heating and humidity

[idickers]

How do you folks with heated or insulated garage-shops handle humidity? It's cold up here in upstate NY, and I'm thinking of insulating my 2 1/2 car garage this summer. I currently only have siding nailed to plywood over the studs on the outside. I'm thinking of spraying a 1" layer of TigerFoam inside the bays between the studs to block cold/wind/moisture, then adding fiberglass insulation in the stud bays, followed by drywall (or magnesiacore, if I can afford it).

However, since we also park our cars, which are often encased in snow/salt/slop, I'm concerned that in the warmer shop the snow and ice will melt off the cars and raise the humidity in the garage and rust my tools. To vent the garage would defeat the purpose of insulating it, so I'm at a standstill. I do a fair bit of metalworking and welding in the shop part of the garage, and have a radiant electric heater installed in the ceiling over my work area, but I've gotta get the temp above single digit digits, and don't want to give up the winter months.

Thanks in advance,
Ian

 

[bd8134]

When I used a torpedo kerosene heater the humidity was bad and the smell not good either. I have now installed a propane outside vented heater, the external vent I think is important. I have not noticed tools rusting or humidity like I did with the kerosene heater. I do have a de-humidifier also that I have started using. It is set at 50% and occasionaly kicks in when it has snowed when we bring in the cars.
All the best with your choice. I think you should find someone on this forum who will give you a more scientific answer than I can.

 

[walrus]

My shop is tight, very tight and I brought my truck in to melt it off, had a ton of snow on it. This was weeks ago and I'm still dealing with the humidity. Its a concern for sure. I don't keep mine heated all the time but its never dropped below 40. As the temps fall the condensation clears up, as temps rise it comes back. Been meaning to check the humidity so I can see how high it really is. I heat with a wood stove so you'd think it would dry it out

 

[singring]

Walrus...first, you should have cleared off as much snow from your truck as possible before you took it inside your garage...but you must realize that by now. Second, on warm days, just open your garage doors so the moist warm air will escape, and be replaced with fresh cold air, and keep a second door open to allow for a thru flow of air. Cold air is drier than warm air. Third, either buy, or rent, a dehumidifier. They work wonders for removing moisture.

 

[Chetter]

I keep the temp set at 48-50* in my garage when I am not working in it and what I do when the wife and I come home and pull into the garage, the snow melts off, then I go out a couple hours later to use my old shop vac and clean up the standing water. When the heater runs during the night it dries the floor up for the most part. It helps with the humidity and takes me about 10 min to do.

 

[Andamo]

I bought a 52'' fan off someone on Craiglist for $15 and installed it in my 3 bay garage. I always have it running on slow speed, but when the cars come in with snow and ice on them, I just crank up the fan to high speed. I have the heater set for 50 degrees and it's amazing how quick the water evaporates off the floor and out of the air.

 

[nehog]

First invest in a wet/dry vacuum to clean up the water. That's what I do, it works well. A good vacuum will even eat snow/slush. Get as big a one as possible.

The second thing I did was to create an area on the floor where I park, that traps water. Took 2x4 laid flat (and connected with steel strap so they don't move) and covered that with some 15 mil reinforced plastic. That keeps the water in one place, so it doesn't run all over the place. (and makes it easy to vacuum up, too...)

Works wonderfully.

 

[Chetter]

First invest in a wet/dry vacuum to clean up the water. That's what I do, it works well. A good vacuum will even eat snow/slush. Get as big a one as possible.

The second thing I did was to create an area on the floor where I park, that traps water. Took 2x4 laid flat (and connected with steel strap so they don't move) and covered that with some 15 mil reinforced plastic. That keeps the water in one place, so it doesn't run all over the place. (and makes it easy to vacuum up, too...)

Works wonderfully.

I'd like to see a picture of what you have there. Sounds like different idea.

 

[bazzateer]

Even an insulated garage needs air to circulate otherwise you will always have condensation problems.

 

[Never Enough]

My method, works very well.

#1 Add electric heater = adds heat and as a bonus removes humidity.
#2 add a dehumidifier = removes humidity and coincidentally adds heat
A ceiling fan circulates the air as an added bonus to make #1 & #2 more efficient.
Insulation will keep all that heat (dry air) in regardless of method. More is better.

 

[Keith_MN]

Ian, I think your concern is valid. The garage environment is pretty nasty considering the salty water all over the floor (at least it is salty in MN where we use a lot of it). My steel workbench has started to rust near the floor where water tends to pool below it.

The shop vac does work well but then you have to bring it outside to dump. Another solution is a squeegee and just push it outside. However this can leave an icey mess on the drive way.

My dad in his garage cut a half inch groove accross the floor where water collected. The groove directed the water into a 5 gallon bucket that he buried in the concrete. This allowed the concrete to dry up faster and made it easy to **** out with the vacuum.