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i have a valid question. Please only answer if you live it or have for long periods.
I am moving to Florida and I will have my 62 & 63 SWC in my garage with a few other of my cars. I noticed during the summer that my garage can get to over 105 during the day, every day during the summer,
can this damage any of my cars? I have been a New York guy most of my adult life, Florida is a new game. Last two winters in NY caused my door on my 63's paint to lift. I have owned it 5 years but I have no idea how the previous owner prepped it for paint. I hope the heat will be better for my cars. Any thoughts?
Thanks
Jax
Florida or North Carolina...it gets blistering hot here also..and humid as heck.
I have family that lives there and they will set up fans to blow onto the engine compartment when they come back in from a drive.
If it is hot in the garage they open the door and circulate the air. As far as I know... no damage has happen to anything they have..and they ahve been there for over 20+ years...because I would have heard about it so I can fix it.
The main thing is not allow your garage to get like a greenhouse.
i was also a n y guy, moved to southwest florida 10 years ago, have not had a problem, would rather have the cars sit in hot garage then ice cold garage six months out of the year. best of all, can drive them most of the time.
Your babies will be fine in the garage. My '61 was stored in my hot garage for 10 years with no issues along with my Mustang then my Chevelle then my SWC. No issues whatsoever. I rarely cover the cars but I do leave the side windows down an inch or two if the cars will sit for a few weeks. Just make sure there is no excessive humidity in the garage from leaking air handler drains, condensation and what-have-you.
I'm 12 miles west of Orlando BTW.
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; 09-05-2016 at 06:05 PM.
I lived in NW Florida with my 1963 Corvette from 1992 until 2006. Temperature was never a cause of problems or concerns. My biggest concern was during the winter when it would get cool for a few days followed by warm and damp. During the transistion, moisture would condense on the cool car parts if I didn't control the humidity in the garage. And unlike with rain, the condensation would form on any exposed part.
I lived in NW Florida with my 1963 Corvette from 1992 until 2006. Temperature was never a cause of problems or concerns. My biggest concern was during the winter when it would get cool for a few days followed by warm and damp. During the transistion, moisture would condense on the cool car parts if I didn't control the humidity in the garage. And unlike with rain, the condensation would form on any exposed part.
Temperature alone (even 105 F) will not hurt your car in the least. However direct sunlight can cause problems. The big issue is the humidity..........especially during the summer months (May thru Sept). Over time the high humidity will create issues with anything electrical and will also slowly begin to form small rust pits on things.
For 4-speed cars, the humidity can stick the clutch to the flywheel. It happens to me every summer if I do not drive my car every month.
If you will not always be in the garage with the doors open, suggest a good dehumidifier. A small (1-2 ton) AC for the garage will also keep things cool as well as dehumidified. If you decide on AC, then try and insulate the ceiling at least..........preferibly all sides and top.
A layer of visqueen (or even plywood) on the floor under the car............or visqueen under the concrete slab if building/new construction.............will also keep the moisture from permeating the concrete and coming up underside of the car(s).
You can buy a good car cover for each car to keep down the dust. Roll the windows down under the car cover to keep ventilation flowing thru the car to avoid mildew and mold.
FWIW.
Larry
My garage in SE Louisiana (New Orleans) runs about 85-90 F during the heat of a summer day.
Last edited by Powershift; 09-05-2016 at 08:09 PM.
Heat is really not the issue. You need to be more concerned about humidity.
The other item that is important is the the range of temperatures. I would simply monitor the humidity and temperature for a while. Then you can make a decision. Get one of these little monitors from Amazon.com. They're really cheap.
I have central air in my warehouse. That works nicely. It's more for my magazine collection than it is for my cars though. It also makes working on the cars a lot nicer.
Last two winters in NY caused my door on my 63's paint to lift. I have owned it 5 years but I have no idea how the previous owner prepped it for paint. I hope the heat will be better for my cars. Any thoughts?
Thanks
Jax
Now that you've read all that....my split window went the OTHER way...when I bought it out of Northern Ohio 3 years ago the paint was perfect (IIRC the car had a total repaint in 2009). After about 6 months in Orlando summer heat the car got the 'mumps' and a few bubbles cropped up on the passenger door and along the stinger on the hood. Very weird - you could see them get larger day-by-day (outgassing ?). Clearly not solvent pop so many years after the repaint.
Never did figure out if it was contamination in the fiberglass or bad primer or what. The paint simply didn't adhere to the primer substrate anymore.
Luckily I had original touch up paint that came with the car and access to excellent painter talent so it turned out well...and no more problems 2-1/2 years later.
Something to watch out for.
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; 09-06-2016 at 07:36 AM.
I'm also in Florida. When we bought our house, the garage was hitting 105 to 110 in the summer. So, when I expanded the 2-car garage to a 4-car garage, I added insullation to the attic space had a mini-split system A/C added, more for my comfort when working in the garage than the cars.
With a mini-split you only have to put a couple of holes in the wall to connect the inside unit to the outside unit. And it works a lot better than a window unit and not as unsightly.
I keep the temp at 78 most of the time unless I'm going to be working in the garage and then I drop it to 72. It does heat, cool, humidity, and fan only. Nice to work out there without sweating.
I'm also in Florida. When we bought our house, the garage was hitting 105 to 110 in the summer. So, when I expanded the 2-car garage to a 4-car garage, I added insullation to the attic space had a mini-split system A/C added, more for my comfort when working in the garage than the cars.
With a mini-split you only have to put a couple of holes in the wall to connect the inside unit to the outside unit. And it works a lot better than a window unit and not as unsightly.
I keep the temp at 78 most of the time unless I'm going to be working in the garage and then I drop it to 72. It does heat, cool, humidity, and fan only. Nice to work out there without sweating.
Photos of the inside unit and outside unit:
To me that is the ideal setup for a Southern garage. I have thought about it a number of times for my own garage, but so far have resisted. Mainly because the doors to the garage are almost always open during the day for one reason or another.
My garage doors are wide open when I'm working in there - regardless of temperature.
I didn't move down to Florida's sunshine to be enclosed in a stuffy azz, dark room while I work...did all that in Wash DC for years.
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; 09-06-2016 at 11:56 AM.
To me that is the ideal setup for a Southern garage. I have thought about it a number of times for my own garage, but so far have resisted. Mainly because the doors to the garage are almost always open during the day for one reason or another.
But it is a very nice system to have.
Larry
Larry - Thanks. And, yes, I used to cringe whenever I opened the garage door and let all that cool air out but I found if I'm just going out (or in) and close the door quickly behind me, I don't lose very much cooling. I don't have a passage door in my garage to the outside. Wish I did, but I only have the garage door as an exit to the outdoors.
The garage has a 34-foot east-facing block wall with 3 windows. The AC struggled at first with the heat load so I added the 5/8" R-Max you see in the picture. It only has an R value of 4.0 but it makes a huge difference. I also put solar film on the windows. Of course, attic insulation and an insulated garage door are pretty much mandatory.
If you're wondering about the gallon jugs of dark liquid in the photo, that's teal Rit dye. I'm getting ready to dye my teal carpet back to it's original color. The carpet is in good condition but very faded. Anyway, with the A/C unit directly over the car blowing 72 degree air down at the interior, the carpet should dry very quickly.
Steve
add the outside door, you can buy a pre-hung door/frame at Lowes, etc
Bill
Bill - That's a good idea and I would have added a passage door to the outside instead of that window nearest the garage door when I did the garage expansion but my wife didn't want a passage door from the garage on the front of the house and there was nowhere else to put a door.
09-05-2016, 04:07 PM
Florida Garage Heat
Temperature alone (even 105 F) will not hurt your car in the least. However direct sunlight can cause problems. The big issue is the humidity..........especially during the summer months (May thru Sept). Over time the high humidity will create issues with anything electrical and will also slowly begin to form small rust pits on things. 
