# How do you keep your garage dry



## sony1998 (Dec 18, 2014)

Hey Guys. Just took delivery of an Ariens Deluxe 24 from my local dealer. First time owning a snow blower. Going to take some pictures and post here soon. 

How do you guys keep your garage dry after snow blowing and the machine is covered in snow and melting all over. The place I need to store the blower is close to items that can not get wet from snow melt and I know snow melt will get all over the place. 

I noticed Ariens sells a 30x30 or 36x36 mat but no budget for that. Has anyone made anything to contain water after blowing and what did you make. Or how does everyone handle snow melt. 

Any ideas would help. 
Thanks in advance. 
Mark


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

I brush mine off as best I can and park it on a wood pallet to keep it out of the melt from the cars.


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

My method, probably about the same as what most people do:

When done snowblowing for the day, shut down the snowblower in the driveway.
Brush as much snow off as possible from everywhere, including inside the bucket and chute..
Pay special attention to cables, throttles and linkages..
(This removes 90% of the snow..)
Fire it back up, engage the auger and impeller to shoot out the remaining loose snow from the bucket.
Wheel it into the garage.
Shut her down..
Make sure the throttle is set in "park" 
Turn off the fuel valve.
Then don't give a second tthought to any minor melting..a small puddle isn't a concern.

Scot


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## caddydaddy (Dec 10, 2014)

I have an old rug I keep under it. After it is cleaned of what snow I can get off of it outside.


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## Terrance (Dec 28, 2015)

Necessity is the mother of all invention. 

Invent something with the materials you have on hand.


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## SweetD (Dec 6, 2013)

Get most of the snow off outside if possible.

I have a natural gas heater piped in the garage (best thing I ever did), so I will keep that on low, and actually run a box fan set on the floor to circulate the air. Seems to do pretty well. My garage is only 24'x24'x8' so nothing huge, and we do keep the vehicles in it.


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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

Yeah, get the majority of the snow off the machine outside. Leave it facing the sun for a couple hours, if possible. I squeegee the floor on a regular basis and also use a fan for circulation. I take keeping the garage dry seriously.


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## ztnoo (Nov 26, 2015)

Pretty much ditto on everything that has been mentioned.
Brush off outside.
Run the auger to eliminate as much as possible.
A small heat source of some type.
AND a box fan running close by......this also helps with melt off from the car and helps evaporate anything that melts.

If you can fabricate some sort of catch pan or shallow basin to rest the blower on, that would help contain the melt off also.


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## Dragonsm (Nov 24, 2015)

For me, once done....take a broom and sweep off what I can and then roll it into the garage.

Have a torpedo Kerosene heater I normally fire up after that and have it blow the warm air into the auger housing where it melts/dries everything.

Once done, I roll her over to the side of the garage where I keep it and prop the scraper blade up onto a piece of 2x10. Keeps really the only piece touching the garage floor (other than tires) off of it and the wood doesn't soak in the water.

Garage isn't heated, however normally keeps itself above freezing unless we go into a deep chill....the water just seems to take care of itself from both the vehicles and outdoor toys.

Steve


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## Bob Cat (Jul 15, 2014)

I usually leave it until July then sweep it . But this year when it was getting dirty and salt stained so I just threw in some fresh snow ,let it absorb the crap and shovelled /swept it out.


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## sony1998 (Dec 18, 2014)

Thanks everyone. I think I am going to try and make some sort of pan out of 2x4's and a tarp to catch the water. When all the snow is melted I can wad up the tarp and carry it outside to dump. I will take a picture or two of it when done. I like re-using stuff around the house as indicated above and have some wood and a tarp handy.
Mark


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## Terrance (Dec 28, 2015)

sony1998 said:


> Thanks everyone. I think I am going to try and make some sort of pan out of 2x4's and a tarp to catch the water. When all the snow is melted I can wad up the tarp and carry it outside to dump. I will take a picture or two of it when done. I like re-using stuff around the house as indicated above and have some wood and a tarp handy.
> Mark


See, you have just created an idea that we all can use [with old materials we have lying around]. I would have never thought to raise up the sides of a tarp [with wood] to create a natural trough. Thanks for the idea.

Bravo!:icon-dancingparty:


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

sony1998 said:


> Thanks everyone. I think I am going to try and make some sort of pan out of 2x4's and a tarp to catch the water. When all the snow is melted I can wad up the tarp and carry it outside to dump. I will take a picture or two of it when done. I like re-using stuff around the house as indicated above and have some wood and a tarp handy.
> Mark



Maybe you can get some skids and put the stuff you don't want to get wet up off the floor a few inches. Some melting is going to happen


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Luckily with the wax that I put on her helping so... much, I usually do not have to do a lot of cleaning off, but at times I do. I just use a car brush that I break the scraper end off of and clean everything off from top to bottom and from inside the bucket and out. If the sun comes out after I get done clearing, I'll face the inside of the bucket in to the sun while I do the finish cleaning up touches. By that time the sun does a good job of getting just about everything off. Then a couple of little taps on the ground with the bucket and a spin of the augers with my foot to get any left over snow out of the chute and then she gets put away in to the garage.


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## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

I've never really used the leaf blower to clear snow until this year.
It was sooooo effective, I think I might employ it as a pre/post.

I generally take 2 gallon jugs of water, rinse it out from chute working my way down to the bucket.

I'll use the leaf blower as a pre-snow rinse out, then do the water rinse....and then use the leaf blower to get the water away. Should be actually pretty easy....to dry off with the leaf blower to boot.


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## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

I waxed the thing really well when it arrived, so water beads up and runs right off if it doesn't freeze on there. As others suggest, i knock off any real accumulations in the driveway, then wheel it inside. I found a spiffy black rubber/plastic tray meant to hold boots while they shed snow and water, it's a couple inches wider than the business end of the snowblower. I added a piece of 2x2 rescued from the shipping pallet the blower arrived on, so the scraper and the front housing don't sit in water as the snow melts.

I also have a gas heater for the garage/workshop set for 55º, so things dry pretty quickly inside; No worries about snow or ice living inside for long.


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## tuffnell (Dec 1, 2011)

I use a small tarp with some lumber under the edges to form a pocket. I have used mop and broom handles to form the pocket.


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## Zac5 (Jan 1, 2013)

I just brush off as much snow as possible and wheel the '69 Ariens onto a double thick piece of appropriate sized flattened cardboard box on the one wall of the garage that I pick up for free at the grocery store.

It's about 7 Celsius or about 43 Fahrenhiet in my garage. Any remaining snow slowly melts and is completely absorbed by the cardboard. When the cardboard gets quite dirty, I just recycle it and lay down some new stuff.


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## 88racing (Jan 20, 2016)

I happened to come across a heavy duty rubber commercial building entry floor mat at a job site that was getting remodeled... It was in the dumpster....It's 4'x6' and has raised edges and tread cleaning fingers and it holds around 4-5 gallons of water...I've looked these up on the net before and they're not cheap...I've had it for 12 years and works like a champ...I clean the majority of the snow off outside and then park the blower on the mat....my garage never gets below freezing even on the coldest days we have here (-20*f--30*f) and I don't heat it but it's well insulated and holds in vehicle heat very well


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## Koenig041 (Dec 18, 2013)

My methods are very close to what others have posted. I rest the machine on an old rug in the garage after excess was brushed off outside. I also place a 1 x 3 under the scraper because I have had the bottom of the chute freeze and stick to the rug.

The Troybilt blower has a plate that the impeller blades are attached. Snow will get behind the plate and freeze between the plate and the back of the drum. When this happens I will put a box heater on that part of the machine to soften up the ice. This prevents the drum from binding when engaging the auger.


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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

Ariens sells a mat for such purposes, too, but I don't think it has a raised lip on it.

It's about $29 at Home Depot.


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## koreywill (Feb 4, 2014)

I do a lot of the above mentioned items but then I break out the electric leaf blower and that gets just about everything left. I then park it inside the garage close to the door with the scraper bar on a block of wood. Any snow melt after that is easily swept or squeegeed out the door.


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