In a shop in the Pacific NW (Seattle) I'm having a problem with moisture. It's an old residential garage built before they commonly used vapor barrier below the slab. When it rains a lot the moisture comes up from underneath. The humidity causes anything steel to have condesation moisture. I use little desicant packs in my tool box drawers but need something to keep the whole garage dry as my mill and lathe get rust even in hard to reach areas. Any suggestions?
It's an old residential garage built before they commonly used vapor barrier below the slab. When it rains a lot the moisture comes up from underneath. The humidity causes anything steel to have condesation moisture. I use little desicant packs in my tool box drawers but need something to keep the whole garage dry as my mill and lathe get rust even in hard to reach areas. Any suggestions?
It's an old residential garage built before they commonly used vapor barrier below the slab. When it rains a lot the moisture comes up from underneath. The humidity causes anything steel to have condesation moisture. I use little desicant packs in my tool box drawers but need something to keep the whole garage dry as my mill and lathe get rust even in hard to reach areas. Any suggestions?
Can you put a drain around your foundation to prevent the water from collecting under the floor? Essentially dig a trench around your foundation deeper than the footing and lay drainage tiles around the perimeter. You may need a sump pump if you cannot use gravity to drain the water away.
A sheet of 6 mil plastic and 2" of concrete. Might as well put radiant tubing in the concrete pour, and add some insulation under it if headroom is not too tight. Also fix any drainage towards the building, causing it to drain away from the building - see the "wet basement" thread for the full-bore approach, but since you're not in a hole in the ground, it's less of a problem, once you get the plastic down on the floor.
You can TRY waterstop paint on the floor, it's relatively cheap & quick, but I would not give it great odds for success. But it won't hurt to try it. Do a good job prepping the floor (degrease, etch with acid, etc) to improve your odds of success.
Well, you can do what the builders have done to houses in my neighborhood. Beadblast the slab, 1/8" special water-loving epoxy, 1/2" self-leveling mortor. About $3/sq. ft. I think.
I second this. After that you can also paint the floor to reduce water vapor from coming thru the concrete. Glidden made a latex paint rated for water vapor transmission.
Contact a concrete contractor in your area and ask if they have a solution. Although all my floors have insulation under them, I always have the "sealed" the day they are poured. I don't know what this stuff is, but they spray it on the floor while it is still wet. I don't have ANY condensation EVER. Some floors are heated and some are not. I don't really think the moisture is coming through the concrete, though. If that were true, wouldn't a concrete tub or tank be seeping whenever there was water in it?
I think that when the temperature of the concrete goes below the dew point of the air in the room, the water in the air condenses out on the cold floor.
Cut a 4" or 6" square of aluminum foil and tape it to the concrete floor. Tape around all four edges to seal them.
If the topside of the foil gets wet, it's condensation. If the concrete around the foil is wet, but the foil top is dry, the water is seeping through the concrete.
It's an old residential garage built before they commonly used vapor barrier below the slab. When it rains a lot the moisture comes up from underneath. The humidity causes anything steel to have condesation moisture. I use little desicant packs in my tool box drawers but need something to keep the whole garage dry as my mill and lathe get rust even in hard to reach areas. Any suggestions?
Mist collects on metals because of temperature changes,dewpoint--we are not alone here in the Pacific NW with this problem.
Avoid rapid temprature changes, wherein moist air is allowed to come in contact with cold steel and thus precipitate out into liquid droplets.....
As to preventing ingress of moisture in the first place, plenty of viable solutions have already been offered.
Realize that if you simply heat your shop and maintain a fairly even temprature, the problem will likely dissappear, regardless of actual relative humidity inside or outside of your shop.
But its rapid temp changes that have the most deletorious effect, cold steel.... vs warmer wet air........
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