Aluminum foil can do much more than just cover food. Keep a roll or two on hand for these helpful uses and more.
12 Brilliant Uses For Aluminum Foil Around The House
Updated Sep. 08, 2024
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Clean Grill Grates
Before your next cookout, grab some aluminum foil to clean your grill grates. Just warm up the grill, shape some foil into a ball and scrub the hot grates with it. Since the grill is hot, hold the foil with tongs instead of your hand.
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Protect Your Key Fob
Thieves can use devices to amplify key fob signals to cars or copy codes to get into a vehicle. Aluminum foil can come in handy to keep your car safe. Wrapping your key fob with foil decreases the fob’s signal.
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Move Furniture
Need to move a heavy piece of furniture? To help you slide it across a carpeted floor, place small pieces of aluminum foil under each leg, dull side down. The dull slide is more slippery than the shiny side, allowing you to move the piece with ease.
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Protect Your Sleeping Bag
Bring a roll of aluminum foil on your next camping trip to help keep moisture out of your sleeping bag. Heavy-duty aluminum foil works as an insulator and protectant. Place it under your sleeping bag to help keep it warm and dry.
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Strengthen WiFi Signal
Are you old enough to remember using aluminum foil to boost TV antenna signals? If that worked, what about WiFi?
According to Popular Science, you can use foil to wrap a 3D-printed reflector to amplify your WiFi signal in places where you need it most, like your home office. “Think of it like a reflector behind a flashlight bulb, concentrating the beam where you want it to go,” the article explains.
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Scrub Kitchen Pots
Next time you have food residue stuck on your pots and pans, crumble up a ball of aluminum foil and scrub away with a little water. Just be sure not to use aluminum foil on nonstick surfaces; it can scratch the coating.
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Keep the Fireplace Clean
Aluminum foil makes cleaning your fireplace easier! Before you light a fire, create a tray with heavy-duty aluminum foil and place it across the bottom of the fireplace. Then when the ashes cool, remove the foil along with the ashes and throw it all away.
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Fight Garden Pests
Gardeners can use aluminum foil to keep garden pests away. According to experts at Virginia Tech, wrapping aluminum foil around plant stems helps shield plants from cutworms. Many gardeners also say strips of foil mixed in with garden mulch keeps damaging insects away from plants.
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Keep Your House Warm
Aluminum foil can help you keep your home warm during the winter months. If you have a radiator next to an external wall, place some aluminum foil behind the radiator. The reflective nature of the foil will prevent heat from disappearing through the wall and reflect it back into the room.
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Polish Silverware
If you have silverware actually made of silver that’s tarnished, line a pan with aluminum foil and use baking soda, salt and boiling water to bring back the shine.
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Keep the Cat Off the Counter
If you’re tired of your cat getting on the kitchen counter, break out some aluminum foil. Cats can’t stand the noise and feel of foil underneath their paws. Tape a few strips on the edges to keep them from hanging out on top of the counter.
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Keep the Cat Off the Couch
As with the kitchen counter, make your couch a fur-free zone with some aluminum foil. Tear off a piece and cover the top of the couch and the cushion with it. That should deter your cat from relaxing on the couch when you’re not home.
Originally Published: March 20, 2021
