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Basement garage with mold problem.
- Thread starter wookie
- Start date
The basement garage has no double hung windows just 1 garage door with 4 small windows. I sealed up the foundation 8 years ago when the house was remodled. I would say that the grade of the yard is not correct and needs to be fixed. So should I get a dehumidifer for the garage for now.
Brownbagg is right.
Mold means moisture.
You are right.
The first thing is grading and long outlet pipes on the downspouts.
A dehumidifier may work.
But you are asking a lot of what are nowadays pretty small capacity machines.
Just a window fan exhausting out for a few hours after you bring in something wet may work for a whole lot less money.
I am a big believer in air circulation.
I keep fans running 24/365 in the basement, garage, and shop.
It keeps down the rust and mold problem tremendously.
Mold means moisture.
You are right.
The first thing is grading and long outlet pipes on the downspouts.
A dehumidifier may work.
But you are asking a lot of what are nowadays pretty small capacity machines.
Just a window fan exhausting out for a few hours after you bring in something wet may work for a whole lot less money.
I am a big believer in air circulation.
I keep fans running 24/365 in the basement, garage, and shop.
It keeps down the rust and mold problem tremendously.
I start out with just the 20 inch drug store window fans.
Set on low and aim it into the darkest, dampest corner.
When you can find one at a garage sale get a celing fan.
Hook it up to a plug in cord, hang it in the center of the garage, blowing up if you have a flat celing otherwise blowing down, plug it into the outlet for the door opener, set it on low, and forget it.
You will get enough constant air motion to prevent a lot of damage.
Set on low and aim it into the darkest, dampest corner.
When you can find one at a garage sale get a celing fan.
Hook it up to a plug in cord, hang it in the center of the garage, blowing up if you have a flat celing otherwise blowing down, plug it into the outlet for the door opener, set it on low, and forget it.
You will get enough constant air motion to prevent a lot of damage.
odd thats its just the tractor and such and not the walls ceiling ect, might be some sort of out side contaminate? sticking on surface and when brought in to humid condition spores start to grow. i once used a polishing compound in my garage and the next day tiny mold spores every where, car next to it bench ect. but not in the structure.
Daniel Dudley
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2009
- Messages
- 3,546
I would agree that step one is to make sure that water is draining away from your house.
You could also try a small dehumidifier with the fan suggested.
Google up the radonseal website. see if any of what they say applies to your basement. I have used Radonseal successfully to stop vapor migration, and it was a great improvement for me. It also makes a good base for paint, so I used a solvent besed paint over it, since I had already done so much cleaning and prep.
You could also try a small dehumidifier with the fan suggested.
Google up the radonseal website. see if any of what they say applies to your basement. I have used Radonseal successfully to stop vapor migration, and it was a great improvement for me. It also makes a good base for paint, so I used a solvent besed paint over it, since I had already done so much cleaning and prep.
I did find that the top of my insulated garage door was not pushed againsted the seal enough to keep some draft from coming into the garage so I used some 3/8 rubber hose on the top wheel track to get a good seal for now. The temp in the garage is about 50 deg F and its pretty cold out side now. I'll take a look at the radon seal website, I used a white sealer for moisture in the original cinder block foundation of the house but the new remodel area where the garage is poured cement I did not.
tcianci
Well-known member
Take the rubber off the door... like everyone has said, your problem is not enough air. Sealing the **** out of everything is not going to help. Grading is job 1, and having the concrete properly moisture proofed is a must as well. The reality of things is that often the building is just too damn tight for the intended use. Mold is an airborne spore finding a nice place to grow and those nice places are typically the ones where there is little light and air circulation. Read the posts on here, this place is up to it's eyeballs in mold.
You can't have it both ways...sealing the daylights out of a building will lead to
problems...problems cost money to remedy...a little extra money spent on conditioning a slightly "drafty" the space in the first place is a much more reliabe and robust long term solutuion rather than implementing fixes such as fans or dehumidifiers and air to air heat exchangers, all of which require a level of maintenance to ensure they work correctly. Just because it looks like a problem has been solved with one of these devices doesn't mean that there isn't stuff going on where you can't see it. Everyone seems to want to build the ultimate space that can be heated all season on one good warm fart.
You can't have it both ways...sealing the daylights out of a building will lead to
problems...problems cost money to remedy...a little extra money spent on conditioning a slightly "drafty" the space in the first place is a much more reliabe and robust long term solutuion rather than implementing fixes such as fans or dehumidifiers and air to air heat exchangers, all of which require a level of maintenance to ensure they work correctly. Just because it looks like a problem has been solved with one of these devices doesn't mean that there isn't stuff going on where you can't see it. Everyone seems to want to build the ultimate space that can be heated all season on one good warm fart.
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I totally agree with the grading as #1 , but this is a basement garage and my daughters bedroom is over the garage and the gap does not help with heating in the room, she also has asthma and I'm sure mold is not good for her condition also.
Steve in Mi
Well-known member
Your basement garage may be too cool (cold) for the standard dehumidifier to work without icing up. Search 'rock salt dehumidification' for a reasonable approach to attacking the problem - removing the moisture. I've posted the method a few times so it should be easy to find both here and in the heating section.