Canada is known for its beautiful but cold winters. While winter doesn’t officially begin until late December, snow can start falling as early as September in certain parts of the country. While homeowners are busy putting on snow tires and pulling out warm winter sweaters, many often forget about the outside of their homes. To avoid any disappointment next summer, here’s how to easily winterize your outdoor kitchen.
Add Doors to Your Gazebo
Gazebos are open structures with pillars that support a steady roof. They work perfectly if you’re organizing a summer or fall barbeque or hosting family dinners in your backyard. However, protecting such an open structure becomes a challenge during windy winters. You also have to consider the placement of all the cooking set-up, furniture and decorations during winter to protect it. Here, you can add innovative automatic doors to your gazebo just like your garage. With these automated doors, you can use the gazebo even on non-snowy days by opening just one of four doors and accessing your outdoor kitchen.
Take Care of Plumbing and Gas
If you plan to completely close off your outdoor kitchen during winter, make sure you switch off the gas and water main lines that supply the outdoor kitchen. Low winter temperatures can result in frozen or burst pipes which can lead to expensive repairs. To avoid such situations, we recommend you hire a local pro to inspect and close off your outdoor faucets securely. If you use portable gas cans for your barbeque station, you can store them in a secure place in your garage or in a corner in your backyard to avoid any fire hazards.
Cover your Cooking Station
If you have a simple cooking station such as a barbeque grill, smoker, outdoor pizza oven or fryer, you can simply cover them with waterproof coveralls. You can get special grill covers suitable to the size and type of your cooking station that will protect them from snow, water and heavy wind. You can purchase these covers from the same store where you bought the equipment or order it online.
Store Away in a Shed
Last but not least, you can try storing away your outdoor kitchen setup along with all the furniture, decorations and accessories into a small backyard shed. You can fold and box up all the equipment and safely store it away in this shed which will strongly protect your kitchen set up until the next barbeque season arrives. A local contractor can help you build a shed in no time once you submit a request for a custom quote.
It is highly important to cover or store away your expensive outdoor kitchen set up to maintain its longevity. You build an expensive outdoor kitchen so it can last for years to come. But improper maintenance during low temperature, snow and snow water can damage the grills, appliances, furniture and decorations in just one winter. If you don’t currently have an outdoor kitchen but are now considering it, read this article with 3 facts you need to know before you start building your dream outdoor kitchen.
