My garage slab has no vapor barrier and I live in Houston which is often wet and almost invariably humid. Water seeps up through the concrete and humidity is always pretty high in the garage. Power tools don't care much but my chisels and hand planes are a red mess after a few months which requires very deep and cumbersome cleaning. Is my only option to install a vapor barrier and add on 3 or more inches of concrete on top? Would it be possible to wait for a long dry spell and apply some kind of sealant or will this just peel off as the water moves up?
Deal with humidity in Garage with no vapor barrier
garageslabvapor-barrier
Best Answer
I have had great luck at sealing slabs with 2 part epoxy paint, in a garage you don’t want to go cheap or when you drive the car in and park it where the tires are ends up pealing up.
I have painted in summer when the slab was dry enough and eliminated a huge amount of moisture in basements. This will help if the source is from the slab if high humidity is from the air a dehumidifier will be needed. I had a friend use a single part epoxy paint and he had the pealing problem. We stripped the paint and used 2 part and it held up fine.