Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Ok,Have any of you built a reloading room in the basement of your house...........??????
This is what Iam dealing with,I have a area in my basement thats unfinishd,I am going to put up two walls and the other two are block walls,the room will be 11 1/2ft x 17ft with cement floor.It will be my room for all my hunting equiptment,guns,bows,ammo and reloading.Wife wants her room back upstairs.....Anyway I plan on sealing the block walls with sealer and insulate the ones Iam putting up,for heat I have a 10ft baseboard if needed...Now would it be a smart move to put a dehumidifier in this room due to the block walls or will sealing them be good enough to keep the Humidity low.
I know Powder needs to be in a cool and dry place,the cool isnt the problem its the humidity Iam worried about........Or am I beating a dead horse with this question.....

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Your guns need to be where it's dry!!!!

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Humidity is a problem with your reloading equipment too, even keeping them well oiled and clean , humidity will effect them . Basements are , as you have said are notoriously higher in humidity . Of course where you live will be a factor . Get a portable dehumidifier , you can get them just about any where (Sears ,Home Depot ,etc.) They all should have a fitting on the holding tank you can put a hose to continuously drain the holding tank and run it (the drain hose ) to a floor drain , other wise you will be emptying that tank a lot . The dehumidifier will ( or should ) shut down if the tank is full.If you don't have a floor drain handy , there are condensate drain pumps that can be set up to pump it to a sink or other drain that is above the holding tank using 3/8 hose . The pump should be also available at the above mentioned stores , if not a plumbing supply or heating ,air conditioning supplier will have them and they are relatively inexpensive.

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

I have a small de-humidifier that only holds a quart or so. During the summer when I was running my swap cooler, I would need to empty about once a week. Since I stopped using the cooler, I might have to once a month depending on the amount of rain we got.

I would get the de-humidifier now and start using it right away. It might help dry out the brick walls before you coat them too.

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

No, you sure ain't beating a dead horse! Seal the cement floor as well as the walls with that sealer you plan to use on the walls. Then, IF your ceiling is high enough, consider putting down some floor joists of treated lumber on your cement floor, and putting a wood floor then carpetingon top of the joists-this would get your reloadingstuff a little further away from the moisture on the floor.Keep your powder and primers in a wall locker that has one of those electric dehumidifier rods in it, (such as people use in their gun safes) and also spray your steel tools and dies with Birchwood-Casey SHEATH , same as you use to keep your guns from rusting. I find this works for me in my garage, which is very humid during wet weather. I use that SHEATH stuff on all my steel tools, and the only rust I ever had was on items I forgot to spray it on!

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Thats exactly where my reloading room is. It was 70% humidity. It was only like 10ft by 6ft. I had to buy a used dehumidifier, and now keep it below 45% humidity. Dies and stuff rust pretty easily.

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

My room is also in the basement. I was getting some surface rust on stuff during the summer in particular until I got a dehumidifier. They do work, and I highly recommend getting one or you will most certainly sooner or later find some rust on your equipment. Mine has the condensation tank and I empty it every couple of days in the summer. Hardly ever empty it in the winter due to the drier air. Do yourself a favor..........

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

I've had my reloading stuff in the basement (unfinished) for 11 years and had no signs of rust. No dehumidifier either. I keep the powder sealed up tight and have no problems with it either. I still have a can of IMR4895 that I inherited in 1997 that shoots fine. The price tag is still on the powder and it was $3.25. That might tell you how old it is :D.

Maybe I'm lucky tobe in low humidity area. I'm in NE Penna and the elevation is 2400'.

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

My house is right on a lake....pic below......Iam talking Bass fishing of my upper deck also the north side is a 80 acre swamp 55 ft from my lower garage door,right now its pretty dry down there,my basement is differant it only has 7ft celling......
I can run a hose to a floor drain thats right out side the room nxt to the furnace....I will just put a small hole in the wall.....
3/4 of the basement was storage the other 26x16 is a bar/sports room,stroage isi.e...atvs,streetrod,harley's,genarator,power washer,bikes you get the pic.So it really hasnt been preped.....

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

This pic is from last spring,I lost the lower deck due to Ice pushing upand had to redo the rip rap and painted the upper deck,the lower used to be hand layed z-block...

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Well ok guys I went from this basement messtoo this roomin less then a week,granted its not the fully paneld,carpited cozy room but its a manroom/cave where you dont need to take your shoes off or wipe them,if you spill fletching glue, powder pop,coffee,food dont worry just wipe it up and I did it for under 500.00 bucks...Iam going to town tomorrow to buy mounting plates for the press and powder disp,and afew other things,I will do more to the room such as trim and the celling down the road...
Iam not the best with pics so just bear with it...

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

I have a total of maybe 25-30 hours into this room so far plus moving everything out and in with the new.....

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Wow, thats something else. Where's the dehumidfier?:D

Looks real good. I need to do something simular in my basement. Maybe you can hop on over some weekend. Just a short trip to Westminster, md:D

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Very impressive. I like the before and after pictures. Good job...

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Fine looking man-room.That floor paint is a good way to help keep humidity down .

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

I would Red Guard the brick walls and the floor. I'd then carpet right over the redguard. You can get it at Pro Tile shops in large buckets.

It looks like a really sweet room. I dream of a room like that.

Tom

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Thanks,
The room temp right now is 60deg and the humidity is at 30%,alittle too dry I think,will have to see as summer comes around and see what happens,right now I put a bucket of water in the room buy the little portable heater,havnt turned the baseboard heat on yet.The block walls are painted with a anti moister(spl)and mold paint and used the same on the floor.....
I just got back from fargo,nd.Went and p/u 30-30/30-06 dies,primers,bullets,powder,tumbler,mounting plates and a chronograph(wanted one for last 15yrs)and some other things.Now just have too wait for the wife to get the 438.00 bill[:o],thru alittle of my cash in there too,ok I still kept it under a grand for the works:D.
I will see if I needa humidifier and dehumidifier....

It would be nice to have a decent unfinished basement with a8ft celling not a 7ft like mine but I built with what I had.....And proud of it...;)
In the 1st pic where you see the streetrod is where there is water problems if it rains hard,it seems the the county/township thought it was a good idea to build up the road 17" in front of my short(15ft) driveway.my house is wedged between a road and the lake....
Once again Thanks
PS
Now some of you will have to deal with me and my ?'s as time goes on....

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

No problem. Clear out the room, get a mid grade demo hammer and high end hammer drill. Take up the floor and dig for 26". Move all the plumbing you run into making sure to maintain the proper run for sewage run off, back fill with gravel (4") for drainage, sand(6") for support and then top off with at least 4" of concrete. Put everything back in the room.

Tom

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

The only problem is iam only 18" above high water mark...

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

Easy that means you're going to need to dig two sump pumps. The second one is going to be a back up to the first. Super deep of course. Also you're either going to need a closet full of batteries incase the power goes out or a whole house generator. Minor expenses since you saved so much building the room yourself.

Let any of us know if you need any supervisory assistance. LOL.

Tom

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..
 

I just need to buy a house on 80 acres and sell the lake house(ya-right)if I could talk the wife into it:D.I do have a 6500 wat gen incase power goes out....I put a sump pump in the driveway and only dug down about 17" before I hit water......
If Iwould sell, my nxt house would have the fancy trophy(entertainment) room upstairsand a Man cave down stairs........
Now I need to set up the reloading area of the bench.....

RE: Room for Reloading and humidity ?..