Ernie00 Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 We just bought our first house and moved in.. after 2 hours of clearing the other owner's trash that they left in the garage I can see the floor. The garage has a really humid smell and fell. I was wondering if there is anything that can be done that is not too expensive. One of the possible problem that I see is that I have a huge drain in the middle but the drain pipe in the hole there, is only halfway down. So pretty much there is always a foot of water laying in the bottom. Would clearing this help? Any other solutions or ideas ? Got a few things to take care of... but I will post my new board rack soon. I promised my wife I would paint and do the moldings in our master bedroom first. ;) Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monodude Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 If the floor drain is connected to the sewer the it has a "P" trap and as such you can see the water level in it. Just like the one under your kitchen sink. The setting water prevents the sewer gasses from coming up. Often in basements people forget to pour some water into the floor drains. They dry out in time and sometimes cause a funky smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Mold...ahh, yes.... First, I would wash the walls and floors with a bleach solution...Also good-Clorox cleanup-I use it to clean the house... Then, if you have no kids, there are products you can put up to control humidity....or you can get a dehumidifier to plug in... Water sitting in your drain isn't a problem if water drains through it okay...you can pour some bleach in the drain every week to control algae/mold growth if you need to.... Once you control the moisture content of the air, the smell will go away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy D Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 My garage gets very humid ... When it gets that musty-moldy smell, it is usually because of some carpeting or other "unwrapped" fabric that has been sitting in the garage for too long. So, throwing that stuff out helps a lot. I suspect now that you've cleaned, your smells will go away. If I leave the garage open during a nice day, it tends to air-out on its own. So, basically, keeping the garage clean, and keeping any fabrics sealed in plastic containers helps a lot. If only I could seal my garage-cat and litter box in plastic... I have no experience with floor drains, but some of the other advice above seems sound to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinecure Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 A couple of things to consider: Ventilation is key. If there are windows, consider finding a way to leave one cracked open but still locked. Failing that, some sort of vent fan will help tremendously. If I need to air out the garage, or just cool it down after a hot day (mine is right under my bedroom so I want it to cool down before bedtime or all the heat keeps coming up into my BR), I open the garage door about a foot. This lets it air out without allowing people to see in (or if you just open it a few inches, they can't get in either). As for the suggestions about washing with a bleach mixture. I painted houses for years. The best mixture would actually be a little bleach plus some Tri-Sodium-Phosphate (aka spic n span in a grocery store). It will kill any mildew and clean all the surfaces nicely. Rinse with plain water, let dry and you'll either have really clean walls, or walls that are really clean and ready to be painted. A little bleach or other cleanser in the drain will keep it fresh if you care. Oh, and if you really want to make it pretty and keep the moisture down, you could consider painting the concrete with a moisture barrier then some garage floor paint. Painting the floor of a garage properly is a complex process though. You need to clean, etch (further clean and make sure everything is off so that paint will stick and not peel off on your tires), prime then paint. I don't know how the paints would deal with a coating of some sort of waterproofing first. If you do it right, your garage floor will be gorgeous and the envy of the neighborhood. Mine looks like crap, but my neighbor painted his and it looks super nice. Dehumidifiers are always an option. Plus you can make a hole in the wall for it to drain so you don't have to empty a collection pan every few days. When I moved into my current house the garage was super humid. It didn't make sense to me since where I live there's very low humidity most of the time. It took me until my first load of laundry to discover that the dryer in the garage didn't vent outside. I was dumbfounded. I don't know how people lived with this. My next weekend project was to get a hole saw from Home Depot for my drill plus some semi-rigid tubing to vent it. Since then its been great. You might double check that your dryer's vent tube isn't clogged - those really flexible ones get clogged very easily and are dangerous fire hazards. Oh, and don't store your boards out there until you get it sorted out. Or if you must, make sure you run a bar of wax along the edges so they don't rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 A couple of things to consider:Ventilation is key. If there are windows, consider finding a way to leave one cracked open but still locked. Failing that, some sort of vent fan will help tremendously. If I need to air out the garage, or just cool it down after a hot day (mine is right under my bedroom so I want it to cool down before bedtime or all the heat keeps coming up into my BR), I open the garage door about a foot. This lets it air out without allowing people to see in (or if you just open it a few inches, they can't get in either). As for the suggestions about washing with a bleach mixture. I painted houses for years. The best mixture would actually be a little bleach plus some Tri-Sodium-Phosphate (aka spic n span in a grocery store). It will kill any mildew and clean all the surfaces nicely. Rinse with plain water, let dry and you'll either have really clean walls, or walls that are really clean and ready to be painted. A little bleach or other cleanser in the drain will keep it fresh if you care. Oh, and if you really want to make it pretty and keep the moisture down, you could consider painting the concrete with a moisture barrier then some garage floor paint. Painting the floor of a garage properly is a complex process though. You need to clean, etch (further clean and make sure everything is off so that paint will stick and not peel off on your tires), prime then paint. I don't know how the paints would deal with a coating of some sort of waterproofing first. If you do it right, your garage floor will be gorgeous and the envy of the neighborhood. Mine looks like crap, but my neighbor painted his and it looks super nice. Dehumidifiers are always an option. Plus you can make a hole in the wall for it to drain so you don't have to empty a collection pan every few days. When I moved into my current house the garage was super humid. It didn't make sense to me since where I live there's very low humidity most of the time. It took me until my first load of laundry to discover that the dryer in the garage didn't vent outside. I was dumbfounded. I don't know how people lived with this. My next weekend project was to get a hole saw from Home Depot for my drill plus some semi-rigid tubing to vent it. Since then its been great. You might double check that your dryer's vent tube isn't clogged - those really flexible ones get clogged very easily and are dangerous fire hazards. Oh, and don't store your boards out there until you get it sorted out. Or if you must, make sure you run a bar of wax along the edges so they don't rust. This is by far the best suggestion-there's a painting system for garage floor painting I saw advertised, but didn't include scouring the floor....good to know coming from a pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C5 Golfer Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 We just bought our first house and moved in.. after 2 hours of clearing the other owner's trash that they left in the garage I can see the floor. The garage has a really humid smell and fell. I was wondering if there is anything that can be done that is not too expensive. One of the possible problem that I see is that I have a huge drain in the middle but the drain pipe in the hole there, is only halfway down. So pretty much there is always a foot of water laying in the bottom. Would clearing this help? Any other solutions or ideas ? Got a few things to take care of... but I will post my new board rack soon. I promised my wife I would paint and do the moldings in our master bedroom first. ;) Thanks Not sure of all the Real estate laws where you live but there maybe a "full disclosure " issue here with which you can go back to the previous owner and have him foot the bill possibly. Talk with your real estate agent who sold you the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie00 Posted July 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Thanks for all the great info.. ! I think the people who lived here before me didn't even own a screw driver. Good thing they only lived here for a year and a half if not some crazy damage would have been done to the house from the lack of maintenance. I've already seen some crazy stuff and it's only been a week. They redid some wirering for a dishwasher and in between the drywall they used scott towels for insulation. Their fridge couldn't get in the opening they had so they probably used an axe to make it fit. What a nasty Brand new Wood cabinets. (I already knew about that one) . My latest find was, the water heater. We were wondering why we didn't get a lot of hot water.. took the time to check it out today and the lower heating element is not working. Like they didn't know ? Now it's not possible to to prove when it stoped working. The rotten smell from all the left over food and garbage is starting to go away but it's still has a very humid smeel, I haven't washed with bleach or anything yet as I have still have lots of stuff to put away. There was 4 sheet of dry wall in parts and pieces on the floor of the garage. Hopefully when the trash comes this week I'll be able to get everyting out for good. My agent says we can't do anything about it... But I am still receiving lots of mail for them.. heheheh No worries the boards are in the basement with a Dehumidifier. They have been waxed a long time ago. I'll try the opening of the garage door technique for the rest of this week because there isn't any windows. Ernie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Houghton Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 I don't have any windows in my garage either, and mine is also insulated. I put four roof vents in, and cut an access hatch in the ceiling. Now, I can ventilate very effectively by leaving the door open six inches or so, and opening the hatch to the attic. In the winter I keep the hatch closed, and it's nice and warm in there to wax and scrape snowboards. Sounds like ventilation will help your garage more than anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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