Preparing for Winter

What types of things have you done to get ready for winter so far this year relating to your scrap? I've been moving some of my outdoor barrels into my small shed for storage, and making sure everything is out of the way for when Dad plows the yard out. Also going to get some plywood to lay over top of my scrap bin to keep the snow off, in case steel suddenly spikes mid-winter (I can dream )


If there is already a thread on this someplace and I missed it, feel free to delete mods

I've moved my tools and bins to the basement for the ''to do later'' breakdowns. I'll do the first main break down of some items outside but after pulling 8 to 10 hour days in a freezing warehouse no way in HELL am I gonna work outside more than I have to this winter! Was different when I scrapped full time in the winter at home or dads, I could go into the house at any time to warm up.

Originally Posted by newattitude

I've moved my tools and bins to the basement for the ''to do later'' breakdowns. I'll do the first main break down of some items outside but after pulling 8 to 10 hour days in a freezing warehouse no way in HELL am I gonna work outside more than I have to this winter! Was different when I scrapped full time in the winter at home or dads, I could go into the house at any time to warm up.

Anything you can share about how you're preparing for winter at the scrap yard?

Originally Posted by Longhairboy

Anything you can share about how you're preparing for winter at the scrap yard?

We have moved most all of the mountain (and I do mean a mountain!) of cans inside to the middle warehouse area so we can continue bailing those. We used cardboard bails to make two walls to contain them in the corner of that building. We have also cleaned up most of the aluminum mountain and are now bringing anything new inside instead of dumping it outside. Anything left outside is now covered in snow!

...Sigh... Must install heat in the warehouse. It's getting a little nippy in there.

Originally Posted by spinroch

...Sigh... Must install heat in the warehouse. It's getting a little nippy in there.

work faster

I put hand warmers inside fingerless work gloves. It helps a lot. warms the blood going into your fingers

Continue living in the south. Mike

Well, we have been lucky so far down here in Florida. It has not started snowing yet. However, the cold air is moving in fast so I have made all the necessary preparations. I turned off the air conditioning in the car and will do so in the house very soon, I have put away the sandals and put on closed shoes, finally, I have unpacked the long sleeve shirts from last year and hung them up for when it really gets cold. Man, I hate winter... not sure I will survive it...

I spent money. Pretty much how that went for preparations.

I fixed some suspension issues on my truck, changed the in tank fuel filter (it's a gas dodge...impossible job really unless the tank is literally empty), reverse flushed the coolant to blow out old stop leak from the heater core so this year I'd have heat.

Next I cleaned out all my workspaces, the garage, the basement, my laundry room etc. Conducted an impromptu inventory and tossed the rest. Then I have two 20 foot shipping containers I bought online brought out to my grandparents place. This is my new cold storage, where rebuildable components will be stored for the winter, towers, laptops, etc. (I don't worry about screens freezing, after all there are TFT displays in trucks and cars these days). Then we dragged another container up a hill with the truck and placed it next to the workshop so I could move my aluminum, al/cu and copper storage out there. I make regular trips to these places so breaking up this stuff to save space isn't really a problem.

Last, I fixed some more lighting issues and sealed up my doors with new weatherstripping after moving the fiero project inside I taped up the overhead door as it will not be used until spring.

It's taken over a week but I think the only things I have left are fixing the carb on the snowblower and fixing the brakes on the trailer at some point. I haven't worried about it much lately as I don't really haul more than the truck can stop safely on it's own anymore. With winter here I need to rethink that and figure out why my brakes are not activating.

I also bought long underwear, new bib overalls, a used carhart jacket (because I'm just that cheap and I don't much care about anything but servicability) and a new hat, this time full goretex awesomeness. My gloves from last year were scrubbed of oil and grease and look "ok" so they will be reused this winter.

I have 40 gallons of kerosene left which should be ok, because i don't use it for heat so much as a spot to heat myself back up every half hour or so. I have heat in the shop, propane which is filled from last year still, used very little of it. I have it set to 36, but the building seems to stay right around 38 on it's own as long as I don't open it up very often. I use the shop mainly for fabrication and storage. Breakdowns and stuff are at the house itself, it's just easier to have access to testing equipment and internet for looking stuff up.

Only thing I worry about at this point is not having a plow anymore, I have to rely on my truck to get to and from the building from the road and the snowblower to do the work if it's too much for the truck or the mailman/fed ex guy. At my actual house it's in the city and I have a 13 year old for snow removal duties.

I’m kinda killing two birds with one stone with my winter prep.

So, my gf and I split up a couple of weeks ago and I was able to snag an apartment closer to work and NOT in the country (I don’t know how you guys do it). So the past couple of weeks, aside from moving what little bit of stuff that I got in the “divorce” (a desk, my computer, my puppy, chair), I’ve had to start moving all of my scrap stuff. I am amazed at how fast all of that stuff accumulated. There’s still a little bit left over there not including a pile of trash junk that I’ll have to take to the commercial dump.

So in bringing all of the stuff to my new apartment, it gives me the opportunity to sort it all better. Luckily, there’s a bit of storage space in the way of a shed that the upstairs neighbor doesn’t use so it’s pretty much mine to do with as I please. There’s also a little porch area outside of the back door that’s mine to mess around with so I think that’s where I’ll keep my tin buckets and make it my staging area since the truck can go right up next to it almost like a little loading dock. It’s a two-bedroom apartment and it’s only me (YAY MY OWN PLACE!!!) and the pup so I think that second (small) bedroom will become an office/storage room.

I have as much inside now as I can and the staging area is covered so not too much worry about the elements messing with that. LOTS of computers stacked in the living room and my bedroom. Once everything is moved, I will start the long process of organizing and handling indoor break-down stuff. I’m actually looking forward to stripping all the wire I’ve accumulated. It will be a nice stay-inside winter project