Damp buildings for workshops

Question:

My workspace is currently an English, unheated single garage attached to my house. As we get closer to winter it's obviously not such a great place to do woodwork from the purely personal and physical point of view, but is there any reason why you can't (or personally wouldn't) do woodworking in such a space?

Does the cold have a detrimental effect on the wood stored in such a space? Does it "shrink" the wood, or make it harder to work? I know glues come with warnings of working temperature ranges, so should gluing up be avoided in such spaces?

Answer:

This question comes up frequently enough and is a concern in various parts of the UK and the US and so it is generally an international problem. Garage, shed, outbuilding and so on all have issues when it comes to dampness. Damp and cold do affect the working conditions and heating does help greatly.

In my view wooden structures, when well crafted, can offer the easiest structure to maintain controllable levels of moisture for woodworkers. With good insulation, ventilation and such, you create a controllable environment. That said, when the region is filled with humidity it can present real issues for woodworkers. In Britain most garages are brick built using a single wall of 4 1/2" brick or cinder block or stone. All three absorb and retain high levels of water if indeed rain hits the walls or the atmosphere is saturated for any length of time outside. This water is transferred through the wall to the inside and when doors and windows are constantly shut the inside of the structure becomes an enemy to fine work, fine tools, fine wood and all materials and equipment.

Property improvements

Any structure can be waterproofed and waterproof barriers  can be installed inside or out and that is the best place for anyone to start. Other damp issues with brick and stone structures can be via the underside of the roof when no insulation is installed, and rising damp when brick or stone alone. Many older properties may find the damp proof course or membranes are either missing or fractured or deteriorated so as to allow ingress of water on a continuing basis. Again, this needs remedial action. Without correction in these key areas, you will always have continuing issues with damp. In the USA, where most houses are wood-framed structures, the answer is much simpler. Good exterior cladding guarantees not transfer of water to the inside surfaces. Good insulation and the right vapour barrier means you can add a modest heat source and keep everything in good shape. The issue in the USA for the main part in most regions seems more to do with periods of high heat and moisture say in coastal regions. This then requires air conditioning of some kind and there are many options.

Storing green wood

Storing green wood in the workshop is generally bad practice. That is unless the workshop is capacious and well ventilated. In small workspaces the storage of green wood or wood with high levels of moisture becomes a problem. There are few parts of Britain where the weather conditions are ideal without some source of heat and walls that are well built and well insulated.

Storing wood indoors

Whether storing wood indoors is possible and practical depends on several potential influences. People create humidity and you see this evidenced when four people travel in a car or bus on a damp day. A lone woodworker will create less humidity than a family of five with a dog, a cat and lots of washing, bathing and cooking taking place within a thousand square feet. Things get steamier in wintertime in the UK when we really do not have freezing weather but we do have lots of rain and damp. In the USA most people have to use lip balm and other face treatments because in many states everything is indeed frozen solid for months.

Cold doesn't generally affect wood until moisture comes in and wood absorbs the damp. Cold and freeze are two different dilemmas, but frozen wood alone is not usually an issue. Usually we do allow our wood to stand and reach room temperature over several hours before gluing up as this affects the glue and allows better cohesion.

I though to ask some of you how you deal with moisture in your region if indeed you have issues with the different sources of humidity be that sea, mountains, lake districts and woodlands.