How To Keep Your Garage Dry During The Rainy Season
If you live in a climate that gets a substantial amount of rain and snow, then you need to be very careful that snow and rain don’t get inside your garage. Aside from the fact that moisture could seriously damage any items you have stored in your garage, there’s a risk that moisture inside the garage could cause mold.
Toxic mold can be almost impossible to get rid of and it can put you, your family and your pets at risk of developing serious respiratory problems.
But water from rain and snow creeping in through cracks or windows isn’t the only way that water can get into your garage. Condensation can form if you park your car in the garage after you drive around in snow and rain. Condensation in the garage can cause tools and other equipment to rust and it raises the chances that you will end up getting mold inside the garage.
It could also warp the wood of your garage door or the sides of the garage doors where the tracks for your garage door are mounted. If those tracks get thrown out of alignment because the wood they are anchored to warps you will have to pay a professional to take down all those mounting tracks and remount them after the wood has been repaired.
It’s much easier and cost-effective to make sure that your garage stays dry during the rainy weather or snowy weather. Here are a few things that homeowners can do to make sure their garage stays dry no matter how wet and wild the weather gets outside.
Seal Up Cracks
One of the first things that you should do to get your garage ready for the rainy season is to get some caulk and make sure that any cracks in the walls or floors are filled in securely. It can be a time-consuming process but it will be well worth it, in the long run, to be sure that water can’t seep in unexpectedly through a crack in the wall or in the floor that you didn’t notice.
It’s also a good time to look over the walls for any other damage that might need to be fixed. If you get in the habit of looking for and sealing any cracks twice a year then you will save a lot of money in garage repair costs over the course of the time.
Check The Windows And Insulate Them
The windows along the garage door or any windows in the garage need to be checked regularly for leaks, loose seals, and other damage. Over time, the seals on the windows in the garage door can loosen. Also, the windows in the garage can be damaged by animals when they try to get in, especially during the winter.
Take some time to thoroughly wash and check each window to be sure there is no damage to the frame, the glass, or the seal between the window and the wall. If you need to replace the windows or put storm windows up you can do that before the rough weather sets in.
You might also want to put a plastic window insulator over the windows to make sure that no water is able to seep in through minuscule cracks or small breaks in the seal that are too small to be noticed.
Wipe Off Your Car With A Towel
This is something that a lot of car owners balk at because it takes extra time. But this small task, that can take just a few minutes when you get home, can save you a lot of money and some major headaches later on. Keep some shop towels or old bath towels in the garage right near where you park the car.
Some people actually hang towel bars like you would put in the bathroom on the wall next to where the driver’s side of the car is so that the towels are in reach when you get out of the car and so that you can hang the towels up when done and let them dry quickly.
So take a towel and give your car a quick wipe down. It only takes a couple of minutes. Drying off any rain or snow that is remaining on your car will go a long way towards preventing the development of condensation in the garage and that can make the difference between getting and not getting mold.
So even though it might be a pain to take an extra five minutes to dry off your car with a towel when you come home during the rainy season and snow season it’s one of the most effective ways to keep your garage dry and mold free.
Make Sure The Garage Doors Shut Tightly
Before the rainy and snowy weather comes, you should make sure that your garage doors can fit properly so they can seal and shut tightly. If your garage doors are off track by even a small fraction, then the seal at the bottom of the door won’t be as tight as it should be and water can seep in through the bottom and the edges of your garage door.
You also may need to replace the strip on the bottom of the garage door to make sure you have a functioning weatherproof door guard.
If you aren’t sure if the seal on the door is as tight as it should be then you may use a flashlight to test it. Have a friend or a family member take a flashlight and stand outside the door. Turn off the lights in the garage and have that friend or family member shine the light all the way around the garage door frame.
If a light is coming through then you have seals that aren’t as tight as they could be. You can use a pencil to mark off all the areas where the seal isn’t tight and then seal those areas up to make sure they are as rain and snow proof as possible.
Use A Dehumidifier
Another smart way to keep the garage moisture-free is to use a dehumidifier in the garage. The dehumidifier will suck the moisture out of the air so that you won’t have problems with condensation in the garage. And a dehumidifier will ensure that your tools and electronics don’t rust because of water in the air.
And a dehumidifier will act as backup so that if you forget to wipe down your car with a towel or if someone else forgets to wipe down their car with a towel to get rid of rain and snow the dehumidifier will pull that moisture out of the air preventing the growth of mold and rust in your garage.
Danley’s Garages
The best treatment to prevent water from seeping through your garage is to keep a tight seal. Danley’s has the best treatment available in Chicago. That’s why we are Chicagoland’s most trusted garage builder since 1959 and we’ve built over 100,000 garages. Get a free quote and speak to a professional today!
