Hey guys, I enjoy buying up excess stuff on clearance, I have room to store, great organizational skills, and enjoy having whatever I need on hand as I hate stopping whatever I am working on to run to the store. I would love to find some kind of dry spray I could coat shelf liners with to put in my cabinets to prevent rust. I do have a shelf for "multiples" I keep on top, this is what I am most concerned about, not the stuff used every day. I have even thought about dipping the bottom of cans of "multiples" in a rust preventative coating like WoolWax before storing them and using something like wax paper as a shelf liner. I would just keep a rag on a hook nearby to wipe off whatever I am removing to keep mess at a minimum before moving it down to a lower shelf when replacing something used. I would love to hear suggestions on storing. Those of you that are the "I just go to the store and buy what I need" hopefully kept on scrolling after reading the title, lol. I store my cans of spray paint in the basement since my garage is not heated. For example of what I am looking to store, I just bought a few 1 gallon cans of acetone for 6 bucks a gallon, hard to pass that up. Everything in my garage yesterday was soaked from condensation. A combination of a very cold concrete floor with an unusually warm day and summer humidity is just as bad. My toolboxes all have drying agent packets in them that work well, but for shelving, those obviously don't have the same results. I have kept my excess stuff in plastic storage bins in the past with drying agents, but searching through bins stacked up for something is almost as painful as going to the store, lol, so no longer an option. Appreciate any advice on what you have found that works!
Hoarder storage
- Thread starter Poe34
- Start date
Wow, that level of humidity sounds awful. All I can think of is that you can frame up a storage area where you can control the humidity. Insulate floor, ceiling, etc. and maybe one of those dehumidifiers would be able to control it.
I caught a cold and bumped the humidifier in the bedroom up to 45% last night. Having the extra moisture in the air felt good on my throat but made the room feel weird.
I don't know how low of a percentage you need for storage, but the sensor in my shop shows a low of 27% and a peak of 31% for the past several days. No rust issues here. Maybe you can go higher than that, I don't know.
I caught a cold and bumped the humidifier in the bedroom up to 45% last night. Having the extra moisture in the air felt good on my throat but made the room feel weird.
I don't know how low of a percentage you need for storage, but the sensor in my shop shows a low of 27% and a peak of 31% for the past several days. No rust issues here. Maybe you can go higher than that, I don't know.
LopezBart
Well-known member
We have the same issues here in the Pacific Northwest - cool nights, warmer moist days. You can either try to control the humidity by sealing the place up tight and using a small dehumidifier, heating it and sealing the place up tight, or coating exposed steel surfaces with something like fluid film. When I had a small lathe in a milking shed 40+ years back, generous use of way oil and a heavy fabric cover helped a lot - never really got any rust, despite ample humidity.
Probably the easiest is to use storage bins/boxes and sort & label them to simplify finding stuff. Solvents, lubes, spray paints, etc. is what I use.
Probably the easiest is to use storage bins/boxes and sort & label them to simplify finding stuff. Solvents, lubes, spray paints, etc. is what I use.
You need to deal with your humidity, either in the whole building, or at least for storage. air seal the building, and run a dehumidifier, or air seal, insulate and add HVAC. If you can't do that, do it for storage. A storage room would be better, but cabinets that can be tight enough to use dessicant, or heated just enough to keep them above the dew point. (or some combination.
If you can't fix the humidity issue, which sounds horrible for everything, I would make a storage cabinet with a small heater/fan/dehumidifier. Whichever was cheaper that worked. But I would try and figure out a way to fix the whole issue, it has to be really hard on everything in there.
Model A Fan
Well-known member
How big of a space do you have for storage?
crguy
Well-known member
I'm in the Northwest and never get any rust in my shop due to the fact it's insulated and kept to a minimum heat year round. Don't need to wipe things down either.
3baygarage
Well-known member
Don’t leave paint cans in unheated garages. I hope someone comes along and reads this as I learned the hard way when I was younger. I assume your basement is fine/has some heat. I threw money away but was more upset about the great deal on the paint. No one ever told me. Probably printed on the can!
OneEyedMan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2015
- Messages
- 158
Could you use a flammable cabinet with a dehumidifier from a gun safe?
OccupantRJ
Well-known member
Fans keeping air moving sometimes help.
This is a 30'x24' space with open rafters and no insulation. I run a dehumidifier in my basement in the summer and the impact it has on my electric bill is enormous, not an option to save my hoard, lol. I do have a storage cabinet with doors on it in the garage. Perhaps using that with a gun safe dehumidifier is the solution. Thanks for all the comments, OneEyedMan, I think that might be the best way to go. 