I hope somebody out there can give me some opinions on this.
I rented a storage space at a place near my house (northern Illinois) to store my Vette. Put the Vette in there around October of 2006. It seems like a nice place....clean, 24 hr. cameras, family run, locked at night - no access at all. The buildings are low, all metal, with an individual overhead door. You put your own locks on the doors. I got a unit that is not on an end.
So, I took the battery out, put carpet samples under the tires, and put a cover over my baby. The last time I checked on the Vette was in November. I went there today, and discovered the whole bottom half of the car to be wet. The carpet samples were soaked, the lower half of the cover was wet, there were water beads on the engine.
Needless to say I was not happy, and called the owner over. He said the problem is moisture wicking up from the floor, and said I should put a large sheet of plastic under the car, and delete the cover because they hold this type of moisture in.
Any thoughts, or ideas are welcomed!

 

My thoughts....get the vette out of there if you love it! Find another storage facility.

 

Ditto.

 

What kind of floor in the storage facility?
I think the owner is correct, I have heard that this can happen, but not on cement. I know if you keep your car on something other than cement, you should put down a plastic sheet for the car to sit on. But what your talking about does not seem reasonable. It should be damp, but not wet.

 

Move that car to another storage facility that is climate controlled (heat and A/C)

 

It's a cement floor.
I had the car in storage one other time, at a different place, and this never happened. Obviously I'm worried, and you guys are just confirming my thoughts that I need to get out of there and find a new place. Thanks for the replies.
Any other thoughts, opinions, experiences, knowledge of this type of phenomenon?
Your input is appreciated!

 

I'm a bit to the North of where you are, but here's my experience over the past three days with my motorcycle (cars off-site in storage also, don't know what the condition of it is).

Saturday, I pulled my MC out of the back of the garage to charge the battery. Put it out on the driveway, and as soon as it hit the open air outside the garage, the whole bike fogged over. After a few minutes, water started to bead everywhere. It actually started to drip off the bike.
Sunday when I pulled the bike out, the same thing happened again.
As soon as I opened the garage door, the Bike fogged over, as well as the windows on the family truckster that's also in the garage.

Let me ask you this; Other than the storage area you're in being in a flood plain, is it possible the quick change in weather/climate affected your storage facility the same way as what I described above?
I would think the only way this could happen to your unit, is somebody in an ajoining unit is opening that unit on a daily basis.

Just a rambling thought. We're having some weird weather here right now. Overnight lows in the 30s, daytime highs in the 70s. Snow has melted, but the ground is saturated (high humidity) and still partially frozen.

 

How about filling out your profile.
It might help us in the future.

 

Is the storage facility new? Newer concrete will hold a lot of moisture that will eventually evaporatre out. An old trick some flooring guys use to see if a concrete slab is cured enough when laying tiles is to duct tape a plastic bag onto the concrete slab. After 24 hours if there is moisture inside the bag then the concrete is still too wet to adhere tile. If the facility is only a few months old this may be the problem.

 

B'ville. Whereabouts.

I spent 8.5 years of my life there (1975 - 1983) in a Ryan subdivision off Gaskin Rd.

 

I store mine in a rented metal storage facility exactly as you describe in Maine. I have not had the levels of mositure you describe. My car has never been wet in there. I'd get a new storage facility, what you are describing is not normal.

 

I painted my garage floor and that helps prevent some moisture problems. My Vette is covered and always dry. My Harley has a lot of chrome and is covered in the garage. I placed a 100 watt drop light underneath it directly under the fork neck and a golden rod (used in gun safes) next to the back wheel. The heat of the 100 watt bulb alone keeps the bike warmer under the cover than outside the cover therefore eliminating all moisture problems. When I take the cover off you can feel the warmth of the bike. If your vette was colder in the storage area than the outside air, it will form moisture and droplets. It needs to be warmer than the outside air and the garage floor needs to be sealed.

Billy...

 

Get it out of there, or lay down some plastic

 

Cement is not waterproof.



Is your car damaged? Those storage units could probably sweat realy bad depending on the weather. It needs to communicate with the outdoor weather. I doube a sheet of plastic under the car would solve that, you'd need to SEAL off the entire floor very carefully. And put some dessicant in there.


This probably depends more on the soil the storage place was built on, than where it was built. I'd find a new storage place.

 

that can happen on cement.... id move from that place to another if possible

 

Why not setting up a video camera next time it rains and and see what happens?

 

If moving to another facility is not a practical option,why not put in a dehumidifier?

 

All the above replies are good. Unless you have free electricity, however, the electric implements ideas will cost you. I'd move it to another facility.

The thought that it is as much what's beneath the concrete as the concrete itself is relevant and accurate.

Sealing the floor, not your own, may not help esp. if there is minor flooding going on which would seem to be the case re the carpet samples.

Doubling the plastic would help, but over months of storage not sufficiently in my opinion. Not if there's flooding and/or major moisture.

And the thought that there's a pretty large difference inside-to-outside is also very true, which has its effect on moisture and collection on metal surfaces (others, too).

I think you've got all the best ideas, the trouble may be you don't have a lot of choices or places to store out there. Maybe you can work some kind of arrangement out with the owner of the place for sealing, electricity, etc.

Good luck tho.

 

There is a storage place near you in Crystal Lake (UHaul I think.. off of Rt 31) that is climate controlled and is reasonable..a few of my friends store there bikes and boats there

 

Buy one of those storage bubbles where you drive the car inside the plastic bag.

I forget the company that makes them, but the NCM had one on display.

Concrete does hold moisture.