Workshop Humidity

I'm pretty sure no one here on Earth has that authority to decide who ultimately goes where when they die.

Well, I do but you all should feel damn lucky I'm too lazy to review your lives and pass eternal judgment on you.

Wow! I suppose that really puts their tax-exempt status in danger now, does it not?

Bless them for having an opinion. Go this way, or go that way, but for God's sake, get off the fence!

Confucius say: "He who linger on fence eventually will know the horns".

I think it might have something to do with the 'late term' and 'partial birth' abortion 'rights' they support...

Surface rust on your equipment will happen from condensation on cold surfaces at night in an unheated shop, even if you clear up the water behind the wall problem. I live in 'high plains desert' where the humidity is less than 15% all summer long and must oil everything or it develops surface rust. I would think night time humidity in England would exacerbate the problem.

You fail to tell us when this was measured, if the garage is heated or air conditioned, and is it really used as a garage as well as a workshop. Plus, you are looking for an answer that may well be worthless as explained below.

If you've ever had a "home weather station" in your house, you would know that the humidity will range from single digits in winter to the upper 70 range in summer in a climate similar to yours without air conditioning. So your basic measurements are about worthless without the additional data. For the middle of winter without heat, this seems reasonable. With heat and no car - a bit high but not where one would expect corrosion.

The use as a garage for an auto is perhaps more important. I have a reasonably dry heated garage as part of the house, but won't store any thing of metal there, except the auto, and my winter riding bicycles. Autos drag in all sorts of moisture. So too do bikes ridden in winter.

I have a non-heated separate garage with ventilation vents which never sees an auto - that's where my expensive restored bicycles are kept and they never rust. Even my leather saddles stay in fine shape there. I guarantee the humidity swings the entire range available in a northern temperate zone.

Thank you. I will add your post to the so far extremely short list of more useful contributions. I do agree that alternative further measurements are desirable. As it happens, I have only a hygrometer suitable for sticking into walls and soil. I will get myself an atmospheric measuring device as well.

However, I will reiterate the point that water soaked through the wall and caused damage to a box stored next to the wall. The fact that all my electronics stopped operating at the same time may or may not have been a coincidence.

In my previous house the garage served both as a workshop and as a shelter for my motorcycle. It was neither heated nor air-conditioned. I had no problems with either the electronics or with keeping my tools rust-free. I was expecting the same in the new establishment.

To quote a character on a popular crime show in the USA "No such thing as a coincidence."

I don't think everyone, at least not myself, got the impression that the "humidity" was in fact a measure of moisture in the block wall. I thought it was air measurements near the wet spot on the wall. I don't think that is technically called a hygrometer. The def. of such is for moisture in air.

I see your dilemma - measurement levels are given on the internet for such a meter for drywall, but not concrete block. I don't think manufacturers expect you to shove one into a block wall. Measurements for drywall can go up to 50% in summertime and 20% in winter according to a Google search.

If you have water coming through a block wall - seal it NOW. I had a wall in my last house where some water started coming in, and I ignored it for a while. (100 hr + weeks being worked - didn't feel like doing much except sleeping) Next thing I knew, I had a river running through it. Fortunately I had a good sump pump and drain around the inside perimeter of the walls. Half the wall needed replaced by then. Might want to see if a French drain can be run between your wall and the neighbors tarmac.

That experience lends credence to your neighbors action causing the wall to leak. Mine was caused by a drain pipe I accidentally plugged. Change to exterior environment of the wall and leaks start.

Hello there,

First, ferrous materials don't corrode until the RH is above 90%. It is likely that your instrument was not properly calibrated. The only way your machines could corrode at the humidity you describe would be if the machines became very cold (below the dew point). Your whole train of thought seems to skewed. Things you might do immediately are to make the interior of your shop a little warmer. You must keep the dew point of the air higher than the temperature of the machines and/or heat the machines.

How exciting. Please do remind me of where I complained that my ferrous materials were rusting.

Dear all. I am now definitively <unsubscribing> from this thread. Normally I take a moderate pride as a non-engineer in stimulating a discussion between engineers (see parallel thread Magic number). In the past I have appreciated your advice on subjects as diverse as overheating disc brakes and cutting half-round slots. I have gained much from your collective experience. This is the first time I have encountered the billshut on a truly grand scale, but I do hope to resume my education.

I guess one has to stay focused....see the pin point of light.... ignore the rest. Stay in the box... the OP is making it clear, this isn't a brainstorming session... the OP comes with a question, with little information, and expects a certain response. The OP feels You did not have the correct response... so into the stocks you go.

The OP is hoping to get an education, the OP doesn't realize he is, but is failing at it.

I'm staying on this, just to see where it goes.

As I indicated before, I've seen "wet" sheds and i've seen dry sheds, all relating to the combination of how the shed itself was constructed and the prevailing soil conditions.

If a block wall is allowing water ingress, then regardless of whether the adjacent surface was ashphalted or not, then water ingress would occur.

I would suspect that the absence of sealing on that wall is indicative ofthe workmanship applied to the whole building (or at least what was built at the same time as the garage) and there will be other surprises in store for this OP.

I concede this doesn't address the OP's question (as they repeatedly point out in their frustration) but eventually they will step back and see the forrest instead of just this tree.

To finally answer the question. You could reasonably expect a maximum of 100% humidity when there is enough moisture.

In order to keep equipment dry that can be damaged by excessive humidity and water running down walls, one has to protect said equipment from water ingress and humidity.

Remember regulations for workplaces would protect most of the times the work force. There would be specific procedures and guidelines for save-keeping equipment.

Last but not least it sounds that you better look up some building codes and what is allowable and what not on moisture contents in walls of a garage.

I guess water run offs and drainage would be ruled one way or the other.

I still think you have had and still have an obligation to minimise the damage.

How often did you check your garage after heavy rain? What were the findings?

Good luck, hope the tools are not permanently damaged.

Save your money on lawyers. I'm no lawyer, but live in the UK and have moved house many times. There seems to be no culpability or deliberation by the neighbour.. The problem is not unfamiliar. Negotiate (it will be causing neighbours a problem as well), or accept it as a cost.

Sorry to be so bleak, but that is the bottom line. It's 'brickdust on forehead' to do otherwise. Your next question has to be 'how to solve it ?' It may be not as bad as you think, especially if you keep on good terms with the neighbours, you can maybe do a 50/50 split on cost. Negotiating is better than a feud situation.

Meanwhile back at the flooded driveway...
If only he had an old cast iron bath he could use to make a soak away....
Del

Oh,... I thought that the workshop humidity was a resolved unresolved issue.

Good grief, we can't end it now. Things only get juicy when sensible people are out of answers.

I once got 100% (and then some) humidity. May have had something to do with falling off the cliffs near Dover, but one can never be too sure. I just had to chase that cat.

I just had to chase that cat.

Good luck, ... cats have super hero-like abilities.

Nah, the cat is in Lionel Richie's house.

Ooooh, Brevquot error!
Del