Winter Lay Up. Keeping Dry?

[brucemillar]

Folks

I wish to keep my beloved 300TE 4-Matic pristine over the winter months. She is now on SORN and consigned to my detached block built garage. This is a large double garage with a concrete floor, pit & a tiled pitched roof. It has two rooms at the rear and a large roof space. It is a single breeze block construction with windows and a cement/roughcast render. SO no insulation or cavity space. It has full electrics fed from the main house on a separate consumer unit and armoured underground cable(s)

There are no obvious holes or cracks in the walls and I have just had a large section of the roof repaired with new tiles/felt & batons, where we removed a rotten (soon to collapse) dormer. This was a DIY built construction by the previous owner who had dreams of living above the garage, without thinking about the roof truss strength etc.

So basically, I have nice dry reasonably draft free garage.

What is the best and most economical way to keep my car dry, warm and condensation free during the winter months? Please remember it is a fully restored 124 and 124' consume their own weight in rust faster than a fast thing.

I have baited the entire garage with mouse & rat poison, as a precaution against any furry creatures that want see my car as prime winter hibernation space.

Some say that I should get all four wheels in the air for the duration. I have good stands for this if required. The limitation being that it is then a pain should I have to move it (unlikely but could be required).

I previously stored a Ferrari and was horrified at how quickly mould would appear on the leather interior. So I want to avoid this.

Looking for real life experience of storage (good or bad).

Things to consider for me:

Garage Heating: Should I use it and when. If yes what type. I have no desire to increase EON's share price.

Wheels off the ground: Good idea or just a waste of effort.

Keeping the leather interior: pristine and mould free? Gel bags like in caravans & boats?

Exterior. Should I worry. I don' like indoor covers after an earlier bad experience with one that transferred its weave onto my Ferrari's paintwork. The car has just undergone a full bare metal respray.

 

[renault12ts]

Park on rubber mats and leave the windows slightly open. Heat the garage if you'll be going in there...otherwise don't. No cover required.

 

[brucemillar]

Park on rubber mats and leave the windows slightly open. Heat the garage if you'll be going in there...otherwise don't. No cover required.

Yes I will be going in there. It is where I hide from Mrs M and stash all my porn, so I have to go there.

I was looking at a rubber floor (seriously) but it is expensive and then I worried about it ripping or chemical spillage etc. Rubber mats sounds good.

Any suggestions on low cost heating?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Wouldn't some ventilation/draught be a plus point, I seem to recall that air movement should be encouraged.
I kept a 1973 british car in several garages over the last 15 years and it was largely rust free when I sold it earlier this year.

 

[219]

I have a small dehumidifier I keep in whichever car is laid up over winter - it fills its 5 litre reservoir every few days but keeps the interior lovely and dry - these are cars lying outside .

In your garage you could maybe look at a 'carcoon' ?

 

[gaz_l]

Another vote for dehumidifiers here. I've got one at home, we used to have issues with black mould on the front wall of the building as it's north facing and gets no sunlight at all during the winter. An air brick and a dehumidifier has stopped it completely. The DH is an Ebac (good make from what I read), gives no trouble and although it wasn't that cheap to buy (about £220 IIRC), it only draws a couple of hundred watts which is a pittance compared to trying to get rid of the moisture by heating the place..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[roadhog]

Carcoon

 

[whitenemesis]

A carcoon would be the ideal solution, otherwise as mentioned above, park on rubber matting (B&Q are selling interlocking tiles for garages etc..) leave car windows slightly open and ensure good garage ventilation. Any form of heating must have good ventilation to prevent condensation but should be in conjunction with good insulation.

 

[merc85]

When i had my Concours w126 sel, I used to store it sitting on axle stands main reasons air flow and Prevent flat spotting the tyres.

My garage is under the house so is always a resonable temp, The garage door used let abit of air/draft in so kept it under a dust cover.

View attachment 60684

 

[190]

I you leave it on the tyres I would increase the tyre pressures to side wall maximum figure.

Unless the heating is sustained 24/7 I don't think it's a good idea as it's change in temperature that causes condensation to occur. A dehumidifier that senses the humidity level and switches on only when needed would be my choice and they give off a small amount of heat as well.

Leave the parking brake off as the shoes can seize onto the drum.

 

[brucemillar]

This great info here and very helpful:

So far I am thinking:

* A dehumidifier inside the car.
* Tyres "over inflated" with the car stood on rubber mats/tiles.
* No heating and allow a small air flow - The garage is not air tight so really no need to do anything there?

* Run the engine up to temp, once a week to keep fluids and parts moving.

Any others?

I like the Carcoon but they are expensive and I am not sure if that is overkill in a dry garage?

 

[HB]

Carcoon

I find the Carcoon term awfully racist.

Does that mean it's brown ???

 

[gaz_l]

The main DH we have is plenty big enough to do two or 3 rooms. We also have a dinky one that used to go in a (double) wardrobe, probably just about big enough to cope with a car interior. Cheapy cheap, and only 24W in operation..

ElectriQ MD280 Mini Compact Dehumidifier with 500 ml tank | Appliances Direct

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[brucemillar]

Yes to my generation it has immediate racist overtures. Interestingly, I mentioned Carcoon to a colleague the other day. There was a pause and she looked sraight at me and said " Bruce you really cannot say that" and that was said with no humour or irony.

 

[whitenemesis]

Not sure about the need to run the engine. Unless it's done long enough to drive all the condensation (product of combustion rather than environmental) from the engine and exhaust and adequately ventilate it from the garage, it's likely to cause more than it prevents?

Put the car on trickle charge?

 

[219]

Strange - despite having been aware of them for years I always knew it implied a cocoon to keep your car in - nothing racist at all .

 

[brucemillar]

Not sure about the need to run the engine. Unless it's done long enough to drive all the condensation (product of combustion rather than environmental) from the engine and exhaust and adequately ventilate it from the garage, it's likely to cause more than it prevents?

Put the car on trickle charge?

Yes. Sorry the car sits on a maintenance charger.

The engine is an interesting point. Some say yes you should as the fluids can cause issues if left stood (no stirring).

Others say this is a nonsense.

I figured run it once a week up to temp with garage doors open to allow ventilation of the exhaust.

 

[219]

Not sure about the need to run the engine. Unless it's done long enough to drive all the condensation (product of combustion rather than environmental) from the engine and exhaust and adequately ventilate it from the garage, it's likely to cause more than it prevents?

Put the car on trickle charge?

Yes a maintenance charger for the battery is worth doing - Aldi/Lidl have inexpensive ones a couple of times a year .

Re running the car - I'd route a pipe from the exhaust to somewhere well outside , nothing worse than filling the garage with corrosive and toxic gases .

Best of all is if you get a dry winter day , take the car out and give it a decent run ; get everything moving .

 

[Ted]

Strange - despite having been aware of them for years I always knew it implied a cocoon to keep your car in - nothing racist at all .

Methinks HB is a bit of a chamchah

Oh, back on topic. I laid up a Stag every winter for at least ten years with just a couple of soft sheets over it with no problems or deterioration whatsoever.
If there was a good dry day with no salt, I would take it out for a couple of miles.

This is also what I do with the bike (currently laid up for the winter) but I also put a small Peltier dehumidifier under it.

 

[Scott_F]

This great info here and very helpful:

So far I am thinking:

* A dehumidifier inside the car.
* Tyres "over inflated" with the car stood on rubber mats/tiles.
* No heating and allow a small air flow - The garage is not air tight so really no need to do anything there?

* Run the engine up to temp, once a week to keep fluids and parts moving.

Any others?

I like the Carcoon but they are expensive and I am not sure if that is overkill in a dry garage?

Carcoons are for people who spend their weekends picking stones out of their tyres with tweezers and parting the grass on their lawn with a comb.