sandiapaul wrote:
OK guys, here is the story. I found a lovely Swedish botanist,
proposed, and now at 43 I'm getting married. We found a great house,
well nearly great. The original part of the house is from 1820 and
it's basement has water seepage into the new (15 year old) walkout 21
x 24 basement. The owner put a trench(french drain) around the
perimeter of the newer slab and a sump pump to get rid of the water.
By close inspection the new part does not seem to have seen any water
on the floor, but the trench certainly has. Don't try to talk my out
of the place that isn't going to happen...What can I do to minimize
the rust effects on my machines and tools down there? De-humidifiers,
heat, ventilation...whatever you have tried and works.


Ugh! The first part of the story sounds great! Congratulations!
The 2nd part sounds like a horror story, condolences!

I had a house with clay tile foundation that leaked like a seive!
Sealing a seive is never going to work, the only hope is to
keep water away from the holes. When I got the place, water shot
in JETS from the walls during heavy rain! It was like some horror
movie. First thing I did was replace the gutters, and install those
4" tubes to carry the water as far away from the foundation as
possible. I then found a "hill" on the side of the house where the
builders dumped all their rubble, and it was filled with chunks of
broken cinderblock. Not knowing how to get rid of the stuff, I
got empty boxes from work, chipped and packed them into the boxes
and put them out with the trash for about 6 months! I used all that
dirt to try to regrade a slope away from the foundation. I had to
go up on the roof and clean the gutters sometimes every 2 weeks.
There were a lot of trees overhanging the roof, and the seeds,
flower bits and leaves would clog up the gutters real quick.
When the gutters overflowed, it went straight into the basement.

OK, enough homeowner stuff. As for the machine tools, I used LPS 1,
a product in some ways similar to WD-40, but I think it works better
for this purpose. I get it in the 20 Oz pump bottle, a lot cheaper
than spray cans. LPS 2 is good for bar stock, angle iron and such,
but leaves a film that you wouldn't want on precision tools.
A dehumidifier in the summer is a good idea, and they cost very little
to run. You probably won't need humidity reduction in the winter,
and they freeze up anyway.

My machines were right next to the back of the furnace, maybe that
had a positive effect, too. Stuff would rust LIKE CRAZY in the
garage, that was always very moist. But, I really didn't have that
much trouble in the actual basement.

Watch out for spills that come down through the main floor. Dirty water is
100 times more powerful as a rusting agent than humidity!

Jon