We are in the dog days of summer and we are quickly approaching the fall season. There is one fall activity most families enjoy and that’s going to the pumpkin patch and picking pumpkins.  The kids are back in school and they are all talking about Halloween and the best pumpkin patch to go to and what costume they want for Halloween.  Pumpkins make great fall decorations, not only for Halloween but right up to Thanksgiving if you know how to keep them in good condition. But we all face the thorny issue of messy pumpkins on the porch before Halloween. So how do you preserve your pumpkins so you can actually enjoy them as decorations for a few weeks and maybe till Thanksgiving?

We have some ingenious tips for being able to enjoy your carved pumpkins for longer periods of time and uncarved pumpkins for even longer. No one wants to deal with a hollow, fly-invested, moldy pumpkin! So here are some tips that might help you enjoy your carved pumpkin longer.

Be Gentle with Your Pumpkins

To extend the life of your pumpkins, it’s best to handle them as little as possible. The only time you should touch your pumpkins is when you pick them, unload them to your home, clean it out and carve your pumpkins. Carry your pumpkin like a bag of groceries from the bottom and cradle it, don’t hold it by the stem. Broken pumpkin stems let in bacteria and start the aging process quicker.

The oil and bacteria from your hands can speed up the pumpkin decomposition process quickly. So only touch your pumpkins when you really need to. Washing your hands prior to touching or carrying your pumpkins will extend their longevity. Dropping, bruising, or fingernail scratches all start the rotting process quicker. In the best of all worlds, once carved place your pumpkin in its desired home for the season, and don’t touch it again.

Location Is Important

Most of us like to decorate our pathway or porch with pumpkins, but keep in mind how the sun hits your house and yard when finding the best placement for your carved pumpkins. Pumpkins enjoy a covered porch–a dry and shaded spot for the season. The extremes are what hasten the pumpkin decaying process; so, rain and sun are the pumpkin’s enemies for longevity. Too much sun will dry out your pumpkin, while moisture from rain can lead to mold and mush! So, a sheltered placement for your fall pumpkin decorations is best.

Pumpkin Guts

When you are cleaning out your pumpkins make sure the insides are completely dry and free of all seeds. We share a simple recipe below on how to make roasted homemade pumpkin seeds. Before starting to carve your pumpkins let the inside cavity dry out completely; moisture inside the pumpkin is the pumpkin’s enemy because moisture with air exposure from carving will lead to quicker rotting.

Easy Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe

When cleaning out your pumpkin prior to carving, scoop out all the pumpkin seeds and save them to a paper towel or newspaper.

1. Pick the seeds from the pumpkin pulp and put them into a large pot of boiling salted water and simmer for about 5 minutes. This will help remove the last of the pumpkin debris. This helps to clean the seeds really well.
2. Drain and rinse the seeds and pull away any debris and then let them dry on a paper towel-lined cookie sheet.
3. Toss your seeds with olive oil and seasonings of your choice.
4. Spread the seeds in one layer to roast. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
5. Stir your seeds at least once during the baking process for 15-25 minutes, till the pumpkin seeds are golden brown.
6. Cool your roasted pumpkin seeds and store them in an airtight container or sip lock bag. Roasted seeds are good for a couple of weeks at least after roasting.

We love roasted pumpkin seeds and they are good for you. This is a great project to do with your kids, it’s both easy and fun. We like using garlic, tamari, sea salt, and about any other spice, we love to make great-tasting pumpkin seeds. If you want a sweet treat, toss your pumpkin seeds with coconut oil and mix in sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Clean Your Pumpkins

Mix one part bleach and ten parts water in a large container or your bathtub if you have a lot of pumpkins to wash. Bathe your pumpkins in this solution for about two minutes. The pumpkin will tend to want to float so you need to make sure that it is rotated in the water bath so all sides have been covered.

Let the pumpkins dry completely in the spot you have chosen for their fall home. Be very sure the base and stem are very dry because this is where water tends to pool and not dry completely. You can also use the bath solution as a daily spray to keep bacteria from forming on your pumpkins and keeping them healthy, just make sure no water is pooling and they are dry at the end of the process.

Moisturize Your Pumpkin

I know, this starts to get confusing, first, we tell you to make sure your pumpkin is totally dry on the inside with no gut residue, and now we are telling you to moisturize your pumpkin. What gives? Carving pumpkins speeds up the decaying process, so best to do the first steps and have an un-carved pumpkin up until a week before Halloween, it gives your pumpkin the best chance of a hardy long life.

If you do decide to carve your pumpkins from the start rub-down the insides after carving with olive oil or coconut oil to moisturize them. Since both are oils, it’s best to use a battery-operated candle in your pumpkins since battery-operated candles produce less heat, they don’t speed up the pumpkin decaying process as much.

Keep Pests at Bay

Anything from fruit flies to a pesky raccoon family can mean a shorter life for your pumpkins! Put your pumpkins up on a porch, a hay bale, or a windowsill to keep squirrels and raccoons using your pumpkins as snack food. To keep fruit flies away, put out a saucer of wine next to your pumpkins or beer, the fruit flies are attracted to the liquid and die. The foolproof method is a large mason jar with punches made in the lid and wine or beer inside the mason jar. The fruit flies can get in, but they can’t get out.

Pumpkin Insurance Spray

This is a two-in-one remedy; use a peppermint-based spray for your pumpkins. Mix some peppermint liquid soap with peppermint essential oil. Peppermint has anti-fungal properties, plus both fruit flies and ants don’t like peppermint. The peppermint oil spray will keep your pumpkin soft and smooth when they begin to dry out, plus it’s a great natural pest deterrent.

You put a lot of time into finding the perfect pumpkin, carving it, and adding it to your fall decorations, the above tips will help ensure that your pumpkins have the longest life possible during our fall holiday season.

The post Great Pumpkin Keeping Secrets first appeared on Door.

The changing of the seasons is coming soon, leaves are turning and the days are getting shorter. Fall is a great time to do DIY projects, the days are still long and the weather hasn’t gotten really cold yet with rain or snow. We suggest some really good weekend fall DIY projects that are inexpensive and easy to do in a weekend or only a couple of hours.

Most everyone has a running repair list for their home, but we also wanted to add some fun DIY projects to your fall to-do list. We believe that having a home shouldn’t just be a chore or another job. So, get out your tools and maybe include your children in some of these projects and have fun with our suggestions below.

Entry Way Shoe Storage

Your house stays cleaner when people take their shoes off before entering your home. An entry hall or mud room shoe storage stool only takes s small sheet of 3/4 inch plywood, finishing nails, and some paint to create a great place to take off your shoes before entering the house. The beauty of making a handy stool to take off your shoes and store them is it can be multi-purpose. If you can sit down to take off your shoes you are much more likely to do so. Building a two-shelf shoe storage rack with a place to sit takes less than an hour to cut, nail, and paint.

Build a Boot or Shoe Scraper

Building a shoe or boot scrapper for your front porch is a simple and easy two-hour project that will help your house stay clean and keep your shoes and boots in better condition. Making a boot scraper just takes 2 x 2’s, we used redwood and a friend used pine, using whatever wood is easy to source in 2 x 2’s will do.

You will decide how wide you want to make your boot scraper, ours is 3 feet wide and about 2 feet deep. We first cut the horizontal 2 x 2’s and then we used a radial arm saw or if you are handy you could also use a circular saw to cut triangles into the length-wise pieces of wood. You want to make sure that the 2 x 2 slats are on end so the sharp edge is up, so it can scrap your boots or shoes. Pre-drill your horizontal slats and use screws to attach them from underneath. Once your project to put together we suggest finishing the wood with a good satin varnish so it looks good and wears well.

Time to Fix Loose Hinges

The most common reason interior doors or entry doors stick is with repeated opening and closing the hinges loosen up. Usually, the top hinge is the trouble since it bears most of the weight. It is very easy to tighten your hinge screws. If you have tightened them many times before they can tend to loosen up even quicker. The solution is one I learned from a friend that owned an old home. She would unscrew the screws for the hinge and then use part of a wooden toothpick inserted into the screw hole and then replace the screws, it’s a fast fix and works well.

Solving Sticking Sliding Patio Doors

As for those sliding patio doors that can seem to stick and you think you need a guerilla to open and close them, we have a solution for those too! Sometimes it is as simple as cleaning the sliding door track. We use a glass cleaner and we cut the sponge to fit the tracks to clean the track and then an old wire coat hanger is inserted under the sliding door to help pull out any dirt, debris, or dog hair. If you do this on both sides of the sliding glass door it works well.

If you have a more stubborn problem that isn’t resolved with this method you may want to adjust your sliding glass door. This takes an Allen wrench or screwdriver and some patience. First, lift or lower the door on the track with your tools, raise it enough to clear the track, and roll smoothly. Then locate your two adjusting screws at the bottom of the door and pry off the trim caps that cover the screws. If one side looks lower, raise it until the door looks even in the tracks. If the door still sticks, turn both screws a quarter turn to raise the entire sliding glass door. Make sure your door is even and rolling smoothly and then replace the caps.

Create A Dried Leaf Fence

This is a great project that serves many purposes. It’s a great use of fall’s dried leaves and field fencing. A simple task of using two pieces of field fencing about two-four inches apart horizontally, stretching them between fence stakes, and then filling them with dried leaves. It recycles dried leaves and provides a great privacy barrier between neighbors or the street and your house. I have seen this between neighbors at 6 feet tall and as a low fence for decorative purposes in the front yard at 3-4 feet tall. It’s beautiful, economical, and a simple way to add an environmentally positive fence to your yard.

Create A Fall Wreath

Making a fall wreath is a wonderful project to do with your children. Gathering fall leaves, dried twigs, and fall dried flowers and fashioning them into a beautiful wreath for your front door is a fun project. You can dry hydrangeas, roses, sunflowers, or statice, or go to a craft store and buy dried or artificial flowers.

The easiest way for the beginner is to use a dried mesh wreath and a cold glue gun to attach the flowers and leaves to the mesh wreath. If you want to see what it will look like before you glue everything together, you can use large dressmaker pins to attach a sample of dried materials to the wreath. When you are happy with the look you have achieved you can then glue gun the leaves, flowers, and dried fruit to the mesh wreath. Fall wreaths make for a beautiful entrance door and a wonderful way to welcome friends and family to your home in the fall.

Have a fabulous fall and enjoy the cooler weather for getting projects done. We are here for you for all your small building needs, from windows to cupolas, flower boxes to hinges, with a selection of products for small outdoor buildings you won’t find anywhere else at prices that beat many big box stores.

The post 6 Easy Weekend Fall DIY Projects first appeared on Door.

Building a multi-purpose shed has many advantages. One of the first benefits is lowering building costs. If an outdoor shed can serve many purposes instead of building an outdoor building for each purpose you have cut your building costs drastically. Having a multi-purpose shed in your backyard gives you many options for use and expands your outdoor space. Think of an office shed that also doubles as a guest shed, a tool shed that can double as a greenhouse shed, or a pool cabana that can double as both an office shed and a guest shed. All it takes is a little pre-planning if you are building from scratch or even if your outdoor shed is already built it’s possible to create a multi-purpose shed with a few strategic changes.

Give Yourself Options When Building

Giving yourself options when building your outdoor building saves you money down the road and allows you to build for multi-purpose uses from the beginning. I like to suggest installing rough plumbing and electrical when building your outdoor building no matter what its intended use from the beginning. Having rough plumbing and electrical in place will save you so much money down the road if you consider using your outdoor building for anything other than a tool shed. It’s a wise investment that will pay dividends in possible resale value too.

Expand Interior Shed Space with Wall Height

This suggestion only works if you are building an outdoor shed, but it creates so many more possibilities we want to mention it here. Instead of 8-foot ceilings, go for 10-12-foot ceilings. The difference that 2-4 feet of wall space can make is tremendous in a small space. With 12-foot ceilings, you can also install a loft for storage or sleeping which opens up other possibilities for your outdoor shed. Also, having 12-foot ceilings makes your small space seem so much roomy and gives you lots of storage options at the same time.

Expand Shed Space with Window Placement

If you are building from scratch and not remodeling an outdoor shed, window placement is an easy way to expand the interior space of your outdoor shed. Since space inside a 10 x 12-foot shed is limited, you want to make the most use of the space you have and window placement is a great way to achieve this. If you place your windows to start at the 5-foot height you have gained wall space on that wall. In tiny spaces, if you put one traditional window placement at 3 feet to see outside and your view but then place your other windows at 5 feet and above, you have gained a lot of valuable wall space in a small area.

Building An Office Shed and Guest Shed Building

An office shed and guest shed build is probably one of the easiest multi-purpose builds to achieve. Take advantage of our wall height ideas and window placement ideas to start with and then expand your space with these ideas. The first piece of furniture I would buy for an office shed/guest shed building would be a convertible couch that could double as a bed. If you don’t want to take up the space with a couch for your office think of buying a Murphy wall bed with bookcases on each side or above to save even more space. A Murphy bed takes up minimal space and gives you great options for storage at the same time.

Building A Pool Cabana and Guest Shed Building

When building your pool cabana keep in mind both wall height and window placement if you are using it as a guest shed also. We suggest making the wall facing the pool either a slider barn door or using a large patio sliding door to open up the space while making use of the view of the pool. If you want your cabana to double as an entertainment room, cabana, and guest house, you can install a Murphy bed, so the space can accommodate a pool table, foosball, or an air hockey table with room to spare.

Building a Greenhouse and Tool Shed Building

Converting or building a multi-purpose greenhouse and tool shed is a simple build or conversion. If building from scratch installing glass inserts on one side of the roof will allow for a great greenhouse with ample room on the other side for tool storage.  If you are converting a tool shed to double as a greenhouse you can install multiple skylights on one side of the roof to provide ample light for your plant starts. If you are using a tool shed as a greenhouse be sure to install gable louver vents that open and close to help regulate the temperature. We have shade cloth on suction cups that we put up on the greenhouse side when the weather gets too hot to help regulate the indoor temperature of the greenhouse. Installing windows in your tool shed from the beginning on facing walls helps you ventilate your tool shed but also allows for ventilation if you decide to multi-purpose your tool shed for a greenhouse.

Building Storage Into Your Multi-Purpose Shed

Starting with the end in mind when building your outdoor building saves money in the long run. In a small space, storage is king, and finding ways to incorporate extra storage into your build no matter what purpose you choose to build for is good planning. Making good use of wall space without infringing on floor space helps maximize storage in a small space. So, we advocate for tall ceilings so you can build in a loft for storage or sleeping if your multi-purpose shed is to be used as a guest shed too! Secondly, putting your shelving up high near the top of your wall helps free up wall space and creates a cottage look that can store everything from books to extra bedding.

Additional Tips for Maximizing Space

Also, to maximize space keep your lighting in the ceiling and off the floor. Can lights work, but LED directional ceiling lighting helps you get light where you need it most and it’s versatile and easy to install. Keep your flooring choice in mind when building a multi-purpose shed, lean towards what use your shed will have most and above all else keep it easy to clean. Tile works well for office sheds, guest sheds, and cabana builds multi-purpose sheds because it can take lots of traffic and cleans up well.

If you are wanting a mini kitchen in your office shed or guest shed, keep in mind a rolling multi-level cart that can handle multiple small appliances. Also, for all the multi-purpose builds except a tool shed we suggest a mini-refrigerator or mobile bar, now both of these items come on wheels and are portable. The beauty of a mobile refrigerator is it can be a great fit for your guest shed but can also go camping with you since vehicle charging compatible.

At Shed Windows and More we have an amazing selection of shed windows, hardware, and shed accessories to help you create the DIY outdoor building of your dreams. Thinking multi-purpose when it comes to building your outdoor building gives it greater use for fewer dollars and extends its longevity while adding value to your home.

The post Benefits of Building A Multi-Purpose Shed first appeared on Door.

Unless you have installed solar for your home in the last few years, you have seen your utility bill continue to rise. We know that utility bills impact everyone and thought it would be good to share some great hints we have incorporated into our homes over the last few years as energy savings solutions.  We like to think of solutions for our clients, so we share with you today some easy and inexpensive ways to cool your home this summer and lower your utility bill at the same time!

Stop Heat Before It Enters Your Home

A good idea to keep your home cooler this summer is to keep heat from getting into your home in the beginning. We will discuss how to cool your home from the outside first and then share some indoor cooling ideas for this summer. For each of these ideas, we have made sure they were inexpensive, cost-effective, and simple to accomplish. Most of these home cooling ideas are quick fixes, but we also share a couple of long-term solutions also for keeping your home cooler during the summer months also.

Outdoor Blinds Help Cool Your Home

Outdoor blinds can help keep heat and sun from entering your home, which helps so much in keeping your home cooler during the summer months. You can choose inexpensive bamboo blinds which can last a couple of seasons or you can invest in roller shades that are more expensive.  We are in our fifth year of wear on our roller shades and we have south-facing windows that get blasted with heat, great in the winter, but horrid in the summer without window protection. Blackout roller shades are one of the most complete solutions to keeping the sun out of your home. Blackout roller shades provide insulation between the sun and your window and allow no sun to enter your home. Our blackout roller shades for three windows were about $250, but they have lasted four years and still going strong, prices have come down dramatically, and they are now available on Amazon and other online retailers.

Shade Your Skylights with Covers

Outdoor skylight covers have been one of the best purchases we’ve ever made. Five years ago, we bought outdoor insulated elasticized skylight covers for our four-foot skylights that are over our kitchen. These are great skylights, they provide a lot of light during the winter and spring, but during the summer they literally bake our house. We bought a pair of elasticized skylight covers that are so easy to install on our skylights and then store for the rest of the year in the garage. This will be their sixth year and they are still going strong for about a $200 investment, even if they just made it through this year cost would be $33 a year, and a much cooler home during the summer months.

Indoor Skylight Covers for Hard to Reach Skylights

If your skylights that are hard to access by roof access because you have a very steep roof, indoor skylight covers are ta great solution. Two years ago, we found thermally insulated skylight covers on Amazon that are held in place with suction cups. We have a 10/12 roof, very steep, so these are applied on the inside of the skylight and we can install them on four skylights in about 10 minutes. What a difference this has made to my upstairs office during the summer, it’s dropped the temperature dramatically and lowered our utility costs!

Window Film to Block the Sun

Indoor room darkening window film has been a game-changer in our home. We have beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows that don’t lend themselves to shades and indoor room darkening window film has kept our living room cool during the summer. Our living room faces the southwest and gets a lot of sun, which is great in cooler months, but in the summer it bakes our living room and it heats up our house. We use dark gray window film, but if you want to really reflect the heat you can buy outdoor one-way sun-blocking UV effective window film to do the job.

Blackout Curtains to Keep Your Home Cool

If you don’t stop heat from the outside you can still effectively cool your home down by using thermal insulated blackout curtains on your windows. The prices have come down so much making these an attractive way to reduce summer heat in any room in your home. Thermal Insulated curtains also help keep heat in during the winter, so they are a great year-round solution to lower your utility bills. They are available at many online retailers at amazingly low prices. I have an open-air loft office that opens to a stairwell. I used indoor blackout curtains to seal off the room from the stairwell causing cooled air to escape, it has been a game-changer during the summer in keeping my office cool during the heat of the day.

Save Money With Portable Air Conditioners

Many people have whole-house air conditioning systems to cool their homes. Cooling your entire home when you live mainly in one or two rooms most of the day is costly. We invested in a portable air conditioner and then bought two more portable air conditioners with heat exhaust through the window. We have these in our living room, bedroom, and office and they make a huge difference in the temperature of the whole house, but especially these rooms at a cost that is very reasonable for how long they last. We bought the first one 6 years ago and with yearly cleaning of the unit, it is still going strong.

Awnings Add Style & Help Cool Your Home

Awnings add style to your home and also provide heat reduction by shading windows from the sun. Window awnings come in both stationary and retractable. Stationary awnings sometimes need to be taken down after the summer if you live in a high wind area, whereas retractable awnings can stay installed year-round. Retractable awnings pricing has greatly reduced over the years, making them an affordable way to protect your windows from the sun and lower the heat retained by your home while helping to reduce utility bills.

Gable Vents & Attic Fans Cool Your Home

Most homes have gable vents and access to the crawl space above their home, so installing an attic fan is pretty simple. A whole house attic fan or a solar attic fan can be a great year-round solution to keeping your home cooler during the summer and warmer during the winter. Traditional attic fans cost under $100 and solar attic fans cost in the $300 range. This solution takes a bit more work but you are rewarded with year-round savings on your utility bill and a more comfortable home year-round.

Many of the home finishing products we sell through our sister company Home Design Extras. From columns to gable vents, window shutters to gable brackets, we provide the finishing extras that can help transform a home remodel or add that special extra touch when you are building a new home. We are wishing you a wonderful summer from all of us at Shed Windows and More, stay cool and we hope these cooling tips help your lower your utility bills.

The post Keep Cool This Summer & Lower Utility Costs first appeared on Door.

Summer is quickly approaching and temperatures are starting to rise. This is a great time to think about DIY projects that are easy, inexpensive, and add fun and relaxation to your backyard. We are sharing some of our favorite ideas that would only take a day to a weekend to complete that can add a lot to your outdoor pleasure this summer and year-round to your home and backyard!

Building Backyard Project that Provides Fun & Relaxation

We will give you some great DIY backyard building ideas to inspire you to have fun and relax in your own backyard. So many of our suggestions will make your home the destination place in the neighborhood for kids and adults alike! Each one of our suggestions we vetted with these things in mind: is it easy, does it create fun or relaxation, can it be built in a day or weekend, and is the project inexpensive to not too costly to build.

Add Solar or LED Lighting to Your Backyard

Solar lights are so convenient and have come so far over the last years. The cost has come down and lighting time has increased along with the intensity of light.

You can use solar outdoor lights to light a pathway, use solar lights as deck lights, or use solar lights as accent lights in your yard to highlight a beautiful tree or fountain.

There are so many ways to use outdoor lights that can totally transform a backyard into an oasis of calm and enjoyment. Whether you are using LED large bulb lights, mini-lights, or solar path lights, the options are amazing these days in selection and applications. In under an hour, you can transform the look of your patio, deck, or an entire backyard with the lighting options that are available today.

Stringing mini lights that are battery power under your patio umbrella creates a beautiful atmosphere to dine by or laze away in the evening. You can totally transform your backyard into a wonderland by stringing mini lights through the trees. Think of installing a swing in your trees that even adults can enjoy and looking up into the canopy to see the leaves and branches highlighted against the night sky.

Create Your Own Outdoor Movie Theatre

An outdoor movie theatre is something you wouldn’t have been able to build until a few years ago without a sizable investment. Technology has come so far along that this project is not only simple but is also pretty inexpensive for what you get. I think it would be so much fun sitting back on an outdoor sofa, eating popcorn with the kids, and watching some of our favorite movies this summer in our backyard. Roll down screens, outdoor speaker units, an outdoor sofa, and maybe a fire pit, and you instantly have transformed your backyard into a nighttime entertainment area!

Outdoor Showers & Bathtubs Are So Relaxing

Hot tubs can be expensive, but installing an outdoor shower is very simple and not costly. Erect a privacy screen out of latticework, plant some ivy, run your plumbing, and you have a wonderful outdoor shower. The first time I took a bath in an outdoor bathtub was up in mountains, the view was amazing, but being outdoor soaking in a tub was so relaxing and serene!

Some of the same preparation is needed, unless you live in an area where no neighbors can see your yard, you’ll want to erect a privacy screen, but the rewards of an outdoor tub are worth the work. The best tub for an outdoor bathtub is an old steel clawfoot tub which can be picked up at most antique stores or building salvage yards. You can also install a showerhead so that it serves as an outdoor shower and also a bathtub!

Build a Gazebo This Summer

There are so many different styles of gazebos, from rustic to very formal gazebos that would fit in an English tea garden. Gazebos can be very simple and a one-weekend project, to a more elaborate project that takes a few weekends. You can build bench seating into your gazebo, outfit it with a hammock, or hanging swing, or use it for a place to dine in the heat of the day and at night with lights strung from the rafters for a magical effect. Gazebos also add value to your home and make for an inviting backyard to enjoy any time of year.

Build a Tree Bench

Each day on my walk with my older dog we go by a property with towering trees and the most beautiful bench that is made out of two tree stumps and then a tree slab as the bench. The two stumps support the tree slab and the whole setting looks so relaxing and the best place to meditate or read a book. A simple and nearly no-cost project that you can add to your backyard landscaping to create a quiet spot to relax and enjoy your backyard.

Build an Outdoor Fire Pit

There is nothing like gathering around a fire as the evening cools down to enjoy the evening with family and friends. You can always buy a ready-made fire pit or outdoor fireplace, but it’s fun to repurpose items that can be used for an outdoor fire interest in your backyard also!  You can use an old fountain top, build your own with paver stones or bricks, old tire rims work, an old wheelbarrow bin, or a steel wok. a cast-iron pot, an old washing machine drum, and so many more items that can be used once again as the basis for your backyard fire pit. We suggest for any fire pit that you also have a heavy-duty wire that covers the fire so sparks are kept from causing a problem. Think of spending an evening at your fire pit roasting marshmallows with the kids and making smores. There’s no better fun to be had with your kids on a summer evening!

For shed accessories, gate hardware, and shed windows, look no further than Shed Windows and More for the best quality at competitive prices, in sizes that are hard to find at hardware stores. Have fun this summer building, we would love to see photos of your finished projects, you inspire us!

The post Adding Fun to Your Backyard with Summer DIY Projects first appeared on Door.

Building materials just keep going up in price, so building a playhouse that is convertible or can be repurposed is a great way to extend the longevity of your building project. Converting your children’s playhouse after they have outgrown that period in their life to a good-looking chicken coop gives you years more use for your cost of building materials and DIY project time.

Repurposing your children’s playhouse also makes good ecological sense, we believe if something can be used again, don’t throw it out to end up in the landfill. If you build your children’s playhouse with repurposing in mind to a chicken coop later this process is even easier. You would build the playhouse with awning windows instead of vertical or horizontal windows, this way the windows don’t need to be removed from the playhouse to convert it to a chicken coop.

The Playhouse to Chicken Coop Conversion Process

Most children’s playhouses can be converted into a chicken coop pretty easily. Also, most playhouses are at least 6 feet x 8 feet and will convert to a chicken coop that would house between 12 to 15 laying hens. You don’t need to have that many hens, but that is the capacity of most children’s playhouses when converted to chicken coops. Built with this idea or not, the process of converting a playhouse to a chicken coop is a pretty easy project.

Chickens are easy to take care of and produce a lot of eggs. Eggs at what they cost today if you have a growing family can be a chunk of money each week at the grocery store, especially for organic brown eggs without antibiotics. So, planning before you start converting your children’s playhouse to a chicken coop is a good task with what your chickens will need and the components of your new chicken coop.

Chicken Coop Functions:

• Security form predators
• Protection from weather and a stable indoor temperature
• Clean water access
• Food access that can’t be contaminated
• A place to sleep or roost at night
• A convenient place for your hens to lay eggs and for you to gather them each morning

Chicken Coop Parts:

• Starting with a playhouse you probably have the beginnings of a predator-poof henhouse
• A feeder for their food that is automatic
• Water source
• A place for your hens can roost
• Simple nesting boxes
• Feed storage that is accessible from outside
• Outdoor protected chicken run
• Windows for light and ventilation-awning windows are great
• Doors-tiny for your hens and a larger door for your access

Converting a Playhouse to a Chicken Coop

Let’s start with door access for you and your chickens. Your children’s front door to their playhouse is usually not adult height and is a great place to start with your conversion.

1. The previous front door to the playhouse will become the chicken’s opening to the chicken run. You need to remove the front door from the playhouse and install a slatted wood walkway down to the ground level for your hens to access their outdoor run.
2. Most playhouses have at least two windows for ventilation, we are going to keep one of them for a new chicken coop window. Hopefully, you have awning windows installed in your children’s playhouse, if not this is the time to uninstall all playhouse windows and install one awning window for ventilation.
3. If your playhouse has more than side windows, but also back and front windows, you will be converting the back window into an adult-size entrance to the chicken coop. The front windows can be taken out and you may install awning windows for light and ventilation.
4. The second window when removed and will start to provide access to the laying boxes. you will need to cut into your framing and remove the framing for the window to extend the access to the side of your chicken coop to be at least 6 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall.
5. After cutting the access area on the side of the coop and framing it for strength, you will install a piece of T-1-11 or suitable outdoor wood no thicker than a half-inch. You will cut your board so it covers the access area and allows enough leeway to cover it completely and install hinges on top with hooks to hold the door open and a clasp at the bottom of the door to make sure it is predator-proof from the outside.
6. You can easily create a nesting boxes area by framing a platform inside your chicken coop in alignment with your outside access door the length of your chicken coop and about 2 feet wide. You should allow enough room for at least 4 laying boxes.
7. Laying boxes can be as simple as plastic bins, such as Rubbermaid plastic tubs filled with straw and easily cleaned out on a regular basis.
8. You may repurpose an old wooden ladder for a roost for your hens inside the chicken coop, just cut it to size to run the length of the chicken coop on the opposite side as the laying box area.
9. Now it’s time to install your adult-size access door on the back of the coop for cleaning and storing purposes. You can buy a pre-hung door with just needing to cut the door area and frame to install the access door.
10. If your children’s playhouse had a loft your can repurpose it for storing chicken food, otherwise, you will want to create an area inside the back adult-size access door that is predator-proof and keeps the chickens away from the grain for storage.
11. A good way to supply water is with an old-fashioned gravity-fed poultry waterer or there are now reasonably priced automatic water feeders that are simple to install to keep a continuous supply of freshwater for your chickens. If you live in an area that freezes in the winter the gravity-fed waterer may be easier than protecting the hose that feeds the automatic watering system.
12. Galvanized hanging feeders that are automatic stay the cleanest, but if you want a low-tech version a plastic hanging feeder works well. Hanging feeders are best for chickens because they can’t poop in their food and their watering system if tipped over doesn’t get their food wet.
13. The next chore is laying straw on the floor of the chicken coop which you can recycle into compost if you use rice straw instead of conventional hay.
14. You want to build your outdoor chicken run. Using field fencing is best for the fencing part, stretched tight and using ground anchors to firmly attach the field fence to the ground so predators are kept away.
15. Using chicken wire stretched tight over the top of your chicken run enclosure keeps both flying and climbing predators out of your chicken coop.

We would love to see your finished playhouse to chicken coop conversion photos. You can count on Shed Windows and More for doors, windows, cupolas, and more for your playhouse to chicken coop conversion.

The post Playhouse to Chicken Coop Conversions Made Easy first appeared on Door.

If you have gone to the gas station or grocery store in the last couple of weeks, you might be having sticker shock. You, like many people, probably have been wondering how do you hedge inflation? We could go into a lengthy financial breakdown that would address all your financial needs, but we are going to keep it simple. Most families are feeling inflation the most at the grocery store, especially if you have a growing or large family and we provide some solutions today.

We have been here before as a nation and many times in rougher places with inflation high and unemployment high also. Right now, we have growing inflation but one of the lowest unemployment rates in decades. So, that is the good news, but that doesn’t help your wallet at the grocery store. We are going to give you some great tips about how to beat back inflation at the grocery store today.

Bust Food Cost Inflation with Leftovers

Most of us have good intentions when we go shopping each week, that we will use everything we have bought and not waste any food. This is easier said than done with work, family, and so many responsibilities that demand your attention. Food waste is a huge problem for the environment and I know many of you compost, but wouldn’t it be great for your family’s food budget if you didn’t waste any food each week?

I know many of us have memories from childhood of meals made from leftovers that tasted really bad, this could cause an aversion to using leftovers for cooking! You can be very creative with leftovers and if actually spark creativity and save you money each week at the grocery store. We are going to show you how to get creative with leftovers!  I write recipes for some of our clients, so using leftovers from a meal to create another tasty meal is a creative endeavor for me and fun!

Delicious Meals From Leftovers

If you are ready to start lowering your food costs and you also want to stop wasting food, read on. The tips we share with you today will not only stop food wastage for your family, but it will also help you reduce your food costs substantially! With food costs going up at crazy levels, the timing couldn’t be better for how to creatively use leftovers. I’ve put together a list of great ways to use leftovers but also some not-so-common facts on how to store food so that it extends the shelf life of the food you have bought.

I hope to motivate you to cook some mouth-watering meals with recipes for some really good meals, from French Toast to one of the best calzones you will taste this side of Italy! I suggest taking this on as a creative task, having fun with it, making it like a game to save money, taking notes about what works and what doesn’t, and what your family’s favorite meals have been from your stash of leftovers. Let the savings begin!

Leftover Bread Tips

Bread is something we all have on hand for our families, Sometimes the bread you have on hand gets ahead of you and we share some great ideas of what to do with leftover bread below:

• Make croutons out of leftover sourdough bread.
• Use any leftover bread as an extender for meatloaf.
• Did you know that you can freshen leftover sourdough bread by spritzing it with a little bit of water and then putting it in a low-temperature oven for 10-15 minutes?
• Put any kind of leftover bread except bread with fruit or nuts in a food processor and make your own breadcrumbs. You can always add your special mix of seasonings to your breadcrumb mix also.
• A few day-olds French bread makes for great crostini, since it is toasted very well and slathered with your favorite fixings, it will come out just fine and make for a wonderful appetizer or companion to soup.
• Try your hand at making bread pudding, it’s especially yummy on these cold winter days for dessert or a special treat for breakfast.
• Make French Toast and from bread that is going stale, especially sourdough bread for a really good breakfast or a dinner if you make Monte Cristo sandwiches.

Leftover Cheese Tips

Kids and adults love cheese, but sometimes you have cheese that is getting near its pull date and we give you some really good ideas on how to use leftover cheese below:

• Fondue is a great way to use up leftover cheese and kids love fondue young and old. There are many varieties of cheese that make tasty fondue, you just want to choose easy melting versions, such as swiss, gouda, Gruyere, Fontina, or Cheddar.
• Make up a batch of macaroni and cheese, either the stovetop version or the baked version.
• Make twice-baked stuffed potatoes with leftover cheese and vegetables nearing their pull date.
• Avocado and grilled cheese sandwiches are filled with protein and are a great way to use up leftover cheese.
• Make eggs au gratin or any vegetable mixture with an au gratin sauce, it’s a great way to get picky eaters to eat veggies.
• Make a batch of blended cheeses, the French call it Fromage Fort, try blending your leftover cheeses with garlic, wine, and your best-loved herbs for a flavorful cheese spread.

Leftover Ham, Turkey or Chicken Tips

If you make a large meal on the weekend, baking a ham, chicken, or turkey it’s so simple to use the leftovers during the week to make some wonderful meals. We give you some good ideas below as to what to do with leftover ham, turkey, or chicken:

• Make chicken or turkey tortillas soup, it’s also a great way to get rid of extra tortilla chips before their pull date.
• Make your favorite chicken or turkey soup recipe using leftover cuts from your meal or submerge the whole chicken or turkey in a big stockpot and let the boiling water do the job of removing the last of the meat from the bones plus giving you a really hardy base stock for your soup.
• Make chicken, turkey, or ham sandwiches. Our kids love leftover chicken, turkey, or ham sandwiches.
• Make chicken or turkey enchiladas, this is one of our favorite use of leftovers any time and they freeze so well.
• Make breakfast burritos from your leftover meat or burritos for lunch or dinner. Our kids feel any meal is a great time for burritos and it really lets you use leftover meat effectively.
• Make a stir-fry with your leftover meat and use up some of your leftover vegetables at the same time.
• Make a batch of sushi, a great way to use leftover rice and vegetables.
• Make chili with your leftover chicken or turkey.
• Leftover ham makes a great addition to mac and cheese and really increases the protein in the dish.
• Break out the lentils or split peas and make a great soup with leftover ham.

Leftover Rice Tips

I don’t know about you, but many times I over calculate how much rice I need for a side dish and then I’m left with lots of leftover rice. Here are some tasty ideas to put your leftover rice to good use:

• One of my kid’s favorite breakfasts is rice crullers. Rice crullers are a southern breakfast treat made from leftover rice. Since rice is one of the main ingredients you can use up a lot of rice this way and make a breakfast treat that everyone will love.
• Make rice pudding, you can use up both white and brown rice this way. You can make your rice pudding without sugar by using maple syrup or honey as the sweetener.
• Vegetable fried rice uses up not only your leftover rice but also can make a clean sweep of your refrigerator of any vegetables that are nearing their end of life
• Chicken or turkey and rice soup is a winter favorite and uses both your leftover meat and rice in one great filling soup.
• Brown rice burgers not only taste good, but they are good for you.  These are great warm or cold used in sandwiches after the fact and use a huge amount of leftover brown rice and they are good and good for you!

Leftover Vegetable Tips

Leftover vegetables or vegetables nearing their end of life in your refrigerator can be used for a number of great-tasting meals. Plus, we give you some storage ideas about avocados that you probably haven’t heard before below:

• Did you know that you can freeze avocados? I didn’t know this till recently even though I have cooked for years. When you don’t think you’ll be able to use your avocados, remove the pulp from your avocados and put it in a bowl, use an ice cream scoop to scoop up your avocado and put it on a cookies sheet, put it in your freezer till the avocado balls are firm, and then decant to a plastic bag for storage. Your avocados won’t turn brown and you can use the mixture when you need it with only a few minutes out on the countertop to be able to use the avocado in a number of dishes or on sandwiches.
• Make a vegetable smoothie from your leftover vegetables. Just add your favorite liquid, maybe a frozen banana, throw in some berries, and protein powder if you wish, and you have a great-tasting and nutritious smoothie.
• Make vegetable soup. Such a tasty soup and it uses up your leftover vegetables and gives them new life in a soup that warms you up.
• I made my first spinach enchiladas this last week because I needed to use up spinach before the pull date and they were so good! So, give vegetable enchiladas a try for using up leftover vegetables even if you aren’t a vegetarian.

We understand you know Shed Windows and More as a building supply company for home hobbyists, DIY builders, and small construction companies, but we are also a company of families like yours that work on tackling inflation for our family’s wellbeing. You can always count on us for great customer service and fair prices for your building needs but we will also throw in some good content from time to time to address larger issues we are all facing to try to help you out. For us at Shed Windows and More, it’s all about community and working together!

The post How Your Family Can Beat Inflation first appeared on Door.

Why would you want to become energy self-sufficient? I can think of s number of reasons why you might want to become energy self-sufficient. First, in the long haul having your home energy self-sufficient or more so, saves money. Secondly, being energy self-sufficient helps the environment. Thirdly, when storms hit and your power goes down, your home still has power.

There are many ways to become more energy self-sufficient and give your pocketbook and the environment a break. In becoming more energy self-sufficient you are lowering your need for outside sources for power and garbage while depending on the earth’s natural resources to help power your home.

A self-sustaining home doesn’t need to mean that you live off the grid completely, but that you are creating a way to supply your own energy, water, food, garbage, and sewage removal. Having an energy self-sufficient home allows you to be more financially independent and allows you to have built-in preparations when storms hit.

Energy Self-Sufficiency Doesn’t Need to Be Expensive

It is possible to become more energy self-sufficient in phases, you don’t need to do everything at once unless that’s in your budget. We will outline some ideas about systems that can be built in phases to help your home or farm become more energy self-sufficient. Self-sufficiency needn’t be expensive, but it does take an investment in time, money, and changing a few habits along the way.

It’s important to start with the simplest of tasks and then scale from there. Take on a new project, see it to finish and then acclimate to the changes and then take on your next project. This way both money-wise, time and energy are used best, and it allows your family to get used to new behavior a step at a time. Many of these projects can be family projects, especially with older children.

Let’s Reduce Garbage Pickup or Dump Runs with Composting

Composting is a fast and easy way to reduce your garbage fees on a monthly basis or how many times you do dump runs. We wrote an excellent article on Fast & Easy Composting that I would read so that you can start building a simple compost situation for your family. The rewards are that you have less waste going into the garbage and reap the benefit of rich compost for your garden.

Grow Your Own Food

There are so many articles and books on food self-sufficiency and growing your own food. We even wrote a great article about starting a backyard vegetable garden during COVID-19, called Growing Your Own Food, which gives you some great pointers. Growing your own food not only makes you more self-sufficient but it cuts down on your grocery bill each week and it’s been proven that vegetables that kids grow they’re more likely to eat!

Install Well Solar Power

Even with installing solar power, you can take your solar projects on in stages.  You can start small with just a solar unit for your well. Solar-powered water well units are an easier installation process and allow you to have water even when the power goes down in a storm. There are many reputable companies in the United States that manufacture units ranging in price from $1,699 to $2,599.

The kits include solar panels, centrifugal pump, pump controller, hose clamps, low water sensor, tank shut-off, solar panel connectors, wire splice kit, and detailed step-by-step instructions that take you through the entire installation process. Just think, no more hauling generators, gas, and noise, just a self-sufficient water supply!

Solar Power Your Home

Switching to renewable energy for your home with solar may seem expensive at first, but the cost-benefit over time is amazing! With energy costs going up each year and your utility bill with it, installing solar power for your home saves you so much money. If you want to start small, start with solar hot water, since heating water is one of the everyday tasks that are a substantial part of your utility bill.

Solar power really makes sense on so many levels, especially with many states still giving good incentives to install solar. Many companies are able to offer you a loan that would be m=no more than your current power bill each month for a complete system. If you want to install solar as a DIY project, be sure to have a good electrical background, get permits, and rely on good sources for your materials.

Backup batteries have come so far, including the Tesla Powerwall. Many programs for Tesla systems are all over the United States and require $0 down for qualified buyers. The bonus of being energy self-sufficient is in many areas you can sell your excess energy back to your utility company if you are still not completely off-grid.

Alternative Heating Systems

Alternative heating for your home can be as simple as installing a wood stove. Or if you have already installed a solar hot water heating system you are most of the way there in being able to be energy sufficient with radiant floor heating. Radiant heating is more of a project if you aren’t building a home because you need to be able to get under the structure of your home. There are two ways to retrofit a radiant heating system after a home is built. The first is in the floor itself, the other is under the subfloor between the joists, this second way works best as a retrofit for radiant heating.

The most common radiant heating installations are slab-on-grade, tubing over plywood with a Gypsum over-pour, pre-fab panel systems, sleepers over a wood subfloor, and the staple up system for installing between the joists.

Water Management for Energy Self-Sufficiency

Securing your water supply is important. If you are fortunate to have a well, your first task is taking your water well solar. To make the best use of the rainwater you get each year, installing a water catchment system helps you to harvest rainwater for your family, livestock, and garden. We wrote an article on water catchment systems that can give you some good ideas. They have been relying on water catchment in Hawaii for years and many homes have a soft-sided pool next to their house that is covered and you can see the tubing coming from the gutters into the pool, they then have a pump, and water treatment system so the water is drinkable.

Creating your home or farm to be energy self-sufficient lets you become a stakeholder in a secure energy future. Creating an energy self-sufficient home gives you skills to become independent and it benefits the environment at the same time. Not only will your energy self-sufficient home save you money but it will be a more secure way of living that is vastly more independent and teaches your children wonderful skill sets that they will carry with them to adulthood.

The post Energy Self-Sufficiency Tips first appeared on Door.

Your garage can easily become a catchall for everything that is overflowing from your house. I know in our family everyone puts things in the garage but I find that it’s myself that is constantly organizing it so I can find and work on things. Your garage can easily become crowded and a disorganized mess so fast! I don’t know about anyone else, but I love being able to find things easily in my garage and be able to work on projects efficiently with the tools and supplies I know I can find in my garage.

I never knew that the vast majority of people don’t store their cars in their garage because there isn’t enough room. So, we offer some easy, simple, and inexpensive ideas for creating more space in your garage and keeping it organized easily! Organizing your garage is a great winter project when it’s raining and snowing.

Where to Start with Organizing Your Garage

I want you to start with a plan of how you would like the interior of your garage to look, what you need to access how often, and what only needs to be accessed seasonally. The best part of the project is the planning starts in the warmth of your home at your desk or dining room table. So, we are going to have you start with drafting a plan of how you want your garage laid out. Optimally think of how often you use certain items and what items need to be used on a regular basis. A good example is camping equipment is generally only used in the summer, but getting access to your chest freezer in the garage is something that happens weekly.

A real good planning idea is to list everything that is in your garage and then have two columns on your planning sheet; weekly or daily access and seasonal access. This will help you so much when we get to the segregating process which comes next.

• Items that are used for the same tasks be sure to group together, like gardening tools, compost amendment, vegetable tags.
• Bulky equipment should go in corners so it doesn’t block access or can get bumped by your car.
• We have put our bikes on bike hooks so they take up less space.
• Our seasonal camping equipment is on an overhead pully system that also stores our roof box when not in use for our SUV.

As much as possible keep things off the garage floor. It will make keeping your garage organized that much easier.

What Should You Keep & What Should Be Donated?

You might need a full day or weekend to get this task completed. The whole idea is to get rid of what you no longer need and free up space, to begin with before we start with a new layout for the interior of your garage. Depending on how crowded and messy your garage currently is this could be a couple of weekend projects, but it will make all the next steps that much easier.

• Schedule enough time to get the job done and not hurry. If like us, you came across a lot of family mementos, it does lengthen the process.
• Make it a family project and invite a few friends over to help. Some of your toss-it items may find a new home. More people with a game plan make this whole process go faster.
• Go through absolutely everything, you may find your children’s old school photos and projects, don’t rush, just be clear about what is a keeper and what will be donated or put out for garbage collection or a dump run.
• The general rule, if you haven’t used the items in the last two years, they could probably be donated, sold, or tossed. The exception to this is repair tools and items that you have on hand that is only used on an occasional basis when the need arises.
• Your sell or donate pile should be things you no longer need, your children have outgrown, and duplicates of items. A great place to sell things that are still very usable is Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
• Toys or equipment that are broken beyond repair, expired household chemicals, old paint, should be disposed of properly.
• Sort the items you wish to keep into different categories that make sense to you; sports equipment, recreational equipment, bikes, hand tools, building supplies, etc.

You will end up with three areas: keep, donate or sell, and garbage. We laid out tarps on our driveway for the three different piles. Once we got into the project it went pretty quick. We had a large donation pile, some that went to the dump, and a pretty good size group of items that we posted to Facebook Marketplace.

We netted donation write-offs and also some cash from our found tressures that found a new home. If you live in a suburban area a garage sale is a quick way to move usable items and net some cash. Also, if you don’t want to take your donation into town Amazon has their Give Back Box, just use a box and print the label on their site and take to a drop-off mailing site or have your box picked up at your home.

Our Best-Loved Organizing Tools & Systems

Everyone has their best-loved organizing tools and systems and we share the ones that have saved us time and money below. Our criteria for our choices for organizing our garage, the tool or system must be reasonably priced, and have good longevity.

• Stackable clear plastic container with well-fitting lids.
• We use Rubbermaid Commercial Brute Locking Lid garbage cans in the garage for pet food. We never had any problems in 20 years.
• We prefer open shelves to cabinets, so we can see what we have at a glance.
• We have heavy-duty hooks for our bikes so they can hang from the garage ceiling.
• I love our pegboard and it keeps my most used tools and supplies right above my workbench, making it simple to work on projects and see what I have.
• We installed a pully system in the garage for our seldom used and bulky items, such as camping equipment, sleeping bags, and our roof rack box for our SUV.
• I love my workbench, it’s large and can accommodate big projects. If I built it again, I would add casters to the bottom to make it a portable workbench.
• Workbenches with built-in tool drawers tend to be pricey, but if it’s in your budget, they are great.
• If space is super limited a fold-down workbench is a good way to get workspace without sacrificing space.

Good Garage Lighting

Garage lighting is a must and can make or break keeping things organized and also how easy it is to work on projects. We have overhead fluorescent lighting in the garage and over my workbench. If I had to do it again, I would definitely add garage door windows, both because they add curb appeal, but more importantly, they let light naturally into your garage.  Shed Windows and More has a wonderful selection of garage door windows to choose from that will enhance the look of your garage while letting light into your garage area also.

One of my favorite things I just added to my workbench is a high-intensity telescoping light that can be mounted to the wall or in my case it is attached to the workbench with a C-clamp. This has been a wonderful addition for small precision work making the task so much easier and enjoyable. Be sure to send us photos of before and after of your garage organization, some of our best ideas for new products come from our customer’s suggestions or questions.

The post Helpful Tips to Maximize Garage Space Inexpensively first appeared on Door.

We are fast approaching winter the season that delivers snow, ice, wind, and a lot of rain. Winter weather elements can cause damage to our home and your outdoor buildings if you aren’t prepared. We are sharing some simple, easy, and cost-saving tips on how to winterize your home and outdoor buildings that will save you money this year.

Many of the winterizing tips we share with you can be accomplished in a few hours and the largest project could be done in a weekend. Many of you are great DIY builders, so nearly all our suggestions you can do yourself and save money over jobbing out the tasks. Make a winterizing list and delegate to everyone in your family to pitch in and help. Many of our tips pertain to homes only, but there are a few listed below that also help winterize outdoor buildings including chicken coops.

Getting Winter-Ready Saves You Money

The benefits of winterizing your home and outdoor buildings are many. All of the winterizing tips we share help you take care of your most important investment, your family home, and help maintain its value. The added benefit of many of these suggestions is the money you save on your utility bills each month and also not needing emergency repairs. Emergency repairs happen at some of the most inconvenient times and usually hit your budget hard.

Protect Your Home Investment with Winterizing Tips

Below you will find a list of winterizing tips that can be performed on your home or your outdoor buildings. Many of these suggestions we have put on our list for the season or have already checked it off our list this year.

• How is your heating system? Depending on what type of heating system you have, this is the time to replace filters or you may need to clean out the whole system. If you have a gas heating system and turn off the gas in the warmer months, now is the time to check the pilot light and make sure that everything starts up and runs well.
• Check your chimney for loose bricks or cracks in the stovepipe, if you have a wood heating stove. If you are agile, the cost of a chimney brush and extension is very inexpensive and the cleaning of your stove pipe can be done quickly. Each year you should make sure that the fire bricks in a fireplace or heating stove or in good shape, that the gasket around the heating stove closure still fits well. If there are gaps in your stove door insulation, it is easy to replace and will make your stove much more efficient. If you don’t want to do the task yourself have a chimney sweep come and clean your chimney, fireplace, or stove.
• Winterize your chicken coop with fiberglass house wrap. You can cut the wrap to size and it will help insulate your chicken coop from the outside and help keep a more contact temperature for your chickens.
• Now is the time to check batteries on all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. I know that most of our detectors have warning chimes, but you shouldn’t rely on those, each of these devices has a self-check button. Be sure each room has a smoke detector and that each hallway outside of a bedroom has a carbon monoxide detector. It is also good to have one installed in both your kitchen and living room.
• Be sure to disconnect your garden hose from the outside faucet and store it for the winter. Any water left in a hose can cause it to freeze and then your hose needs to be replaced.
• It’s time to insulate all outdoor above-ground pipes. I buy insulation wrap specially made for pipes, so it already has a slit and I use Guerilla tape to secure the wrap in place on all my pipes.
• Test your basement sump pump to make sure it is operational. If you live in a more temperate climate be sure to have a portable submersible utility pump available and in good working order. We use ours for our pool when the out-take hose can’t keep up with rainfall and we pump water out of our pool so it doesn’t overflow. I can’t tell you how many times for so many uses this portable pump has come in handy.
• This solution makes a great holiday gift, mud trays for boots, and also boot mats to scrub off snow, dirt, from entering your home. We use these outside our doors and then we have a mat inside the door that absorbs water and deflects fur, which is great when you have dogs coming in out of your house.
• Another great holiday gift is a mitten dryer that you can place next to your fireplace or heating stove to dry out wet mittens.
• Caulking and weatherstripping are inexpensive compared to leaking double pane windows and the cost of replacement. Check each of your exterior windows for cracks in the caulking and replace weatherstripping where needed.
• Installing draft tape on the bottom of your exterior doors helps keep your home warmer and your utility bills lower.
• Check your roof for leaks and clean out all gutters. Gutter guards save so much time and trouble. Dirty gutters don’t allow your downspouts. Be sure to check roof flashing around chimneys and vents, these are prime places on your roof that can cause leaks over time.
• Winter is the time to reverse your ceiling fans so they move to air down into the room and you need to heat your home less.
• Investing in a stovetop fan for your wood heating stove makes a world of difference in how warm your home is while you use less wood in the long run.
• Protect your air conditioner from the elements with either a jacket or a simple piece of plywood held down with bricks or strapping to keep your air conditioner in good condition for next summer.
• Buy a humidifier or combination humidifier and air cleaner to keep your home more virus-free. It’s important to keep indoor air humidity above 30% and below 50%. Keeping your air humidity above 43% helps deter viruses and keeps your skin in better condition.
• Cut back tree limbs from your house so they don’t fall on your home in a storm. If removing large limbs or a tree it’s best to have a tree service do the job.
• Consider a backup generator or investing in solar with all the incentives that are available today. The cost of a well pump solar system is relatively inexpensive and keeps water coming to your home in a storm and during a power outage. If buying a portable generator, be sure to invest in an inverter generator for your appliances and computers, they need the steady electrical output that a regular generator doesn’t deliver.
• Before the snow, sleet and rain really start is a great time to cover your outdoor furniture. Make sure your outdoor furniture covers have breathing slits so your furniture doesn’t mildew.
• If you live in a high wind area, prior to storms be sure to take your plants off their plant movers, it’s amazing that a strong gust can topple a 20-gallon pot that probably weighs in access of 40 pounds and crack, but it does happen. Once the storm has passed you can put your plants back on their plant movers till the next storm.
• Stock up on salt or lime depending on where you live. Salt helps give you extra traction on walkways, stairs, and paved driveways. Salt for our customers that deal with snow and ice and lime for our customers that live in areas that get huge amounts of rain. Lime added to your driveway helps soak up excess moisture and hardens your gravel driveway after lots of rain.

A little bit of planning can go a long way to enjoying the winter months instead of being bogged down with emergency repairs that take time and hit your budget. Many of these tasks we have or are currently performing on our homes. If you need to replace windows or other shed hardware or shed doors on your outdoor buildings, look no further than Shed Windows and More for a great selection at amazing prices with the great customer service you rely on from our company.

The post Winterize Your Home & Outdoor Buildings first appeared on Door.