How to dry car floors from moisture. How to get rid of moisture in your car

The garage protects the car from harmful atmospheric influences. However, if the garage is not properly arranged, the problem of excess moisture accumulation may arise, which will lead to the formation of condensation on the parts of the car, as well as on its surface and inside the cabin. This entails the following problems:

When condensation settles on car parts, corrosion and malfunctions occur.
Moisture very quickly finds weak spots in the paintwork, which also leads to corrosion.
Increased humidity in the cabin causes the windows to fog up, which greatly complicates the trip.

Damp smell from car air conditioner

Most car owners identify the main problem as the presence of an unpleasant odor in the cabin. It can come from any place, but often it comes from the air conditioner. A specific aroma develops when the vehicle is malfunctioning or damaged.

The interaction of moisture and air vapor leads to the development and proliferation of fungus or bacteria, which is why such an aroma emanates.

You can get rid of an unpleasant odor if you follow the established algorithm of actions. Many air conditioners can delay the fan turning off after it is turned off. This allows the item to dry thoroughly, which prevents condenser buildup.

If an old model is installed in the cabin, then at the slightest hint you can remove the smell through disinfection or other treatment methods:

Buy a special product - Lysol will do.
Dilute it with a small amount of water. Then pour the resulting solution into a special device (sprinkler).
Turn on the device at full power.
Leave the car, but before doing this you need to leave the window or door slightly open.
Only a large amount of solution removes moisture - the entire interior is sprayed with it.
After some time, you can turn off the motor.
Close all sources of possible air penetration and wait 30 minutes.
As soon as this time has expired, you also need to treat the air conditioner itself and wait a little. This will help remove the mold from the inside.

Attention! This method requires significant financial investments, but treating an acquired disease from dampness can be much more expensive.

If there is an unpleasant smell in the car, then getting rid of the source should be carried out immediately. There are many different ways to do this.

Puddles on the floor

In snow or rainy weather, water and dirt are carried into the interior on shoes. If you do not shake off the excess before planting by tapping your feet together, then at some point the liquid may seep under the mat through the fixing holes or in the area of the jammed edge. To reduce the consequences, you need to put newspapers or absorbent sheets, or special rugs under your feet. The main thing in this method is not to forget to periodically throw away the soaked materials. If it’s frosty outside, it’s better to do it while the interior is warm. Otherwise, frozen newspapers or sheets tear, and cleaning them becomes a separate problem.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

How to eliminate unwanted odors from the car interior?

Due to their professional activities, most people perform their usual actions inside the car. Namely: they eat, drink and smoke. All this can adversely affect the smell in the cabin. How to remove?

You can eliminate the smell from your car using any suitable method:

this method does not require any costs. To do this you will need regular acetic acid. You need to pour a little of it into a glass and leave it in the car all night. Acetic acid absorbs unpleasant odors well, removing them for a long time. Such actions can be done as soon as necessary;
They also removed the specific aroma with the help of fruit - a green apple. But before you start, you should remove the core from it. The fruit is left in the car indefinitely - it can be removed when the smell disappears. Apples are recognized as the best remedy that can eliminate odor. However, extreme caution must be exercised: the fruit spoils quickly. You should not let fungus or mold form, because everything is fraught with irreversible consequences;
Baking soda will help get rid of the damp smell in your car. You just need to apply it to the seats in the cabin and leave for 24 hours. The next morning, remove the remaining soda using a vacuum cleaner. During this entire period of time, soda is able to absorb the aroma, and therefore in the morning it will no longer be felt;
If your car smells bad, there is an effective method. You will need vanilla. Its pods are wrapped in cotton pads and placed in various places in the car. So they must lie for at least 7 days. Eventually the unpleasant smell will change to a vanilla aroma.

If a damp smell appears in the car, it is necessary to eliminate it as quickly as possible to avoid the spread of mold throughout the cabin.

How to make a hood in the garage?

It is necessary to create natural or forced ventilation.

Natural extraction is done as follows:

A hole should be made in the wall 15 cm from the floor. It is first necessary to calculate what diameter the future hole should have. To do this, you should know that per square meter of area you need a hole of 15 mm. If the area of the room is 10 m, then the hole should be 150 mm.
To prevent debris, dust and leaves from getting into the vent, you should install a grill on it.
On the opposite side, under the ceiling, a hole should be made that will vent air. The air exhaust tube should be 20 cm below the ceiling and 50 cm above the roof.

According to experts, in order to create an optimal macroclimate in the garage, it is necessary to provide an air flow of about 180 m³ per hour.
Since natural ventilation cannot always cope with such volume, a more effective solution may be to install forced exhaust ventilation in the garage. How to install forced ventilation:

A fan should be placed in the air exhaust pipe to extract air, which will automatically cause air flow into the garage.
If you install a fan with an adjustment screw, this will allow it to automatically turn on and off depending on changing conditions. For example, when the humidity level rises, the fan will turn on and run until the humidity level returns to normal, after which it will automatically turn off.

Video about ventilation in the garage, which can rid it of dampness

Garage floor waterproofing

How to get rid of dampness in a garage when groundwater enters it? To prevent the capillary flow of moisture from the ground into the garage, high-quality waterproofing of the floor is required.

To do this, a bedding should be made on the garage floor, which consists of a fairly thick layer of crushed stone (approximately 10 cm) and the same thickness of a layer of coarse sand. Both layers must be thoroughly compacted. This bedding prevents moisture from entering the garage from groundwater. It should be noted that the bedding must be laid on a heavily compacted earthen floor.
Next, a reinforced concrete screed is poured, which must be kept for about two weeks.
After the screed has dried, it is covered with mastic and rolls of rubber are laid on top with an overlap of at least 10 cm on the walls.
The seams of the waterproofing sheets are welded using a gas torch.
In case of high groundwater levels, a clay castle is required. Currently, bentonite technology is used as a lock. Bentonite clay, which has high colloidal properties, should be placed between a layer of geotextile and cardboard.
The use of liquid rubber makes it possible to achieve a surface without seams, which ensures reliable insulation of the garage floor from groundwater.
Since rubber is not sufficiently resistant to mechanical damage, reinforced geotextiles are laid on its surface, which is filled with a concrete screed on top.

Video on how to get rid of dampness in the garage

Where to begin

If the smell indicates a problem with the vehicle, you should contact a car service center. The technicians will fix the problem, and the smell will disappear along with it. In other cases, you can try to correct the situation yourself. The event is carried out in several stages:

Removing trash from the car

Thorough cleaning of the car. You need to throw away all the garbage and unnecessary things in the cabin. You should check the space under the seats and remove anything that has accumulated there. Often this procedure becomes a source of joy - long-lost things are found. It is advisable to inspect the child seats and the contents of the pockets. Children often put sweets there and forget about them. Chocolate and candies melt, forming a sticky mass, which over time begins to smell bad. Increased attention should be paid to the trunk. Some car enthusiasts don’t look there for weeks, and a “surprise” may be waiting for them in the trunk.

Cleaning car mats

Thorough wiping of car surfaces: windows, front panel, glove compartment, etc. After the procedure, it is necessary to ventilate the salon.
Cleaning rugs. First, the dust is removed with a brush, then the vacuum cleaner is turned on. The brush should be soft.

Cleaning the interior with a vacuum cleaner

Cleaning the interior with a vacuum cleaner. Before the procedure, mats are removed from the salon. Even hard-to-reach places need to be treated. The trunk needs special attention.
If the smell continues, it is advisable to treat the interior of the car with steam.

When cleaning, it is not advisable to pour a lot of water. Unevaporated moisture aggravates the situation, making the air musty and unpleasant. If steam treatment does not help, you need to more carefully investigate the cause of the odor.

Why does the interior floor become wet?

Car mats are designed to protect the car from this trouble. If the upholstery still gets wet, it means they are not doing their job. There may be several reasons for this:

in wet weather, textile mats are used. Most pile products are not designed for use in winter and rain;
The carpets do not adhere well to the interior floor. This often happens when using universal models, as well as when the rugs are made according to the wrong patterns;
there is a hole in the rug;
excessive level of moisture in the cabin caused by its depressurization (doors do not fit well, seals are worn out, etc.);
Poorly performed car wash or dry cleaning of the interior. Unfortunately, it also happens that the interior floor becomes wet even after washing the car outside.

When the cause of moisture is the car mat

If your mats are unable to protect the interior floor, there is only one way out - change them. EVA-DRIVE mats reliably hold water in the cells and prevent the floor from getting wet in bad weather. The Velcro strips they are equipped with, combined with the full conformity of the patterns, provide excellent coverage of the interior floor and a perfect fit. And their ease of care and aesthetic appearance make these mats an indispensable solution for ensuring a clean and dry interior.

If you don’t tackle the problem of how to dry the car interior under the mats in time, this seemingly trifle can lead to big troubles. The unpleasant smell of stagnant, rotten water is the least of them. The constantly wet floor upholstery will begin to slowly rot, adding olfactory “joys”, and in the long term – reupholstery of the bottom.

But this is not enough: constant humidity defeats even car painting, and measures not taken result in welding work - the bottom and sills simply rot. And liquid in the cabin appears not only as a result of various types of accidents such as antifreeze breakthrough, but also naturally - through leaky seals on windows or on riders' shoes in the form of snow.

By the way, it is in the cold that puddles under rugs pose the greatest danger. In the summer, even a cabin flooded by a sudden downpour dries out naturally without outside help. In winter, the problem resolves spontaneously only for owners of heated garages or drivers with access to warm boxes. If you put off drying until warm days, in the spring you can poke a hole in the bottom with your finger. Or by this time you will get something lung-related from constantly inhaling mold spores.

How to dry the car interior under the mats? Several folk methods have been developed by those who have already encountered similar troubles.

Our verdict

Even if you have a fresh and serviceable car, you may encounter increased humidity in the cabin if you delay replacing the cabin filter, and in winter you don’t particularly care about shaking off the snow from your feet when getting inside. Old equipment may have problems with the operation of the ventilation and blowing systems, as well as with drainage systems, which will certainly result in increased humidity in the cabin. It is worth recalling here that this is fraught not only with eternally sweating glasses. The consequences can be much worse and affect the car's electrical system, as well as lead to corrosion of the body inside the car. So at the first sign of a problem, it is better not to ignore it.