# Will storing my power tools in a cold garage hurt them any until spring?



## Woodenhearted (11 mo ago)

I'm going to continue to buy some power tools until the spring. I'm just wondering if I should keep them in the house or will they be ok if I leave them in my cold garage. Will just be the table saw for now, but more to come soon.
Our daughter currently resides in the basement with the 2 kiddies, our spare room upstairs is packed with her other belongings.
So, I'm really only left with a space in the garage at this time until I build a shed this spring.
Do most have heated area's for their workshops throughout the winter months? Should I plan on a heat source in the shed for next winter after I set everything up?

Thank


----------



## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Humidity will be your major concern. A quick drop in temperature will cause the humidity to condense on cold tools, resulting in rust. A dessicant bag like comes with many purchases today, will dry the moisture inside a bag if you put both the tool and one of these into a zip lock type bag. Seal the bags and don't worry about your tools. You can easily get up to 3 gallon zip lock type bags in grocery stores. Larger are available online. I think Amazon sells the dessicant bags in quantity The tools will be fine sealed up like this with low humidity inside the bags. For large tools, a similar process, maybe using lawn/leaf bags is the way to go. I would spray cast iron tools with WD-40 before wrapping them up. Plastic sheeting and packing tape sealed seams would be the way to go here. Again use the Dessicant bags (many depending on tool size). The less garage humidity and sudden severe temperature swings, the safer your tools will be. Quick temperature drops with high humidity are what to look out for. Learn what Dew Point is and keep your tools below Dew Point and you will never see any damage. Keeping the garage closed up and running a dehumidifier 24/7 or at least setting it to run at 50% or higher to keep the garage humidity low is another method, but if you don't keep the collection bucket from over filling, the dehumidifier will turn itself off, and the garage humidity will rise and rust exposed tools. Many dehumidifiers have drains to allow a hose to be connect that runs down hill from the dehumidifier to the drain, so you won't forget this daily task.

Charley


----------



## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

During winter, my shop doesn't get heated unless I work in there. But I also have major tools in my garage, I've never had a problem. But I have coated my iron tables, etc.with Boeshield T9, a product Boeing developed to stop corrosion. Works great and doesn't transfer to the wood and affect your finish. It's available on Amazon. My garage is now insulated, as is my shop, and I think that helps.

The key thing for a shop to me if you have cold winters, is insulation, insulation, insulation. Without it,you can heat all you want and it will slip away. Get double pane windows for your shed. I also suggest that you line the inside of the shed with radiant barrier. It's the silver bubble wrap looking stuff. I have it in the ceiling too. In the garage, it dropped the temp 35 degrees, and I live in the desert. I have R38 in the attics of my sheds and garage. I don't have to heat the garage to work in there, and the shop shed, which is 12x24 takes a little time to heat up, but holds the heat until I open the door.

My sheds sit on 4x6 beams on top of crushed rock. That allows very cold air to come up through the floor. The cure was making a skirt all around the building and pushing the crushed rock up against them. No air flow, no critters in there now.

If I had it to do over again, I'd have gone for a 16x24 shed or 20x24.on a slab. At the time it would have cost another $3,500 or so (more now) If I'd done that, I would have been able to put all my gear in there.

I have a neighbor who started with a 10x12 shed (no permit required), but built it on a much larger slab. And then he did add ons until he had a very large enclosed space. 

This is the exterior of my shed. To the left is a small chamber, an enclosed space between my smaller office shed and my workshop. In it is the dust collection system, with filters. It has a pass through that filters the air, and returns the AC or heated air to the shop. Here are pix of both. I strongly recommend putting your dust collector and chip collection in a lean to, out of the weather, enclosed so you can retain your heated air. 









The Yellow box on the front is a failed dust collection filter. The door on the left is the DC chamber. See below









Up on the wall, behind the DC filter, is a second 22x22 inch filter through which the cleaned air returns to the shop. I got the pass through tube from Rockler. I use only Rockler dust collection fittings. Different brands don't mix well.

If you don't do dust collection, you will almost certainly damage your lungs.

One last thing, I covered one of the 24 ft. inside walls with 1/4 inch pegboard. It has proven incredibly convenient to hang stuff up there in plain sight.


----------



## BigJim (Sep 15, 2010)

Battery powered tools, is best to bring batteries in the house, the cold and them discharging will kill them.


----------



## Rebelwork Woodworking (Sep 11, 2004)

BigJim said:


> Battery powered tools, is best to bring batteries in the house, the cold and them discharging will kill them.



Agree. Batteries are the problem, power corded arent..


----------



## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

I agree with what others have said. Anything that can rust will rust if not protected. I moved from the north to Florida about 5 years ago and I found that I have a bigger rust problem here than in the north. However, I treat it in a similar way. I use Boeshield T9 on all of my cast iron surfaces. I have also use Johnson's paste wax with good results but the Boeshield is easier to apply. I have about a half dozen band saw blades that I keep in a large plastic bag with desiccant. I only have one hand plane (I know, how can I call myself a woodworker with only one hand plane) and I keep that in a plane sock that I got from Lee Valley and have never had a problem with it.


----------



## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

I paste wax my tool tops. I never thought about the batteries, I should bring my cordless drill in.


----------



## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

Woodenhearted said:


> I'm going to continue to buy some power tools until the spring. I'm just wondering if I should keep them in the house or will they be ok if I leave them in my cold garage. Will just be the table saw for now, but more to come soon.
> Our daughter currently resides in the basement with the 2 kiddies, our spare room upstairs is packed with her other belongings.
> So, I'm really only left with a space in the garage at this time until I build a shed this spring.
> Do most have heated area's for their workshops throughout the winter months? Should I plan on a heat source in the shed for next winter after I set everything up?
> ...


I have a 10" General Table saw and a 14" General Bandsaw that I keep and use in my attached garage along with a newer DeWalt planer. The garage is uninsulated and unheated so every fall I resign myself to not using it until spring unless we get a good day with temps above zero. I have my other tools in the basement. I use a track saw in place of the table saw as a make-do in the winter months. I used to use Boeshield T-9 on the table tops and a light spray on other moving parts. Now for the tables I use Johnson's Paste wax. I feel a little more comfortable using the paste wax because I think I can apply it a little thicker for piece of mind. In the garage I cover the table tops with a piece of fitted cardboard after waxing, then cover with a thick wool blanket topped with a poly sheet as a dust cover. I've been doing this since I moved into this house in 1990. I've always wanted to turn the garage into a shop but not everyone has been on-side with that. I make do. I would never leave any tools exposed in the garage during winter. Batteries left in the garage are a no-no as well.
I'm not sure where you're located but where I am it can get pretty cold in the off-season so outdoor tinkering can be limited. All the best in your endeavours.


----------



## Lawseeker (Mar 18, 2013)

All of the above comments are super great. If your table saw has a large cast iron top and you fail to give it some protection, it will rust. After several hours removing rust from my brand new table saw I now take considerable time making sure it is protected. 

I tried Boeshield T9 and it seemed to work just fine. But I have since moved to Johnson Wax plus a wooden cover of 1/4 inch plywood in a frame of about 1 1/2 inch size. No rust over the past two years. I wax about once every two months. In order to use the wooden cover, I must lower the blade and remove the blade guard. I small hassle for me.

My pliers drawer has some rather rusty tools, caused by the humidity here in Texas. But I found desiccant and it is a great help. Had not thought about putting some of my less used tools in a plastic bag with desiccant, I will give that a try. FYI, my shop is insulated including the overhead doors, but not the ceiling. Even so, I have ample warmth (space heater as needed). Rust is an issue and I attempt to protect my tools. Rust forms if I take no precautions. Have had no difficulties with my battery operated tools.

I have only stored my batteries in the shop. I have 12 volt Milwaukee brand and 18 & 40 volt Ryobi brand, have experienced no problems, but then it is not cold in my part of Texas. I have a couple of hand saws my father purchased sometime in the 1950's, and due to poor maintenance they are both a little rusty. The lesson here, take some time and make some effort to protect your tools from rust.

Good luck as you move forward.

Marvin

Good luck as you move forward.


----------



## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

Lawseeker said:


> All of the above comments are super great. If your table saw has a large cast iron top and you fail to give it some protection, it will rust. After several hours removing rust from my brand new table saw I now take considerable time making sure it is protected.
> 
> I tried Boeshield T9 and it seemed to work just fine. But I have since moved to Johnson Wax plus a wooden cover of 1/4 inch plywood in a frame of about 1 1/2 inch size. No rust over the past two years. I wax about once every two months. In order to use the wooden cover, I must lower the blade and remove the blade guard. I small hassle for me.
> 
> ...


Only having been in your part of the U.S. twice in my life it had never crossed my mind that the central southern area would have rusting tool problems. I had always thought it was just plain hot and dry. It just goes to show how little we know of each other. Being in a place with ridiculously fluctuating temperatures, damp cold, dry cold, from -25C winters to over +35C summers, stifling humidity at times in summer, surrounded by vast bodies of water and only about 250 feet above sea level I thought we here had a stiff row to hoe. With a frozen nose and freezing toes at times in January I would sometimes think it might be nice to be in a place where the range of temperatures was considerably less than ours. I could surely do with more time to work outside in decent weather. Most recently, though, after seeing the weather problems you have on the evening news I'm thinking I should be careful of what I wish. Weather has changed a lot. I lived for a while in the sixties in areas around San Francisco and south of Los Angeles. In the Los Angeles area during that time I saw very, very little rain all year. Much has changed in 60 or so years.


----------



## MarkJonesRanger (Aug 14, 2020)

In Missouri with a Garage that is part of the house my temps in the garage even on the very cold days rarely gets down to 30 degrees and the only thing I will do is bring my wood glues away from the garage door and move them up closer to the house walls. I don't have any issues of moisture. 
I will say most equipment will groan if used in cold or extreme temps. When working in the shop I use a little turbo propane space heater up on a shelf to knock the edge off of the cold for a couple of months. Most of the time it's the heat that takes the fun out of it. Each area of the country most likely is a bit different in this situation.


----------



## Cuda (Jan 3, 2010)

Woodenhearted said:


> I'm going to continue to buy some power tools until the spring. I'm just wondering if I should keep them in the house or will they be ok if I leave them in my cold garage. Will just be the table saw for now, but more to come soon.
> Our daughter currently resides in the basement with the 2 kiddies, our spare room upstairs is packed with her other belongings.
> So, I'm really only left with a space in the garage at this time until I build a shed this spring.
> Do most have heated area's for their workshops throughout the winter months? Should I plan on a heat source in the shed for next winter after I set everything up?
> ...


I noticed you are in our great neighbor country to the north. Your issues won't be the same as someone from Florida or Texas. I live in the plains states where it gets pretty cold in the winter, and currently keep all of my big tools in my garage (table saw, jointer, drill press, etc.). I agree that your biggest enemy is moisture. I use Boeshield like some others have said, but since I don't spend a lot of time using my tools, I don't need to refresh it quite as often. I have a natural gas space heater installed overhead in my garage, which I turn on only when I need to work out there during the winter.
I agree with the caution about not keeping battery powered tools in a cold garage. Also some plastics and also rubber don't take kindly to frigid temperatures, so I prefer to keep any tool with plastic or rubber parts inside as much as possible. Obviously some can't be helped, like the plastic parts on my table saw.
Before I moved here, I used to have a basement workshop, which is ideal because it is climate controlled with the rest of the house. Getting plywood sheets into the basement was always a hassle though, since it wasn't a walkout. Dehumidification was necessary, but most of the load was handled by the furnace in the winter and the AC in the summer. Good luck with your future plans!


----------



## kcortese12 (Nov 12, 2019)

My old garage was not heated. I kept any electronics and paints inside the house. My large power tools were left outside during the winter months and never rusted. If I needed to get some work done out there, I fired up the kerosene heater for a couple of hours hour to warm the equipment up, and was able work. I insulated the garage and installed a propane heater which was really nice because I could leave all my equipment in there year round. My garage burnt down (not because of the heater). My new garage is fully insulated, electric heat, and is kept at a nice 64 degrees. you need to insulate the building before using a permanent heat source. Or you can fire up a portable heater to get equipment warmed up before operating.


----------



## Gary Lee (Jul 9, 2007)

I live in central Texas and have freezing temperatures through winter, and it is fairly humid where I live.I have a shop about 2500' with heat and AC, *used only in daytime to work*.. I've worked job sites over forty years with my truck loaded with tools inside and in the bed. Rust was never an issue, unless rained on and not cleaned. 
In the shop I have very old table saw blades that have lite surface rust along with some of my not used hand saws etc.
The only table saw rust is when a grand son leaves soda pop on them. If I ever see some rust I just hit it with a oily rag.
I leave all latex/oil lacquer paint in shop during freezes w/no heat and no problems. Just my personal experience as I use hand/power tools for a living and learned how to take care of them. They cost too much to replace.


----------



## radio_davio (Apr 28, 2011)

have lived in Ohio for 26 years. High moisture cold is pervasive in the winter. Have never had a problem with power tools, batteries, etc.


----------



## Woodenhearted (11 mo ago)

We appreciate all the advice given!
Unfortunately I didn't bring my 2 Dewalt tools or batteries inside for the winter.
Just brought them in now, hopefully they will be ok. I will put them on the charger once they warm up to see if they will work. If not I will have pick up a couple new ones.

I have been planning the shed build, I'm confident that an 8x10 will be of adequate space since most tools will be bench style other than a drill press and bench grinder stand.

I'm thinking a small window A/C for the summer months with a small electric fireplace for the winter should keep this from getting to humid, damp and cold with our 4 seasons here. I'm thinking foam sheet for insulation between the 2x4 walls and roof. 
What do you guys think? Would I be better to buy the fiberglass type and insulate that way?

Hopefully, I can start on the shed build in April if the weather continues to be nicer than usual this early on.

Thank you all!


----------



## Wooden Dreams (Aug 7, 2021)

Woodenhearted said:


> I'm going to continue to buy some power tools until the spring. I'm just wondering if I should keep them in the house or will they be ok if I leave them in my cold garage. Will just be the table saw for now, but more to come soon.
> Our daughter currently resides in the basement with the 2 kiddies, our spare room upstairs is packed with her other belongings.
> So, I'm really only left with a space in the garage at this time until I build a shed this spring.
> Do most have heated area's for their workshops throughout the winter months? Should I plan on a heat source in the shed for next winter after I set everything up?
> ...


No problem to store in a cold garage or shed. As long as it's a dry location. The problem would be if there's a leaky roof where water can get in. If your storing a piece of equipment l, it would be a good idea to spray or wipe-on a protective coating to the cast iron table of the table saw or bandsaw. Use any type or spray lube. And clean off the lube coating before you going to use it. Manufactures of equipment will put on a oily/wax coating on any bare cast iron surfaces before packaging, to prevent rust.


----------



## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

I like being able to see where some of you are from rather than just saying U.S. , Canada, Australia, Europe or whatever.
I get a better insight into how weather, proximity of supplies, and other things unique to specific locations affect your equipment, the kind of wood available, the tool sources among other things when you include your state, province or region in replies or on your initial registration. Given that some people have a reluctance to exposure I don't think you'd put yourself at risk by declaring the approximate geographic area of your location. North America itself is a rather large area and naming a state, province, or city would still preserve your anonymity. Now for you Aussies, It would help too but my biggest concern with you fellows is how on earth can you do what you do while always upside down? That's a puzzle!


----------



## Wooden Dreams (Aug 7, 2021)

thomas1389 said:


> I like being able to see where some of you are from rather than just saying U.S. , Canada, Australia, Europe or whatever.
> I get a better insight into how weather, proximity of supplies, and other things unique to specific locations affect your equipment, the kind of wood available, the tool sources among other things when you include your state, province or region in replies or on your initial registration. Given that some people have a reluctance to exposure I don't think you'd put yourself at risk by declaring the approximate geographic area of your location. North America itself is a rather large area and naming a state, province, or city would still preserve your anonymity. Now for you Aussies, It would help too but my biggest concern with you fellows is how on earth can you do what you do while always upside down? That's a puzzle!


Interesting comment on relationship to the area your in when posting a comment on cold weather storage. I'm in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA. Todays high temperature is 25degrees fahrenheit or -3.9 Celsius.


----------



## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Hi @Wooden Dreams , we were there in 2012, but in Early Summer. (Gosh, 10 years ago, already)
You can keep that cold weather.....LOL


----------



## GregLittleWoodworks (Dec 9, 2014)

Here is southern Louisiana we get a lot of humility in the air and therefore it is a necessity to keep my shop well insulated and the humidility as low as possible. With previous shops I had in the past fighting rust was always a problem and I had to have dehunidilityfiers plugged in more so than not. 
Good insulation in my shop now has solved the problem and I never have rust anywhere. I does not get too cold here so I rarely have to use heat.


----------



## Woodenhearted (11 mo ago)

We are about 2 hours north of Toronto Ontario. Not far from Owensound area.
Cold winters, good amount of snow, freezing rain at times with January, February thaws. Can get really damp and cool here in spring and fall. Summers can be humid and sticky.
Its never easy to plan or prepare for at times when we get hit hard at times as well.
We will have to take all weather patterns into account when building the shed for a small woodworking shop.
A dehumidifier sounds like a good item to have during these times. We are defiantly going insulate in order to have A/C for summer. Heat for early spring, winter, and fall months.
So many decisions to make but we will get it figured everything out eventually.
Learning what is needed is part of the fun and excitement.
The floor in our tiny 1 car garage is usually wet most of the winter since we park our vehicle inside. Although, I do squeegee the floor often, it does feel damp and cold at most times throughout spring, summer and fall . I can't afford to take the chance on having these tools rust so we made some space inside the house for these tools until spring.


----------



## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

GregLittleWoodworks said:


> Here is southern Louisiana we get a lot of humility in the air and therefore it is a necessity to keep my shop well insulated and the humidility as low as possible. With previous shops I had in the past fighting rust was always a problem and I had to have dehunidilityfiers plugged in more so than not.
> Good insulation in my shop now has solved the problem and I never have rust anywhere. I does not get too cold here so I rarely have to use heat.


You rarely have to use heat? ever? Winter either?? Gee whiz, would you trade Januarys and Februarys ? I've never been that far south in central U.S. but I did see it on a map once. Do you know Bill ? He lives not too far from you. He's in Houston.


----------



## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

Woodenhearted said:


> We are about 2 hours north of Toronto Ontario. Not far from Owensound area.
> Cold winters, good amount of snow, freezing rain at times with January, February thaws. Can get really damp and cool here in spring and fall. Summers can be humid and sticky.
> Its never easy to plan or prepare for at times when we get hit hard at times as well.
> We will have to take all weather patterns into account when building the shed for a small woodworking shop.
> ...


Woodenhearted , With a garage like that why don't you turn it into a swimming pool ? All kidding aside, pay close attention to the surrounding dampness. It does a lousy job on tools. Will you be doing any of your work in the basement ? The worst part in a basement is dust control. A decent dehumidifier and good dust control can usually keep things in order. You don't need it desert-dry but you do need to keep the humidity down. With dust under control in the basement the only other thing you need be concerned with is noise but with Mrs. on-side you're way ahead of the game. Is your property in a low area ?
You don't need a tremendous amount of dedicated space to have a shop in the basement but I would say you need to have as many pieces on wheels as you can have. What kind of work do you intend to do ?


----------



## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

To the group at large: In the responses I've just read, it was satisfying to at last get an idea of where some people are and how they function in their particular area, whether it be climate restrictions, sourcing material or tools or local bylaws etc.
Personally, I feel I have a better insight into member's goals, challenges, and even personalities when I can form a mental picture of someone and their environment. I know it's not a "guy" thing to get too warm and fuzzy but I think we can relate to someone's problem, be it material or tools acting up or whatever when we have a bigger picture. I still haven't heard from anyone in Australia that can tell me how they do so much while upside down.


----------



## Woodenhearted (11 mo ago)

thomas1389 said:


> Woodenhearted , With a garage like that why don't you turn it into a swimming pool ? All kidding aside, pay close attention to the surrounding dampness. It does a lousy job on tools. Will you be doing any of your work in the basement ? The worst part in a basement is dust control. A decent dehumidifier and good dust control can usually keep things in order. You don't need it desert-dry but you do need to keep the humidity down. With dust under control in the basement the only other thing you need be concerned with is noise but with Mrs. on-side you're way ahead of the game. Is your property in a low area ?
> You don't need a tremendous amount of dedicated space to have a shop in the basement but I would say you need to have as many pieces on wheels as you can have. What kind of work do you intend to do ?


Hello Thomas,
We were planning on putting these tools in the basement, setting up a proper dust control unit etc. That was our plan until plans changed. 
Our daughter needed to move back home with the 2 kiddies last spring. This has altered our plans since she will need to stay for a couple more years yet. 
My garage is terrible really, I have a slanted driveway with a drain in front of the garage door in which I have to use a submersible pump to get the water out prior to coming into the garage. Therefor the spring melting and heavy downpours of rain usually floods our garage. 
We have been planning to fix this for a couple years now lol. Other things just seem to come up, well, along with the renovated basement apartment that we finished last spring. 
We have a contractor coming to look at it next week to see if they can fix it up properly. 

As for the type of work we would like to do, 
We are just going into this as a hobby, making a few signs, some pine corner shelving, and possibly a new wall unit for our daughter. 
I do feel quite lucky that my wife is very supportive of this adventure and has no issues when it comes time to purchasing the tools necessary. We stay on track together and communicate prior to any purchases, this stays in line with our monthly budget for this hobby. 

We are looking forward to getting started in the coming weeks and sharing things that we are learning and trying to do as we go along.


----------



## Woodenhearted (11 mo ago)

Did fill in the hole that caved in on the 1 side of that catch basin.
I just finished it yesterday. Temporary fix until the contractors come out to have a look.
It took the good out of me since I haven't done anything that labor intense all winter.
A few trips to physio therapy has already been booked for the ache muscles and bones haha.




























We also need better retaining walls on both sides of the driveway. Need to remove the rocks and flower garden as well to keep the runoff at a minimum to the drain from taking too much water at once. If it's even possible.
We should know next week.
Here is a few pictures of the mess we are currently facing . Tools are in the house for now.


----------

