Decorating for Halloween? Don’t forget the potential of the garage

This homeowner decorated right

on out of his garage and into

the front yard. This is an example

of the possibilities that exist

for decorating your garage this

Halloween.

Some folks go all out decorating for Halloween. Some generally throw up a few spooky decorations and call it a … well, spooky night.

There’s a lot you can do with Halloween decorations. But, if you consider it’s potential, you don’t want to neglect the garage or the garage door. The garage, with the door open, can represent a frightening cavern with bats hanging from the rafters and ghouls peeking out from the corners. 

As for your garage door, you can think of it as a large palette where your most spine-chilling imagination can run rampant.

A trip to one of the Halloween outlets that pop up in empty strip-mall stores can provide you with ample material to turn your home into a ghostly experience to delight Trick-or-Treaters of all ages. If you have time for delivery yet, you can probably order decorations online.

These options may cost more than you want to spend. With some creativity and ingenuity, however, you may achieve wonderfully scary results using materials around the house.

You may provide a spooky presentation based on a random assortment of Halloween-based decorations. The overall appeal of your presentation may work out better if you come up with a theme.

The next step is to assemble some of the materials that might help: 

• Cardboard
• Sheets
• Paints
• Markers
• String
• Etc.

You may want to go online and look for ideas. You’ll probably find plenty of concepts you can use. Pinterest is probably a good place to start.

Then, let the creative juices flow. You can setup a table in the garage where you work on the project. Think of yourself as something of a Dr. Frankenstein – a mad scientist. Build a Halloween display worthy of the phrase, “IT’S ALIVE!!!”

Just remember to maximize on your home and garage’s potential. From the front yard, to the eaves extending out from the house to the garage door and garage, with a little effort, you can turn your home into horrifyingly delicious Halloween presentation.

Time to replace the weather stripping on your Antioch garage door?

Autumn is a wonderful time of year as beautiful fall colors combine with mild temperatures to make Antioch an even more fantastic place to live. But autumn won’t last forever; winter is ready to sweep in behind it with snow, blowing winds and cold. That cold and snow will make every effort to work its way around the edges of your garage door.

By all means, enjoy autumn while you can. Go apple picking. Carve pumpkins and decorate for Halloween. But even by the time Thanksgiving comes around, we’re liable to find the temperature in Antioch falling precipitously. 

How can you keep the snow and the cold from seeping into your garage from around the edges of your garage door? Weather stripping is the key.

There are different types of weather stripping to seal your garage door from the elements. And there are different types to use in different areas of the garage door.

Essentially, there are two areas around the garage door where you need to seal: around the sides and top, and across the bottom.

For the top and sides, you can use a brush type seal. The brush type adapts well to the movement of the garage door while performing well to keep out dirt, leaves, rain, snow and the cold.

Another option is a rubber, vinyl of plastic seal that is mounted on both sides of the garage door.

At the bottom of the garage door, you may have a metal threshold mounted to the floor. But you still want a seal mounted to keep the cold, wind and water out.

Weather stripping makes a tremendous difference. If you have a heated garage, it help to reduce the workload on your heater. Even if your garage isn’t heated, weather stripping is a welcome addition.

Of course, you probably have weather stripping on your existing garage door. But, after a number of years, the question is what kind of condition the weather stripping is in. 

Winter is coming to Antioch, though you still have some time. But why wait to check your weather stripping, and replace it if necessary?