Car Storage Garage advice

[BillyW124]

Hello Chaps,

A garage will be built on the side of my property soon from scatch and would be greatful for any advice from garage owners who use theirs frequently to store their cars(s).

Im particularly interested in the heated garage Vs. dehumidifyer solution and the type of flooring that would be suited best?

Its going to be a 'dry' store garage which comprises of insulation stuffed between the blocks. I believe they call them cavity walls.

Thanks.

Billy.

 

[davidmi]

The answer might depend on what you mean by storage. If you are going to work on the car during its stay then heat would be nice and an interlocking tile floor allowing you to remove and replace the oily bits. Someone with more experience of heated garages versus dehumidying can advise on short-term storage. I have stored my 1932 car for most of the last 10 years in a rather damp shed but inside a Permabag. Since I have been out of the UK for up to nine months at a time the silica canisters used in the bag to reduce humidity don't get recharged for up to that time but the car always stayed just as it was when it went in with no signs of decay. It is a lot less complex than a modern car, of course, particularly in the electrical area, but I would consider investing in a Permabag or similar if I was keeping a modern car unused for anything over 3-4 months even in either of your scenarios.

 

[BillyW124]

The garage isnt going to be used to do any work as such just a place to keep/store it.

Put it this way it's not going to be a scenario where the car is going to be untouched for 4 + months.

Just a case of when ever it needs to be used really like on the weekends - basically on an adhoc basis.

ive read that even if the car has been in the wet parking it in the garage with a dehumidifyer will work wonders drying it nicely..

like these, Garage Dehumidifiers Dehumidifiers - Portable Dehumidifiers, Commercial Dehumidifiers, Domestic Dehumidifiers, Dessicant Dehumidifiers. Buy online at DehumidifiersUK.com

In terms of a heated garage, the garage will be linked to the house so it can be accessed from inside. I guess plumbing copper pipes for a heater might be useful for when the rest of the house heating is on?

OR is that just plain daft!??

 

[trapperjohn]

Druk is the man you need to speak to about this.

Are you putting a pit in the garage Billy - or a four post lifter. Knowing you it will be the dogs of a garage.

 

[BillyW124]

Druk is the man you need to speak to about this.

Are you putting a pit in the garage Billy - or a four post lifter. Knowing you it will be the dogs of a garage.

I wish mate, a four poster would be the dogs! Any minor work will be done outside of the garage really.

Would Druk be able to advise further you think on my requirements?

 

[trapperjohn]

His garage is the dogs Billy.

Mine is not bad. Its a stand alone, single skin outer brick with with breeze block inner wall, no insulation between the two though. Tile and felt roof.

It might be an idea to have a "lean to" garage if its possible then the heat from the house can transfer itself to the garage or you can pop a radiator in from your Central Heating system.

My garage is damn cold in the winter so suggest you leave a space for a "pot bellied" stove and chimney so you can burn wood to keep yourself warm in the winter.

 

[grober]

Carcoon - Airflow Systems

 

[coupe deville]

Rad from the house central heating
not the easy way on the adjoining wall[ the one the plumber will opt for] but on the far wall

 

[BillyW124]

Carcoon - Airflow Systems

ive looked into those.

its bad enough explaining why my garage has to be a bit better than a thing 'you keep a car in' as she thinks.

...if she saw the carcoon she's gonna leave me.

come to think of it she might ask if they have a shoecoon?!

 

[bolide]

A plumbed-in dehumidifier is what you need. I run one 24x7 and it works brilliantly. The discs don't rust even over long periods

Most dehumidifiers can have an outlet pipe attached. Just mount the unit high enough to let the waste drain outside

I wouldn't spend too much money on a dehumidifier - they all fail after a couple of years and cannot be repaired economically. I used to buy the £99 Amcor units from Screwfix. They are utter rubbish but cheap enough to throw away when they break. They last as long as the £300 unit I had before

Nick Froome
www.************

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Billy also asked about flooring, which was only briefly addressed.

I've been wondering what to do with my double garage floor. Interlocking PVC tiles seem expensive but easy to put down. Cheaper epoxy paint is a lot of work to ensure it doesn't lift a few months later. Any recommendations? I don't want to work on the cars in the garage, just park them there daily without concrete dust getting everywhere.

 

[jaymanek]

I have a large garage and have considered the tiles but they are costing £5K plus.
I live with the dust from the concrete.
Painting is a waste of time unless you spend thousands on really really expensive heavy duty coating.

Heated is bad, heat encourages rust.. You want dehumidifiers... I have two or three running all the time in my garage.

 

[BillyW124]

do these dehumidifyers switch on automatically when it detects a certain level of moisture in the air?

I foolishly assume that these arent on 24x7 are they?

 

[BTB 500]

I carpeted our double garage (with underlay too ) ... used what came out of the house when we put in laminate flooring.

 

[BillyW124]

// pasted from the site above//

Guide to garage dehumidifiers

Garage Dehumidifier Guide
If nothing but the best will do for your car, tools, motorbike, or stored goods then leaving them in a cold, damp garage over the winter is a seriously bad idea. Rust starts eating into metal, mildew grows on seats, and carpets and cardboard storage boxes go soggy.

Workshops or garages with large gaps around the windows and doors are the worst affected. Yet even well sealed buildings can be a problem and the moisture on a wet car can hang around for days.....but not if you use a dehumidifier! These dry the air and help ensure your car and kit survive the wet winter unscathed.

No matter how convenient or compact a dehumidifier is, above all it has to dry the air. If your garage is unheated then you will need to choose a dehumidifier that will continue to work at cooler temperatures. This means that you will need either a compressor powered dehumidifier that has hot gas defrost or a desiccant unit that will work irrespective of the temperature. A basic compressor driven unit will be ineffective in temperatures below 15 degrees centigrade.

Handy features to have on a garage dehumidifier are auto restart and continuous drain off facility so that you do not need to continually check and empty the unit.

Auto restart means that after a power failure or power cut the unit will start back up automatically and continue to run at the same setting it was running at prior to the cut in power rather than going into standby and having to be manually reset. It also means that the unit can be left running on a plug timer if required which can be useful as it provides even greater flexibility of use than just the inbuilt timer and variable humidity level that can be adjusted by the built in humidistat.
Continuous drain off means that rather than just collecting the extracted moisture in a holding tank there is option to drain off the moisture through a small hose which can be fed into a sink, drain point or seperate holding tank.

We recommend desiccant absorbtion dehumidifiers for use in garages as the are so much more effective than compressor driven units in lower temperatures.

In addition desiccant absorption dehumidifiers have the ability to lower the Relative Humidty to 40% or lower, which is below the rusting point of metal, which means that your car, motorbike, tools etc will be protected from rust.

looks like these things are the way to go then..

As for flooring im thinking normal grout and porcelain tiles. quick and easy to clean. They are tough too.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

As for flooring im thinking normal grout and porcelain tiles. quick and easy to clean. They are tough too.

.... but slippery when wet so not really suitable for daily use.

 

[jaymanek]

yes be very careful with tiles.. You can get some with a grippy coating but even commercial showroom tiles can be a death trap with a wet car on.

 

[Dieselman]

You don't need heating, dehumidifiers or tiles, just a decent weatherproof garage.

As you are building from scratch I would insulate and draught-proof it for YOUR comfort, the car will be fine in there.
A colder garage slows down any rust due to reducing the chemical reaction speed.

For the floor just concrete treated with concrete hardener will stop any dust, but an old carpet thrown down is nicer to stand on.
My cars have no problems with corrosion (even on disks) when in the garage, so you don't need a dehumidifier at all (even if it actually works at all in reducing the humidity), and you definitely don't want to heat it as the car then becomes the coldest part so will collect condensation.

I find it I put the cars away wet the engine heat drives water off the cars onto the inside of the metal doors.

If you are really bothered, ensure there is adequate ventilation or even forced ventilation.

 

[highland lad]

A coat of PVA mixed equal parts with water will stop all the dust

 

[Palfrem]

Nail some old carpet on the wall where the car doors will open, unless the garage is that big they can't hit the wall.