On Wed, 18 Jan 1995, Dick Harrold wrote:
>> On Mon, 16 Jan 1995 15:57:35 -0500 (EST) "W. Ray Gibbons" said:
>>
>> Saturday and Sunday were exceedingly warm, with Sunday the warmest January
>> day ever recorded in Burlington--66 F. The only disadvantage to this less
>> than avid skiier is that the garage floor spontaneously became wet, I
>> suppose because the warm moist air condensed on the still cold concrete.
>> That or the roof leaks. ...........
>>
> I too have such a floor. About twice a season the temps get together and
> create a really wet floor. The moisture also drips from the cars and
> brings the dreaded rust animal with it. I have three things I do to
> improve the situation. I have provided good ventilation (large slots over
> the doors), use corrugated boxes (old furniture crates) under each car and
> turn on a large fan to move the air around. The boxes seem to help prevent
> the warm, moist air from contacting the cold concrete to form water
> droplets. Moving the air around seems to help dry things out more quickly.
> I suspect modern concrete floor construction methods would prevent this
> from happening. In my case, I'm sure they simply poured the concrete on
> the ground.
>
> Dick
I don't expect TeriAnn, with no garage at all, to sympathize a whole lot.
However, you are right, even the bottom of the car was dripping and I
shudder to think of all the little nooks and crannies like the small space
between the inner and outer fenders, which has had 34 years to rust
already. When will the first pinhole appear? I have cardboard under
Kermit too, for oil "control." I doubt they help much when the car itself
is condensing water from the air.
After examining things, my diagnosis is that the dew point was very near
the ambient temperature, so anything that was even a few degrees colder
than ambient air--which was almost everything--had water condensing on it.
The head of my sledge hammer was dripping wet even after three warm days.
Short of buying one of those big bags you drive the car into, I don't know
what to do. I thought it was not a good idea to run a fan during the
worst of it, because I might drive moist air into spaces that somehow had
managed to stay dry. Now that the humidity has fallen, I have a big box
fan going and aimed at the car. I have a cheap ceiling fan I bought at a
garage sale, which I may install up in the rafters to provide circulation
in the future. An intake grill or two is not a bad idea; the garage
has a ridge vent, so wet air has some place to go.
Anyone have any other ideas for preventing this sort of thing? I mean,
other than moving to Arizona.
And why do Australians call their country Oz?
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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