding moisture that’s likely to be released when that air cools down. Cold air simply can’t hold as much moisture as warm air, so condensation is the inevitable result. While you can’t really do anything about the level of moisture in the air in your local climate, you can take some steps to limit how much condensation builds up inside of your metal structure.

Insulation is a Great Starting Point

Properly insulating your shed can go a long way toward reducing condensation. Without insulation, the temperature inside your shed will swing wildly from day to night, especially in climates with cool overnight temperatures. Those dramatic changes are going to make it more likely for significant amounts of condensation to develop and settle on the walls of your shed.

By correctly insulating those walls, as well as the roof, the temperature inside your shed will not change as much from day to night. It’s important to remember, however, that your insulation needs to be installed carefully to eliminate gaps and create a good seal between the outside and inside. Using quality insulation, and installing that insulation properly, is the most important thing you can do in the battle against condensation.

American Steel Carports offers Value 16 Insulation for your metal shed. This provides your unit with thermal, radiant, and vapor barrier protection. That means that you’ll have a cool, dry structure in the summer and a warm, dry structure in the winter! 

Build Your Shed

Plan Your Foundation Carefully

This point won’t do you much good if you already have a shed in place. However, those building a new shed should pay careful attention to how the ground is prepared for that new structure. A concrete slab is a great start, but you should also think about taking steps to stop moisture from coming up through that slab and adding humidity to your shed. A vapor barrier can do this job nicely, or you may choose to add a layer of gravel below the concrete to provide some separation from moisture in the ground.

On a related point, think about the location of your shed on your property and how its placement could affect humidity levels. For example, if you choose a low spot where water tends to gather after it rains, that area will have high local humidity than other spots on your property. Plus, there will almost certainly be more groundwater available to come up into the shed from below. Among other choices, picking the right spot for your shed can go a long way toward cutting down on condensation.

Allow Your Building to Breathe

Ventilation can play an important role in bringing down humidity levels, especially on hot summer days. At the very least, consider opening the door to your shed for a while during a cooler part of the day. This will allow some of the humid air to escape and will hopefully limit how much condensation is created.

When ordering a new shed, you can keep ventilation in mind as you customize the design of the building. For example, you may choose to add a window on each side of the shed. That way, you could open both windows for a period of time during the day to create airflow inside the building quickly and easily. If you’re going to supply power to your shed, you may also choose to use a portable air conditioning unit to cool down the interior and lower the humidity level.

Work With American Steel Carports, Inc.

We hope these moisture control tips for metal sheds assist you! At American Steel Carports, Inc., we take pride in being an industry leader in the metal shed market. With countless customization options, excellent customer service, and decades of experience, we believe that no one does it better. For a sturdy yet affordable shed that will serve your property well for years to come, reach out today to place an order. We are excited to serve you!

Build Your Shed

A garage is an ideal spot to store your belongings. There are very few limits to what can live in your garage, as long as the space is big enough for the items you have in mind. However, not everything is right for this environment, so it’s important to know what to store and not to store in your garage for safekeeping!

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

Starting with the Basics

As you likely know, there are plenty of items commonly associated with garage storage. Even if it’s a review, we need to briefly touch on these basic points on how your garage storage space can serve you and your family:

• Automotive storage. You can obviously store your vehicles in a garage, but it’s also a great place for the various pieces of equipment that may be related to your cars and trucks. For example, if you have some basics on hand like wiper fluid or engine oil, keeping these in the garage makes sense. Anything else you use in or on your vehicles can stay here as well, like attachments for camping.
• Seasonal items. Do you have a collection of holiday decorations or other items that only come out for a short time each year? Those are a natural choice for garage storage, as long as they are contained properly. Consider investing in some plastic totes or tubs with secure lids to hold these seasonal items until you take them out again next year.
• Landscaping equipment. The gear you use to maintain your yard and the rest of your property is another strong candidate for life in the garage. Consider setting aside part of your available garage space for things like a lawnmower, wheelbarrow, shovels, etc.

Everything listed above is a great pick for garage storage, but that list is only a start. Other items that are suitable for this environment include various pieces of sports equipment, tools, camping gear, bicycles, and much more. Depending on what you need to store and the size of your garage, you may need to get creative and think strategically to fit everything in the space.

Items to Avoid

Fortunately, most belongings can be stored just fine in the garage. With that said, there are still a few items that would probably be better served to live elsewhere, whether for safety reasons or for the health of the item itself.

The list below highlights some of the items you should not store in your garage: 

• Firewood. It might seem natural to stock up firewood in your garage as winter gets closer, but there are some unwanted side effects of this plan. Firewood will almost certainly bring a significant number of bugs and other little pests into your garage, from where it will be easier for them to access the inside of your home.
• Electronics. If you can avoid it, try not to store electronic equipment in your garage. Remember, your garage probably isn’t climate-controlled like the rest of your house, so the changing conditions could cause damage to the electronic components.
• Food. This category includes food that is meant for either human or pet consumption. Either way, you’ll be asking for trouble from any little critters that manage to squeeze their way into the garage. Find a place inside your house to store your food items so you don’t run into any unwanted trouble.
• Valuable items. Whether these belongings have monetary or emotional value, don’t keep anything in the garage that is particularly important to you and your family. The garage tends to be a little bit rougher than the rest of your home in terms of conditions and how it’s used. Valuables should stay inside if at all possible to protect their well-being.
• Propane tanks. Propane shouldn’t be stored in enclosed spaces, so find a spot outside (away from direct sunlight) where your tanks can be stored safely when not in use.

Work with American Steel Carports, Inc.

We hope you now know what to store and not to store in your garage! It’s hard to overestimate the importance of having plenty of functional storage space available for your belongings. Without the right storage, your home or business will soon become cluttered, and it will be hard to get tasks done. Make the most out of your current garage, or add a new garage with the help of American Steel Carports, Inc., to get organized once and for all!

Build Your Garage