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Mar

Spring Cleaning Tips

Spring is just around the corner and you know what that means: spring cleaning!

Time to open up the windows, let in the fresh air, and break out the cleaning supplies.

Need to restock your supplies? Brinkmann’s is a great place to get everything from cleaners and grout sealant to mops, brooms, steam mops, and more.

To help make sure your home is clean and fresh here are 7 tips on tackling some of the places you may have been neglecting during your regular cleaning.

Check the cabinets. The most overlooked place in your kitchen when it comes to regular cleaning is often your kitchen cabinets. Grease and grime can slowly build up over time, particularly if you don’t always use your ventilation fan when cooking. Take some time and give your cabinets a deep clean starting at the top and working your way down to the bottom.
Get to the grout. The grout between the tiles of your floor, walls, and countertop is extremely porous and very prone to staining. Use a stiff-bristled brush to clean hard-to-reach areas and then apply a grout sealant. If you think you need to re-grout any tile spring is a good time to do it as well.
Wax your wood. Wipe down your wood furniture with a soft, clean, and damp cloth moistened with a detergent solution made of a gentle detergent and water. Once it’s dry apply paste wax with a soft rag. Let it dry and then buff with a clean microfiber cloth.
Kitchen and bath. Give your bathroom and kitchen the once over with a disinfectant spray. Wipe down the counters, polish the fixtures, and take the time to clean the exhaust vents in both rooms. For the bathroom vent, you’ll be able to rinse it in soapy water. When it comes to the kitchen vent it’s a more heavy-duty job. Soak the vent in hot water mixed with a degreasing detergent and then rinse.
Baking soda to the rescue. Baking soda can be used around your house in a number of different ways. Sprinkle baking soda on a damp sponge to wipe down walls. Mix it with hydrogen peroxide and you’ve got a great grout cleaner. Need to mop a tile or wax-free floor? Baking soda works there too. Mix a half cup of baking soda in with your bucket of hot water, wash and rinse. Best of all, run hot water through your faucets and then pour half a cup of baking soda down the drain. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then rinse with more hot water to take away grime, build-up, and bad smells from the drain. Baking soda makes a great all-purpose cleaner, and there are literally hundreds of uses for it around the home.
Upholstery generally doesn’t need deep cleaning, however, taking the pillows off of your couch and using a crevice tool to clean out accumulated dirt and dust on the frame every so often is a good idea. Take pillows outside and beat them to get the dust off and then reassemble the couch when you’re done.
Spring is a great time to clean your ceiling fans, too. Often neglected, they collect dust on the blades and blow it around the house. Ceiling fans should be wiped down at least two times a year: before you turn them on for spring and before winter sets in. Use a mild detergent solution to carefully wipe each blade. If you have to climb a ladder to reach them, use extra care!

Mar

Lawn Care – Weed Prevention Tips

Whether you’re a vegetable gardener, or you just love the look of a perfect green lawn, weeds can be a pain to deal with. Grassy annual weeds such as crabgrass can spread extremely quickly, as can broadleaf weeds such as clover and dandelion. While crabgrass is an annual weed that dies every winter it’s also one of the fastest-growing weeds to pop up in early spring. Perennial weeds, however, last all through the winter weather. All of these weeds compete with your lawn or garden for light, nutrients, and water and—if left unchecked—they’ll likely win.

So, what can you do to control the weeds in your lawn?

There are different kinds of lawn weed control available to kill all types of weeds. Pre-emergent herbicide is a type of lawn weed control that eliminates weeds by killing them just after the weed seeds germinate. This kind of weed preventer should be applied in early spring well before annual weeds have the chance to sprout. Scott’s Crabgrass Preventer Plus Lawn Food, which can be found at your local Brinkmann’s Hardware (as can the entire line of Scott’s products), is a lawn treatment that eliminates weeds before they have the chance to start.

Once you can see weeds in your lawn you’ll need to use a post-emergence lawn treatment made to get rid of weeds during the growing season. Scott’s Weed Control Plus Lawn Food is a weed killer made for use during the growing season. It also serves as lawn fertilizer, helping to strengthen your lawn so that weeds don’t have a chance to grow in the first place.

Lawn weed control is not as difficult as it may sound when you stick with a program specifically made to kill weeds at the appropriate time. Weed killer combined with fertilizer tends to be your best bet. The staff at your local Brinkmann’s can help answer any other questions about the best way to kill weeds.

By following the plan of pre-emergent, then post-emergent, then fertilizer, you won’t be spending hours pulling weeds by hand and your lawn will be lush, green, and ready to play on.

Feb

Basics of Painting a Room: Tips to Get the Job Done Right

Indoor painting is one of the fastest and easiest ways to give your room a total makeover. Changing the paint color can change a mood and give a living room, kitchen, or bathroom a whole new feel.

Whatever the reason for your painting project there are a few things you should know before you start painting a room.

1. Quality Counts

The price of paint, rollers, tape, and more actually does make a difference. If you’re doing a tiny touchup on the ceiling you may not need to go for the gold. However, when it comes to the paint job on your walls—particularly in the kitchen and bathroom where paint works harder—you’ll want to purchase supplies that will work better.

2. Get Enough

Before you paint, figure out the square footage of the room you’re painting. Generally speaking, a gallon of paint will cover about 400 square feet. So depending on your square footage of wall space you may end up needing several cans. Remember, custom paint can’t be returned, so try to be as precise as you can.

3. Get Creative

There’s no rule that says all four walls in a room have to be the same color. You can have an accent wall color, add a contrasting color to the trim, or even include a design in your wall painting. Even your ceiling can join in on the paint color bandwagon! For some painting ideas and inspiration look in the paint section of your local Brinkmann’s where you’ll find manufacturer catalogs, or you can even look online on sites like Pinterest.

4. Know When to Do It

Winter is a great time to get some interior painting done. The dry air helps the paint to dry neatly and cleanly and that means less waiting time between coats. If you do happen to paint on a rainy or humid day be prepared to take your time, especially when it comes to waiting between each coat of paint. We know watching paint dry is like, well, watching paint dry, but if you rush the job it’ll show.

5. Have the Right Tools

The paint aisle can be a bit overwhelming, but you don’t actually need to buy one of everything to get a great paint job done. The basic supplies you shouldn’t leave the store without include:

Paint
Paintbrushes
Paint trays (get more than one especially if you have a helper)
Paint rollers
Paint roller extension pole
Drop cloths
Sandpaper
Putty Knife
Painter’s tape

When it comes to the final item, get the good stuff. Cheap painters tape can ruin an otherwise beautiful paint job by allowing bleeding or worse, ripping the drywall beneath.

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask questions. The staff at a reputable hardware store, such as Brinkmann’s, will be able to steer you toward the right paint, the right supplies, and can even help you figure out how much paint you need. So if you have any questions before or after you start the job, there’s always someone there to help.

Feb

Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas for Him or Her!

Valentine’s Day is coming up sooner than you may realize. With less than a month to go, if you haven’t started planning your gift ideas your February 14th may be a lot less fun than you’d hoped.

If chocolate and flowers aren’t going to cut it this holiday we’ve got some unique Valentine’s Day gift ideas your sweetie will cherish for years and, best of all, you can get them ALL at your local Brinkmann’s.

Grilling season is coming up sooner than you’d think, and if your partner loves to cook the Big Green Egg is a fantastic choice for a gift. The egg comes in seven different sizes, depending on your needs, and offers over 100 accessories including everything from stands and covers to bakeware, tables, and islands. Need something even bigger? A weber grill makes a big splash as a gift, and also comes in a wide variety of sizes and styles.

Another great Valentine’s Day gift is something from Yeti’s extensive line of coolers and cups. Insulated wine tumblers and steel drinkware are perfect for those who want to keep the party going but want to ditch the glass and plastic. Yeti’s bags, backpacks, and portable coolers are sure to make any outdoors lover smile. Whether they love wine, iced coffee, beer, or soda a Yeti will keep their drink cool for hours and hours.

Speaking of outdoor lovers, make sure they’ve got the right clothes for the adventure! Carhartt makes a full line of outdoor-friendly work gear to keep them warm and dry no matter what the season.

Finally, don’t forget your four-legged friends! You’ll find food, treats, and toys for your most trusted furry friend at Brinkmann’s. No matter who they are (or what they are) Brinkmann’s has the perfect selection of unique gifts for Valentine’s Day that’ll they’ll enjoy all through February and beyond!

Jan

Organizing the Garage: How to Get It Done Right

Organizing the garage can be a large task for some. Depending on how you utilize the space it can be a small task or a very large one. Garages tend to be the place where we toss everything that doesn’t have a home anywhere else. It’s important to make sure that you organize the space so you can find what you need when you need it (and maybe even fit a car in there, if you’re lucky).

To get your garage in tip-top shape check out these garage organization ideas.

Give Yourself Time and Help

Organizing a garage can take more than a day. For some, it’ll be a two or even three-weekend job. Make sure that you give yourself enough time to get the job done right, and if you need help, ask for it! Injuries can happen when you overdo it with some of the heavier items usually housed in a garage.

Separate Your Items

Take all of your items and put them into piles separated by use—such as sports equipment, holiday decorations, gardening supplies, and so on. While doing this make note of anything broken and toss it. If you’re surprised to find you own something it’s unlikely that you’ve ever used it. Consider donating anything you don’t use anymore or have never used. It’ll clear up quite a bit of useful floor space.

Storage Solutions

Now that you’ve got some idea of what you actually own you can decide which garage storage ideas will work for you. For some, a garage storage system made up of garage cabinets and wall storage are the best bets. For others, clearly labeled bins are a better solution. Bins can often be better for large or bulky items while cabinets work when you have lots of smaller items. Whichever you choose be sure to utilize the wall and ceiling of your garage! Thinking vertical can save you a ton of floor space. Try hanging bikes on hooks on the ceiling, or add a pegboard to hang up garden tools on the walls. While most use some type of floor mounted storage unit in their garage, many forget to utilize garage wall storage space to the fullest. Garage shelves above wall mounted hooks can leave you with a lot more storage space than simply tossing everything in a storage bin.

Organize With Forethought

Whichever method you choose, be smart about the way you put things away. Whether you’re using shelving units or storage bins, make sure to keep the items you don’t use often—such as holiday decorations—toward the top of the cabinet or in a top bin. Keep items you use regularly, such as cleaning supplies and kids play items, at eye level or below.

By following these tips, and using a little bit of common sense, you can restore order to even the messiest garage and maybe, just maybe, get a car in there too.

Jan

Carbon Monoxide Detectors: What They Do and Why You Need One

If you have appliances in your home that use gas for fuel (either natural gas or propane) it is vital that you have carbon monoxide detectors in your house to keep your family safe.

What Is Carbon Monoxide?

Carbon monoxide (or CO) is a colorless, odorless gas that is poisonous when inhaled
It inhibits the body’s ability to carry oxygen, causing suffocation
It is a byproduct of combustion. Anything with a flame also puts out CO

What Types of Appliances Can Give off Carbon Monoxide?

Any fuel-burning appliances, (oil, natural gas, or propane) for example:

Gas-fueled water heaters
Gas dryers
Gas ovens
Gas stoves
Gas powered space heaters

These appliances must be properly installed and vented to ensure that no CO builds up in your home. However, even if they have been properly installed, it is important to protect your family from carbon monoxide poisoning by utilizing CO detectors. A failure in any of your safety systems can result in death if you don’t have working carbon monoxide detectors.

Some CO detectors are combo units. A detector such as this combines smoke detection with CO detection. While you may assume that your smoke detectors have a CO alarm it’s important to find that out for a fact. If you’re not sure, adding another CO detector in your home is never a bad thing. Much like smoke alarms, CO alarms come in hardwired and battery-operated options. Hardwired options sometimes utilize a battery backup in case of a power outage, while battery-operated detectors should have their batteries changed once a year (daylight savings time is the traditional day to change those batteries.) Battery-operated CO detectors are easy to install and can be found at hardware stores like Brinkmann’s Hardware. From utilitarian styles to those with a digital display to show your CO levels or the date and time. Whichever you choose, CO detectors are a vital component to your home safety plan.

Dec

’Tis the Season for Snow!

What You Need to Know About Gas vs. Electric Snowblowers.

It starts with just a few snowflakes; but before you know it the inches are piling up on your driveway. It’s almost Winter and that means it’s snowblower season, but which kind should you choose? The two main types of snowblowers are gas-powered and electric, and here we’ll go over the pros and cons of each so you can decide which is the right blower for you.

Once you’ve decided to ditch your snow shovel you should start considering the type of snow removal situation you’re facing. Do you have a short driveway or walk? Or is the trip down to your mailbox a long one?

The Electric Blower

If your driveway isn’t that long, an electric snowblower may be a good choice for you. Electric blowers come in corded electric and battery models (when using an extension cord be sure it is rated for outdoor use and it is not in your blowing path before starting!). These blowers are lighter weight than even single-stage gas snowblowers and take up less space in your garage or shed. With an electric blower you also have an electric start, so it turns on at the touch of a button. Corded electric snowblowers have an obvious range issue, in that they can only go as far as the cord allows. However, if you just have a walkway and a short drive to do that’s not much of a problem. Corded blowers will be the cheapest of all the available options, and the lightest.

With cordless electric snow blowers you’re using a battery, so it’s a good idea to have a second battery charging while you’re using the first if you plan to be out working for a long time. Most electric blowers are single-stage, meaning they don’t have the power that is generated by a two-stage gas blower. So if the snow is very heavy and wet you may have trouble breaking through. On the plus side, it’s lightweight and has maneuverability so it can be a better choice for some.

Gas Powered Blowers

Gas-powered blowers are a more expensive option, but for many people it’s worth it for the advantages they give. With a gas-powered mower you’re limited only by the size of your gas tank; and while the pull-cord start was once a deterrent for some, there are many electric start gas snow blowers that are just as easy to turn on as an electric mower. Gas blowers also add features such as a higher intake height, which means they can blow through almost any snow pile. A large gas blower will also be much more powerful than a battery-operated or plug-in electric blower and can come with features such as being self-propelled, or possessing track drive and power steering to make the job of handling such a heavy machine easier.

Brands like Cub Cadet, Ariens, and Snow Joe make a wide variety of both gas and electric snowblowers that you can purchase at a local hardware store such as Brinkmann’s, so you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.

The choice is yours. What’s important is to consider your circumstances and go from there. If you have a great distance to blow, or often have a lot of heavy snow, you may want to consider a high performance, gas-powered snowblower. If you have a smaller area to cover and tend to get lesser amounts of snow you can probably get by with an electric model and save yourself some cash.

Dec

Choosing Christmas Decorations and Lights for the Holidays

In years past, there was only one choice when it came to holiday lighting: strings of incandescent bulbs. Times have changed however, and the energy-saving technology of an LED light has opened up a whole new world of outdoor Christmas decorations and indoor-outdoor Christmas lights for the holiday season.

The main focal point of your Christmas decorating is most likely going to be your Christmas Tree. If you don’t get a living tree you’ll have to decide between a standard tree or a pre-lit one. With a pre-lit tree the lights are taken care of for you so you can focus on hanging ornaments.

The first decision to make when deciding on other decorations is whether it will plug in, use batteries, or if it will be solar-powered.

Solar-powered holiday decorations and lights will keep your electric bill low, but on cloudy or snowy days you may not get quite the glow you’re hoping for into the night.

Battery operated decorations generally work best indoors so that you can shut them off when you’re not using them to conserve energy.

Electrical lights and decorations will increase your bill but will shine brightly no matter what. There are two choices for these: incandescent and LED lights.

Incandescent lights tend to have a warm cast to them (meaning the white lights look more yellow than a true white) while LED lights come in both warm and cool tones. If you do use electrical lights be sure to use UL-listed extension cords and either a timer to turn your lights off during the day, or a remote control made especially for outdoor lighting. String lights, icicle lights, rope lights, and net lights are very common choices, however some people prefer using laser lights for their decorating.

Laser lights can cover an entire house, without all of the climbing and work that comes with traditional lights. All of these options can be found in hardware stores like Brinkmann’s, which makes it easy to mix and match different styles.

No matter what style you choose remember that before putting any lighting or decoration outside you should check the product details to be sure it’s safe for outdoor use. If you have any doubts about the safety of your lights—for example, if there is a frayed cord—throw them away and replace them.

Nov

Tips for Buying Firewood

As the weather turns chilly, more and more of us will need firewood—whether it’s for outdoor fire pits, fireplaces, or wood-burning stoves. No matter what your reason for buying it, there are a few things you should know before you do.

What’s a Cord?

Firewood is usually sold by the cord, and a full cord of cut wood measures 128 cubic feet. Generally speaking, that means it’s 4’x8’x4’ deep. No matter where you go, a cord should be the same amount, unless it’s what’s known as a face cord which is 4 feet high, 8 feet long, and as deep as the individual logs (generally 16, 20, or 24” long).

A cord is quite a lot of wood so be sure you have a place to keep it. You’ll want to store firewood in a dry place, away from your house, as it can attract mice and other pests. You also want to make sure to stack the wood in such a way that there is air flow between the logs to help keep them dry. When calling for firewood, be sure that you request the right wood for your purposes. For fireplaces and wood stoves, you’ll want hardwoods like oak and maple, or cherry. These woods are denser and will burn slower and cleaner than softwoods such as pine and poplar, which are more appropriate for outdoor fire pits. Burning softwoods indoors can lead to a buildup of creosote, which can cause a chimney fire.

Make sure you ask the seller what kind of wood you’re getting. A reliable supplier will know and will also know how long it’s been seasoned. Seasoned firewood should have been sitting for at least six months. Any less than that is considered green wood and is not ideal for burning. Hardware stores like Brinkmann’s can answer all of your questions and are often a great choice for a steady supply of seasoned wood.

Smaller Amounts

You can often find smaller amounts of wood at Brinkmann’s, gas stations, or even the supermarket. When buying firewood like this make sure you unwrap them from their plastic and be sure the wood is dry before burning. Wet wood is not optimal, so you may want to wait until the moisture content evaporates before using it to get the best results.

Nov

What to Wear for in the Great Outdoors: Top Choices for Outdoor Work Clothing

Whether you’re out hiking, hunting, or just working in the yard, having the right clothing is vital to improving your performance and keeping you warm, and dry.

Gearing up from head to toe means everything you wear should be designed to work just as hard as you do.

Work clothes—from socks and work pants to gloves and work jackets—tend to be built for two things: free movement and protection. Carhartt is a brand known for its outdoor work clothing because it creates work clothes for men and women that is appropriate for all seasons.

For jackets cotton duck is a great choice. It’s water repellent, wind-resistant, and strong enough for whatever your day brings. Many of Carhartt’s jackets also have removable hoods for wet weather and extreme cold protection.

Carhartt also offers flame resistant shirts, pants, hats, and coveralls for protection against burning brush or working in other dangerous conditions. Carhartt Flame-Resistant clothing meets the performance requirements of NFPA 70E and is UL Classified to NFPA 2112, to keep you covered no matter what happens.

When in the woods covering up is key. Ticks are everywhere and long-sleeved shirts and sturdy pants that can handle branches and thorns are great choices for hunters and hikers. Carhartt has an entire line of clothing specially made for hunters, from pants and hats to shirts and gloves, so you don’t miss a day of hunting season.

Brinkmann’s Hardware carries a full line of Carhartt clothing, accessories, and gear to keep you and your family warm and comfortable all season long. In addition to Carhartt clothing, Brinkmann’s also carries protective gear such as ear and eye protection, boots for work and gardening, and gloves for everything—from household cleaning to welding or working. So no matter where the day takes you, you’re prepared.

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