Garage humidity in winter

[paulmcohen]

If anyone gets to Hana, Maui Hawaii, you may find a very old working model of the Weather Rock at the Hotel Hana, I saw it back in 1978.

[ksdaddio]

I live in the Midwest, and I don't think that expanding the size of your garage will help, because moisture swings during all seasons will still be a serious problem. I also don't think that buying a dehumidifier will help because one door opening cycle will destroy all that you have accomplished.

The seperate shop wood be ideal, but unless you give it attention, I would think that temperature flucuations, and humidity would still be a problem, both for stored wood and your tools. I worry more about my tools than the stored wood.

Bringing your project wood to your site and allowing it to come to the current humidity seems to still be the best method, and allowing for movement in your project still has to be the "skill" that you will have to use. I know that this didn't help much, but I felt the need to post an observation.

[a1gutterman]

.......I also don't think that buying a dehumidifier will help because one door opening cycle will destroy all that you have accomplished.......

Well, I have never taken measurements before and after opening a door to the outside; however, for me, if I do not use a dehumidifier, I get mucho water in my shop and garage, and I get mold. Whether or not one door opening cycle destroys all that I have accomplished, my dehumidifier continues to remove the moisture and keeps the humidity low and, most importantly for me, keeps the mold out. That is evidence enough for me.

ksdaddio, I take it that you used a dehumidifier with other results?

[ksdaddio]

I fight my basement more than anything, which is worse in the Summer, even with the AC running. I will run the dehumidifier then, and that seems to work.

I just remember pulling the cars into the garage at the end of a day of woodworking and seeing all of the dampness collect on the floor. I rarely will leave a vehicle outside in the Winter, so you might say that a dehumidifier wouldn't work for me. With snow pack and ice stuck to the fenders, humidity is a way of life.

My basement shop seems to have solved the problem.

[a1gutterman]

I use part of my basement for a garage too. I don't think that the water on the floor is anything to worry about, until it evaporates. That is when the dehumidifier is doing it's job. My dehumidifier will lower the humidity from the 90's down to 40% (my setting) in a matter of 2-4 hours. I maintain recommending one for anybody with a humidity problem.