Keeping garage / workshop dry

[speakermonkey]

Hello,

This topic has probably been done to death and I have done a bit of browsing and found some interesting advice, but I none of them really give all the info I'm after. I hope I'm posting in the right section.

These are photos of my new house's garage taken this morning, the condensation you see on the door window is on the outside but does often appear on the inside especially in the evenings. The back door is north west facing and you can see damp damage on the inside of the door.

I'm planning on making my garage into a workshop but I am worried that anything I put in there is quickly going to turn into a rust-bucket. I am after some advice about keeping the place relatively dry to prevent this.
However I am not very willing to use permanent heaters, extractors or dehumidifiers. I will be using an electric heater when working in there so there will be temperature fluctuations but wont be more than 2 or 3 times a week.

I hope to be able to find a solution using treatment, insulation and natural ventilation.

Extra info:
The garage in redbrick on three walls and a breeze block wall to the neighbours garage and a hard concrete / cement floor.
It has no soffits or anywhere for air to escape apart from seeping through the roof.
Currently keeping the flymo lawn mower and rubbish bins in the garage which obviously isn't helping. I intend to get a small garden shed to put these in in the near future.
The previous owners probably hung their laundry in there because there is a clothes line installed, I don't intend to do this unless I end up connecting the place to the central heating.

Having had the wettest year on record I may be over-reacting and I should probably wait until the summer before doing anything, although if we get a repeat of this year, it ent gunna help.

My questions are:
- Should I try the (as close as I can get to) hermetically sealed room approach or the lots of ventilation and air movement approach?
- The garage sliding door is about 5" short of the floor, is there a reason for this? Ventilation perhaps? Seems a bit strange seeing as there's no escape point. If it is just short - what's the bets way of extending it to the floor??
- I read that cement/concrete floors exude damp air. Is there a way of treating the floor? Oil based floor paint or something similar?
- I can easily insulate the roof and put in a false ceiling - may use for storage too. Will this help with damp / condensation?
- Do I need to install an air escape in the roof?

Sorry if the post goes on a bit. As you can tell I intend to do a good job. Any input will be much appreciated, I have found this site very useful but this is my first post.

monkey
View media item 54674 View media item 54675 View media item 54676

 

[regsmyth]

Where is the damp coming from?
The door damage is probably as a result of drying clothes in there.
You need to increase ventilation with some soffit vents, or roof vents - the gap under the door isn't sufficient on it's own.
If it's a new build, and has a dpm under the floor, I'm not sure that you have damp problems anyway - just ventilation ones.

 

[speakermonkey]

What's a DPM? The house is about 20 years old.

You're right, I don't think there is any damp. I have had a look around and I can't find any rot or mould (apart from the door).

So your opinion is that I should get a through flow of air? My concern is that with the increasing wet weather I will be attracting a lot of humid air into the room. Is there a way to keep it sealed and dry?

 

[oilman]

The outside air will have some humidity, but if the garage is warmer than the outside, the humidity will drop as it enters the garage. I suspect the roof is poorly insulated. Insulating the roof is the first step. It will make a huge difference. If you can steel yourself to do it, use sheeps wool. It can absorb moisture and helps to reduce damp problems. Hold it up using perforated hardboard, so the moisture can move.

If you use this method, use screws to hold the hardboard, but do the screws up a turn short of being tight. This allows some movement for the tiny amount needed when you make lots of noise in the garage. The sound pressure initially drives it up, and as it moves up air gets pushed out of the holes, counteracting the sound waves. Well that's the theory, but in any case some of the sound can be absorbed by the wool.

The door looks like it needs insulating too.

As for heating, that is what causes much rusting. The air is cold and doesn't hold much moisture. Then you warm it up, so it can hold more moisture. But all your metal tools are still cold, so when this warm air passes by, it cools and dumps moisture on the tools. Often referred to as sweating. Best thing to do is to wear enough clothes, and don't use heating.

If you need a warm workshop, there's always the kitchen.