Heated Garage Winter - Wet floor

[72FordGTS]

I have a 28' x 32' heated attached garage. It has a hydronic heated slab, and I usually keep the garage around 55 degrees in the winter. One garage bay is used by one of our daily driver cars, so it brings in a lot of snow and moisture. I don't have any garage floor drains (tried to have one put in when being built, but against building code).

I have noticed that the concrete is starting to suffer from some surface damage due to the salt water. I'd like to prevent further damage from the floor. So I have been thinking about getting a floor containment mat. I have looked at the Tru Containment mat and the Autofloor guard, and both looks decent. I want something about 9 x 20 in size, just in case I pull my truck in the garage. Any opinions on which is better and why?

A couple of questions on these. If I want to do some vehicle maintenance during winter, I am assuming they wouldn't be good to put floor jacks or ramps on. So are they easy to pull out of the garage temporarily, so I can do work on the vehicle, then pull it back in. How durable are they? How many years can you expect to get out of them (I'd only use it during winter).

I will try to squeegee the mat out fairly often, but I know there will still be lots of water and moisture. How can I effectively keep the water dried up in the garage? I was thinking of a big fan or maybe a good dehumidfier to help keep the moisture levels down. I kind of like the dehumidifier since it will add a bit of heat to the garage too, but it's probably the more expensive option.

Any advice or feedback is appreciated.

 

[kumquat]

I have a similar setup. I just **** the water up with a shop vac whenever I get too much.

 

[Showkey]

Little late in the year for this winter..........but a surface coating ( sealers, paint, epoxy) on the floor is the other option. Obviously a lot more expensive and involved than the floor mat containment system.

55* set temp and dehumidifier is the bottom end of operation so it will spent too much time in defrost mode. Yes......some are rated for low temperature but the efficiency is piss poor.

Fan works only if the mixing air in “relatively dry”......if the mix air is 70-80% relative humidity not much drying will occur. If the air is 40-50% then drying will happen.

 

[trashmanssd]

I use a dehumidifier in my garage all winter to fight the snow melt humidity. Does make a big difference in mine and I keep the heat at 50-55 in there all the time. It may waste some electricity but I have a nice garage and don't want it all rusting from snow melt. I also will squeegee it out when the cars come in covered in snow not just the stuff from the road on under side.

 

[MFolks]

Go to www.griotsgarage.com look for a cointop mat.

 

[72FordGTS]

Thanks for the advice. I ended up scoring an old dehumidfier that works well from a friend for free, so I may try it out just to see how it works.

I don't know much about concrete, but I believe the floor was originally sealed when it was poured. It was a really shiny finish when wet, and dried very smooth. Other than were the car has been parked, it is in near perfect condition. So ideally, I would like to fix the finish on the floor (not sure if I can just fix the one spot, or have to do the whole floor), but I think it's too late in the year to do that now.

I think I am probably going to get one of those containment mats. From reading through the archives here, I think the AutoFloorGuard may fit my needs better. If anyone has any input on these mats, it would be appreciated. Or any other input on keeping the garage floor dry.