The proper way to put up your summer stuff.
|Chicago Tribune reporter
Several weeks remain before summer’s official end, but for all intents and purposes, let’s face it, it’s over. Time to trade in the bathing suits for the jackets; the cool cotton sheets for the cozy flannel variety. First on the list of seasonal swap-outs, however, should be the outdoor stuff. Attend to the pool, the patio furniture, the garden tools, etc., while the weather is still cooperating. Here we explore the proper manner for shutting down and stowing away five summer essentials.
1. Grill. “Grills are an outdoor product, so they’re not something that needs to go through a winterization, so to speak,” says Ernie Boys, vice president of product management at Weber-Stephen Products in Palatine. Boys does recommend a grill cover for those low-frequency grilling periods, and he deems a once- or twice-yearly cleaning as compulsory. For guidance on cleaning grills, visit weber.com.
2. Garden hose. Garden hoses should be drained of all water to prevent freezing and cracking, coiled to prevent kinks, and fastened together at the ends to prevent insect invasion. Finally, store the hose off the floor, in a dry, indoor spot. “Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook” (Clarkson Potter, 744 pages, $45) also recommends closing the water valve that supplies the outdoor hose.
3. Patio furniture. “We tell our customers that they can leave their patio furniture outside, as long as they use a protective covering,” says India Baughman, sales associate at Highland Park’s Williams Patio Furniture. Williams sells vinyl covers that range from $19.95 for an umbrella cover to $89.95 for a table cover. “The one exception to that are cushions. Cushions need to be cleaned — dish soap and hose water is fine — dried, and put indoors,” Baughman says. Wrought iron furniture is generally fine left outside.
4. Bird bath. Local garden and furniture retailer Jayson Home & Garden tells their customers to treat bird baths the same way they treat planters and containers. Top priority is keeping the insides empty and dry. “The freeze-thaw cycle so prevalent in Chicago winters causes cracking,” says Jayson’s Abbe Maclise. “Some people like to cover them with plywood and then lay evergreen branches on top.” Other tactics include covering the bath, turning it upside down, or moving it indoors.
5. Fire pits. First step: a simple hose-down to remove excess debris and ashes. “Unless you’re a real perfectionist, you don’t have to use a whole lot of elbow grease,” says Hamp Tanner, president of Florida-based Well Traveled Living, a maker of fire pits and chimineas. Next step: Scoot the pit either indoors or to a protected outdoor spot. “Many fire pits come with their own covers, so there’s no reason not to take advantage of that,” Tanner says. If you store the pit outdoors, “wedge a piece of wood or tile beneath the legs to prevent them from sinking into the damp ground all winter long.”
swunderlich@tribune.com
Taken from www.chicagotribune.com