It's a fair question but in short NO ! I can lift the carpet at certain points (it is stuck down) and it is dry, the carpet keeps the damp and dust out but I think also enables the base to breathe if that makes sense !

 

When we moved into our house a year ago anything you left in the brick/thermlite garage would get damp within a couple of days. You could feel it on anything made out of paper.

I started by painting all the walls and using self levelling compound on the garage floor to firstly help with it being unlevel and secondly to seal any gaps around the edges. I have since sealed any gap that was easy to do and insulated the roof and the garage door. I now have a desiccant dehumidifier in there and its set to keep it at 50% humidity and i have no issues its nice and dry and the dehumidifier puts out some heat as a by product.

When you first put the dehumidifier in it will run hard for a good week or so as it pulls all the moisture out of the building but gradually it eases off.

Heating a garage all the time is going to cost a small fortune and im speaking from experience. I put a 3kw heater in there and it would take ages and ages to even raise it by a few degrees. I done abit of research and opted for a much more expensive heat pump/ air con unit that i could install myself.

It uses 1.4kw of electric to produce over 4 kw's of heat. It heats the garage up in no time and the electricity savings will be massive in comparison to a traditional heater. On the flip side it also does air conditioning which in the summer has been a bonus when i've needed to get work done.

 

My 3 pennies worth , and I admit I haven't read with diligence all the comments so forgive me if I have missed anything!

1) if the wall are built on the slab, the concrete slab with a DPC the walls should be ok other than splash and rain even though single skin , if blocks paint externally with decent masonry paint , Weathersield or. Such like

2) most importantly check leaky down pipes and gutters , repair. check ground levels around the garage make sure at least 150mm clear of any DPC again to prevent splash from rain ect

3) maybe even dig a bit of a trench around the concrete slab and fill with gravel to form a "French Drain"

4) if you really think the slab is letting damp through ( piss poor concrete ) then I cant think of a worse solution than carpet
,
5) maybe a liquid DPC like Sinterproof or what ever the trade name is , and then 50mm of screed/concrete on top then carpet if you want or paint

6) and most importly , VENTILATION , BOTH FOR THE BUILDING AND THE CAR ,

Most likely all complete bolarkis , I await the flack !

 

I have been persuaded to fit a sectional (Hormann) rather than roller door. Going to replace the wooden side door and window (DIY) at the same time. Will post some pics/degree of difficulty idc.

 

On a related note has anyone tried these infrared heaters in a garage?

They just heat objects, not air, so are good for large volume rooms apparently.

My garage is cold and today was sat at 4C. I put a 3kw oil filled rad in and it barely nudged up 1C an hour so convection wont cut it unless i get one of those gas turbine looking things which will create moisture

 

Ventilation ventilation ventilation. If you want to lose the damp yet not circulate air (e.g. when it is very cold) then a dehumidifier will do the job at a price in electricity consumed for some side benefit in heating the air. A garage is not a 'habitable space' under Building Regs and trying to use it as such e.g. as an office or gym, well, I suggest you have a read ...

We have a sun room on our new built (2009-2011) house which is not a habitable space. Right now in winter that rings true believe me. Keeping it at 12 degrees C is my limit and it is shut off except when we want to use it as an outlet for excess heat when our wood burner is booming away is our approach. My laser floor pad temperature readings show a massive gradient from 22 degrees down to 16 and less. Waste of money trying to triple glaze etc and the only thing possibly worth trying is a full external sliding door. But being a tight bast we manage with the nice sliding folding single glazed Jeldwen jobby and sausage dog blocks along the gap under.

Working in the garage - put on woolies scarves and beanie hat time.

But keeping the damp down, see my opening sentence.

We always get this at this time of year

 

I don't have any damp issues Rog as the garage is often heated a bit and is insulated and damp proofed

heating the loft office is not an issue but that's a third of the size and at the top and very well insulated

 

Yes I well remember your build and care Jason so rising/rainfall damp would not be an issue. Even so with all garages as the temperature drops so the relative humidity rises and all will suffer from damp in that way. Until I got fed up with the cost I used to run a dehumidifier at 50% then settled on 75%. After the Ss I stopped bothering. Keeping the main garage volume of air warm enough for a gym I guess depends on how warm users want to be!

 

it stays warm/dry enough so that both the loft lights and the car have no condensation on them so i'm not concerned about humidity.

Anyway went to Machine Mart today and got this

Halogen heater, 3KW


They demo'd one in the shop and it is impressive. They dont heat the air at all, just surfaces (like you) and are quite efficient for a large space where you are working in one area. Perfect and in their VAT free sale i got a bit knocked off. winner

 

The problem with those is that they only heat what is in line of sight. It will heat one side of the car, but not the other.