Schnarr's Hardware Offers Tips And Supplies For Spring Activities

Warm breezes earlier this week have given way to another wave of chilly temps, but local residents undoubtedly sense spring is in the air, and with this comes the urge to begin cleaning, fixing and gardening.

offers some tips for folks getting into the swing of things this spring, and plenty of useful supplies to help get everything done.

Spring Cleaning

Windows, gutters, and decks are obvious candidates for tidying up as the weather warms. Bill Schoenhoefer, who manages Schnarr's, said when it comes to hard-to-reach windows, there are a couple of new products from Windex that offer a solution to the challenge, beginning with the Outdoor All-in-One ($20) tool which attaches a pad to an expandable pole.

Alternatively, a drip-dry Windex Outdoor ($8.99) solution is available, which comes in the form of a bottle with a hose attachment, allowing one to simply spray a window and clean it via a sheeting action.

Gutters beg for help as the rainy season approaches, and Schnarr's is bringing in a product that connects your hose to an expandable, curved metal wand with a spray jet to flush out the leaves, dirt and branches. Schoenhoefer estimates the product will be less than $50 when it arrives, shortly.

If you're planning on cleaning your deck, Schnarr's sells power washers for less than $150. You can also purchase detergents, such as outdoor Clorex ($19 for a 180-ounce bottle), and use a stiff brush ($7-$17) to scrub down moss-tinted or grimy sections.

Repairs

That screen repair you put off as winter approached is an easy fix at Schnarr's. The store is happy to do the repair for you (parts plus labor, typically $20-$30), or sell you either a patch kit ($4) or custom order you a screen to do the work yourself.

If your spring inspection reveals peeling paint, or it's just time for a new color, Schnarr's carries a full line of Valspar paints to do the job. If you don't have any old cans left to identify the color you're repairing, a thumbnail-size of peeled-off paint can be analyzed by a computer scanner device in the store's paint section to come up with a match.

Yard and Garden

An everyday rake ($12-$20) will get you started on cleaning your yard, flower beds, and garden of leaves and debris, and Schoenhoefer recommends then using fertilizer and mulch, to both promote healthy growth and reduce weeds.

A 50-pound bag of Greenleaf fertilizer, which uses a 12-12-12 ratio of nitrogen, pot ash and phosphorous to encourage strong roots and flowering, will cost you $20. Schnarr's mulch is a hardwood bark product and runs less than $7 per three cubic foot bag.

There are numerous planters for sale, and Schnarr's also offers a full line of packaged vegetable and flower seed products ($2-$10) for your garden. Additional fertilizer and soil products are also in stock to get your garden up and running.

Schoenhoefer also showed off some new eco-friendly bird feeders the store recently added to the shelves, by Green Solutions ($20-$50). The feeders are made of recycled plastic containers, and are designed to house specific feed types and to be friendly to unique bird species. There is plenty of bird seed to stock the feeders with as well.

Schnarr's staff is friendly and interested in learning their customers' needs. Schoenhoefer also pointed out that Schnarr's has a large online store where many products not available in the store can be ordered.

Whether you have your projects mapped out and are ready to pick up the supplies and get going, or you are just scratching your head thinking about what you need to do, check out Schnarr's to get started on your spring outdoor tasks.