Two things I am primarily concerned with are Mold and Bugs while storing a long term car project that I just don't have time to work on but I can't let go of just yet.
Here is the garage I started with:
Its a small garage that is 12' x 20'.
One man door, one un-insulated garage door.
One outlet, one light, but I just replaced the outlet, switch, and fixture.
The man door was just replaced, and the garage door is a standard uninstalled door I installed a decade ago.
There is conditioned space above, behind, and to the right of the garage, but the left wall and garage door are concrete block and have no insulation.
Overall the garage stays relatively cool in Florida heat even though it has no ventilation or air flow.
The first thing I did was to pressure wash the walls, ceiling, and floor. It was previously painted a couple times, its peeling up and it looks terrible and dirty.
I went over the garage and filled all the holes with putty, the ceiling was full of them, I also crawled around the floor and caulked all the gaps in the concrete by the walls. That took 10 tubes of caulking, so the slab has settled a lot in 45 years.
Then I covered up the floor and sprayed everything with Kilz latex primer.
There are a couple places that I will have to go back and hit with a roller to put on another coat. Some of the places were the paint had peeled off the drywall are yellowing.
I even sprayed the ceiling, which went much smoother than I anticipated.
Then I pulled off the masking and added another 2 tubes of calk to the gaps to even it out.
Then I threw down a can of oil based paint on the floor. I didn't think latex would stick and it appears to have oil based paint already.
Then I touched up the edges again and a few spots, the coverage on the floor isn't the greatest, so I may put down another coat of paint because I can't help myself.
The exterior walls are heavy stucco over block. I assume that they were open air before they got closed in at some point.
I have lots of water issues on the right side drywall that I am trying to work around, I will put down a plastic baseboard and caulk it to the floor, or maybe I have enough of that vinyl trim leftover from my house garage.
So the concerns are to make sure it stays dry, I have had mold issues before on stuff that was stored unattended for years. Its just damp in there I guess, so I have ordered a 30 pint B&D dehumidifier.
Lets hope it can keep the humidity down, I am going to run a line out under the garage door and just let it weep.
I am not sure if its big enough, but if the space isn't accessed very often, I am hoping it will do the job. Any ideas?
Also, I have had some roach and plaster bagworms in the garage before. I am hoping to minimize bugs if possible, and I know bagworms love the humidity. They turn into moths that eat clothes and probably cardboard so I don't want them anywhere near my stuff.
No hope on getting a good seal on the garage door, and I'm not sure its even possible. I did replace the rubber strip on the bottom.
Any boxes will be stacked on top of half inch styrofoam so its not touching the concrete, hopefully this will cut down on moisture transfer.
Do you have any recommendations on bugs other than spraying?
I am going to be storing a project car that I just don't have time to work on lately, and hopefully will get back to it soon. I am concerned with the interior degrading, so any suggestions to protect it long term are welcome.
Here is the garage I started with:
Its a small garage that is 12' x 20'.
One man door, one un-insulated garage door.
One outlet, one light, but I just replaced the outlet, switch, and fixture.
The man door was just replaced, and the garage door is a standard uninstalled door I installed a decade ago.
There is conditioned space above, behind, and to the right of the garage, but the left wall and garage door are concrete block and have no insulation.
Overall the garage stays relatively cool in Florida heat even though it has no ventilation or air flow.
The first thing I did was to pressure wash the walls, ceiling, and floor. It was previously painted a couple times, its peeling up and it looks terrible and dirty.
I went over the garage and filled all the holes with putty, the ceiling was full of them, I also crawled around the floor and caulked all the gaps in the concrete by the walls. That took 10 tubes of caulking, so the slab has settled a lot in 45 years.
Then I covered up the floor and sprayed everything with Kilz latex primer.
There are a couple places that I will have to go back and hit with a roller to put on another coat. Some of the places were the paint had peeled off the drywall are yellowing.
I even sprayed the ceiling, which went much smoother than I anticipated.
Then I pulled off the masking and added another 2 tubes of calk to the gaps to even it out.
Then I threw down a can of oil based paint on the floor. I didn't think latex would stick and it appears to have oil based paint already.
Then I touched up the edges again and a few spots, the coverage on the floor isn't the greatest, so I may put down another coat of paint because I can't help myself.
The exterior walls are heavy stucco over block. I assume that they were open air before they got closed in at some point.
I have lots of water issues on the right side drywall that I am trying to work around, I will put down a plastic baseboard and caulk it to the floor, or maybe I have enough of that vinyl trim leftover from my house garage.
So the concerns are to make sure it stays dry, I have had mold issues before on stuff that was stored unattended for years. Its just damp in there I guess, so I have ordered a 30 pint B&D dehumidifier.
Lets hope it can keep the humidity down, I am going to run a line out under the garage door and just let it weep.
I am not sure if its big enough, but if the space isn't accessed very often, I am hoping it will do the job. Any ideas?
Also, I have had some roach and plaster bagworms in the garage before. I am hoping to minimize bugs if possible, and I know bagworms love the humidity. They turn into moths that eat clothes and probably cardboard so I don't want them anywhere near my stuff.
No hope on getting a good seal on the garage door, and I'm not sure its even possible. I did replace the rubber strip on the bottom.
Any boxes will be stacked on top of half inch styrofoam so its not touching the concrete, hopefully this will cut down on moisture transfer.
Do you have any recommendations on bugs other than spraying?
I am going to be storing a project car that I just don't have time to work on lately, and hopefully will get back to it soon. I am concerned with the interior degrading, so any suggestions to protect it long term are welcome.
Last edited: