How to Clean the Shed

Rakes, brooms, clippers, shovels and who knows what else is crammed in the shed. Your handy storage area has instead turned into a junkyard. You can increase your storage space, actually make it possible to find what you’re looking for and enjoy a hefty piece of mind when you clear out the area. You can clean the shed with a few simple tips to make the job a lot easier.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Hose
• Bucket of water
• Bleach or other cleaner (optional)
• Rags
• Small storage bins
• Boxes and bags for garbage
• Hammer and nails or hooks

1. Clear out the entire shed. Yes, everything. This includes the lawn mower, bent-up rake, spare tires, hubcaps, tools and whatever else you have stuffed in there. Place everything in an orderly fashion in your yard.

2. Hose down the shed, inside and out. If you happen to have electrical wiring in your shed, do avoid those areas. But thoroughly hose out the floor and walls, if necessary. You can pour some bleach, ammonia or other cleansing agent on the floor to help the process but don’t use too much and don’t let the runoff spill into your lawn and kill your grass. You can also hose down the outside of the shed for good measure, especially if it’s dotted with grime and bird poop.

3. Leave the shed open and allow the insides to dry as you begin to attack the wild array of items in your yard. Start with the large items, like the lawn mower and shovels, placing everything you are going to keep to one side and everything you do not want into boxes or garbage bags.

4. Work your way down to the medium items, methodically sorting through the hubcaps, tarps, paint cans and tire irons. Again, place the items you wish to keep on one side of your yard and those you wish to discard in another area.

5. Organize small items. If your shed has wooden walls or beams, attach nails or hooks to them so you can hang tools and other items that would do well hanging. Otherwise, sort the smaller items into storage bins, so you end up with one little bin full of hand gardening tools rather than small shovels and hand rakes strewn about the shed.

6. Put everything back. Well, not everything, but the things you wish to keep. Try to put the items you use the most closest to the door for easier access. Things you use once in a while, or are too big to be near the front, should go back in the back. With this kind of organizations, it will be years, or at least months, before you'll have to again clean the shed.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are a married man cleaning out your shed, have your wife help you. She’ll be sure to find tons of things you no longer need.
• Be realistic. Do you really need five random hubcaps and three identical pruning shears? Give away or throw away any unneeded items immediately. Don’t simply stuff them back in the shed.