Okay, so i have my car garaged and winterized as it should be and all was well... Until today! Michigan's temperature went from the low 30's to 63 fricken degrees today

So i got my carpet samples after a month of waiting and went out to the garage to match em up. When i got out to the garage, it looked like someone dipped my whole car in water

Everything is dripping wet from the car being freezing cold and then the air approaching sub tropical for michigan. And the humidity gauge in the garage is reading 90%+

What should/can i do? I am terribly frightened for my car at this point, i took all of the winterizing precautions, but what can i do about this?

Should i be worried or what?

 

Get a dehumidifier for your garage.

 

Aha! Why didnt i think of that? I am guessing that it will have to be emptied very often, lol.

 

Most humidifiers will have a drain port on it. Just connect a length of garden hose to it and route it outside or if you have a drain in the floor, you can route it there...

Was the condensation on the outside or inside of the car? Sounds like you just need air flow... Maybe a fan that'll circulate the air in the garage when the humidity and/or temperature hits a certain point.

 

Mike,

This happened to me in my garage at home a couple of weeks ago. It got really warm outside but everything in the garage was still cold from a couple of days ago (block wall garage). When I opened up the overhead door the warm air rushed in and immediately condensed when it hit everything cold in my garage. After a couple of hours everything in the garage came up to outdoor temperature and slowly dried off. It makes it harder for everything to dry when it is wet outside, but here is my suggestion.

Leave the door open for a while so that your car can warm up to outdoor air temperature. This will stop any further condensation of the outdoor air. After your car has warmed up, dry it off in any areas that you are worried about. I would assume that your interior is all wet now as well? Just be sure to get everything dried off well, and let it air out good. I think your main concern is really getting everything dried out before the cold weather returns. The freezing water could probably present more issues than the condensation can...

Just some suggestions...
Jamie

 

I read on another website that i can get some rock salt and suspend it in a cheesecloth sack from the rafters and place a bucket underneath. It will pull out the moisture and drip it into the bucket. Supposed to work wonders as farmers use it in barns to keep the hay from getting moldy. Its worth a shot.

 

http://www.damprid.dsiwebbuilder.com...asp?cat=173071

 

damprid is interesting, but where does all the moisture go?

Also, i went out to the garage and left the door open for quite a while and let it warm up to the outside temp.

It did help. I also went through and wiped up all condensation on the car, body, engine compartment, exhaust, undercarriage, fuel tank and so on.

I am hoping that it wont happen at such an extreme again. Why does michigan suck soooooo hard?

 

My larger garage is all metal, single layer, no insulation. Water condenses on the cieling and drips down, depending on weather conditions. Painting the concrete floor cut down on the moisture in the garage conciderabley. That's often where a good deal of it comes from.

 

if you have a window air conditioner then your set. stick it in your garage and turn it on, make sure to tilt it back so that the condensate can drain out of the unit. Maybe sit it on a bucket or something. The amount of cooling that your putting out and the heat generated balance out, but you remove the moisture. It's exactly what a dehumidifier is, but it's naturally designed to keep the moisture content at 50%.

You can also use these in the basement of your house, just about everyone has one of these, if not you've got to know someone has one of those junkers hangin around!

 

Yeah i figured that and placed cardboard under the car to hopefully cut down on the humidity rising up from the garage floor directly to the undercarriage of the car.

I guess to sum things up, is this in anyway going to be damaging my car?

 

Use plastic sheeting instead. It will act as a barrier, the cardboard will act like a wick and pull more moisture. Once you get the car and garage dried out, keep it below freezing, unless it's heated. Freezing temps keep the evaporative moiture trapped and contained.

 

Put an electric heater in the garage - that will lower the humidity.

Don't leave an outside door open (don't let much outside air into the garage) until the car temp is equal or above the outside air dew point temp. Dew point temps are published by all the weather services.

 

Water got into rusty from a hole in the roof. A bunch of interior pieces like the seat headrest stands, rv mirror hanger and other stuff are all corroded from moisture.

Put a fan in there at least and the de-humidifer was the best suggestion. You will need the hose if y ou cant be there to change out the water when it fills up.

 

I would love to put a dehumidifier in there, but there is no electric in the garage until spring (one of my many projects, lol)

 

Extension cord and a drill...

I guess if your seals are all good it's no problem as it won't get in. But rust will be munching on the body and frame instead. ..

 

Rust munching on the body and frame is what i am ultimately most worried about.

Though i went out to the garage a lill while ago and it seems to have calmed down out there in terms of violent condensing humidity

 

into da bucket. i use this stuff when i store cars, no more mold smell. and use it in closets. great stuff.

 

So do you put it in the car? And where else outside of the car should i put them? Directly underneath the car?

 

2 of the big buckets in the car, and anywhere else in the garage. and yes.

i lived by the beach and damprid really helped with humidity in the house. especially in low airflow areas like closet.

the smaller little containers of it would be full of water in a month in the summer. great stuff.

 

Very cool, i am going to pick up some damprid tomorrow

 

if you are really ambitious, you can do what i've done in the past. park your car on a tarp. cover the car witha car cover and then a tarp. pull the bottom tarp up to the top one and run a rope or other equivelant through the loop holes in the tarp, sealing the two tarps toether. you have to make sure to tuck the bottom tarp under the top. its kind of like putting the car in an egg shell.

 

Yeah, maybe next year, but being that it is not airtight i doubt that it would make much of a difference with humidity

 

Hum I don't know about a tarp in moisture. Also cheap tarps can scratch your clear coat.

I remember back in the 80's EVERYONE had a bra on the FB. And if you left it on after rain a couple days your paint would be screwed. Yes i'll fess up. I screwed up my Camero that way being lazy.