My garage

[wilfy]

here is a fancy pano picture of the garage as it stands in its messy state.. i cant wait to get that box painted and reclaim some of my space.

[kingcreaky]

just wondered if you are out there tonight on this cold eve... its like -3 here in leicester, imagine its colder up there in northern land? im on baby duty anyway so cant be in the workshop. but as all your new gear has arrived I bet your in there with the door closed? :-D

[wilfy]

i was out there spraying some expanding foam in some gaps, frost outside, me nice and warm inside the garage with nothing but the oil rad on... while it's not perfect out there, it's certainly a nice place to work in.

the problem with my new gear arriving is i have nothing to do with it at the moment.. i need to find a steel supplier who doesnt wanna charge me the earth

[kingcreaky]

same here; although perhaps one step ahead of you. my steel bits are now done. but waiting on aluminium for gantry. was hoping it would be here today but not till Monday now :-( . cant do any more til it arrives. Try a different approach. go to a steel fabrication company and ask if they can supply you some steel for cash. I bet its cheaper than going to a steel supplier... thats what i did.

[wilfy]

well i've got a friend on the case he has a contact through work who he thinks can get me what i need. however i found a place today on the net that will supply full 7.6mtr lengths of both types of box section i need.. and the 50 x 25 x 3 is a good price 2 lengths delivered for £72 but the 60 x 40 is a big jump and i honestly only need around 2.5mtrs so i'm getting some quotes from ebay guys as we speak

[wilfy]

well we've had a big enough downpour to prove my roof is now leak proof.. and i've only had the oil rad on 3/4's all day and it's keeping quite warm in there now.. i'm acctually really happy with my garage now

[Web Goblin]

I finished fitting my little wood/coal stove today. Its had it first little fire to start conditioning it. Nice and toasty warm.

[wilfy]

i been in mine all afternoon. finnished the smaller cuts of polystyrene, the roof is now completly insulated. had a right big tidy up, cleared up so much space, filled 2 big rubble sacks full of stuff for the tip so with a bit of time left i decided to go ruin all of my effort of cleaning and literally cover the whole friggin garage in primer dust from sanding that cabinet down.. serves me right for being so fussy about getting a smooth finnish i suppose.


on a good note though it means i can gloss it now which means by the end of the week i'll have it out the garage in the living room, which not only makes me happy but also the mrs, then it's on to the bubble tube get that out the way, then my computer desk... it never ends does it

[Ross77]

Hi, glad to see you have temporarily solved the dripping in your workshop. I know I'm a bit late to the thread but I might be able to explain the points that others have mentioned so you realise the problems. Its not intended as critisisim of what you have done and I mean no offence just thought it might help you or others in the future.

Starting at the beginning...........
Air can hold water, as moisture, but the amount is dependant on its temperature. Warm air can hold more water than cold air. As its temperature drops there becomes a point when it can’t hold any water at all and it is separated out on to whatever surface it can (dew point). This has nothing to do with the temperature of the surface or type of material. So as Jonathan said below 5 deg condensation will be present, therefore the temp needs to be kept above this temp.

This then poses the next problem that the warmer air can now hold more water and as it rises and touches the cold steel roof it is cooled and releases the water, as its the roof it then drops back down. Heating a room with cold surfaces will not fix the problem, in fact the more you heat the room the more moisture it can hold and the worse the condensation on the steel roof will be.

so there are 2 types of condensation:
1. a lower limit dew point that affects unheated spaces
2. cold surfaces in heated rooms
The two solutions are to remove all the cold surfaces or remove the water
Removing the cold surfaces will only stop the excessive build-up of water on them (in the case of the roof, stop the dripping). The water is still present and will find its way to the next cold surface. For this option to work you either need to use a breather membrane to allow the water through but not get back and then provide a means of escape , or stop the water getting through ie, vapour barrier. Using a vapour barrier keeps all the moisture in the room so ventilation will be required. Removing cold surfaces doesn’t solve the problem it just moves it elsewhere
Prevention is always better than cure so removing the water has to be the best and far easier solution, heat the room to just above the and get a dehumidifier. Problem solved and it’s transferable to your next workshop.

This is a basic and simplified description and there are a few extra points if dealing with a domestic house but in the context of a garage/workshop its fine.

I do understand your need for a quick fix and if you are not there long then you might not have any problems with moisture build up between the polystyrene. I’m not going to dwell on the fire risk but it might be worth setting fire to one of the off cuts. The stuff I have seen gives off thick black smoke and goes molten, not good if it on the ceiling!

All the best

[wilfy]

thanks very much for a detailed response, i'm not quite finished with the roof but i am sealing the gaps between the the styrene sheets with that foil backed stuff.

there is in my opinion plenty of ventilation in the garage at the moment with the fix i have provided and i've kept the oil radiator in there coming on every 4 hours or so randomly throughout the day and night and it's keeping it warm enough in there for me to walk in wearing t-shirts and for me to be happy to work in there.

as it happens it hasnt been cold really since i've done the fix, but i do suspect there is the odd place where the condensation builds up, but as it stands i'm happier than i was 2 months ago and i'm pretty certain all my stuff is going to stay dry.. it has also motivated me to clear a mass of jobs i'd been putting off.

i've always said i want to make some homebrew in the garage but knowing how critical the temp needs to be i'm a bit concerned about starting that up yet and as such i've been thinking a lot about temperature controling a blow heater/other heater in to an enclosure where i will store the brew and have that controlled by an arduino.. i could certainly adapt the same arduino to also have another control for the overall temp of the room aswell. i'm not sure if i will follow through with this or infact how much time it will take up but it's certainly something that is on my mind most days, so i'll see how it goes.

thanks again though for a very in depth reply even though i have already made my fix it's something i wont forgot for the future