How To Minimise Dust in Your Garage: Our Industry Guide

Feeling a bit dusty? We share our tips to keep the dust out of your car storage environment There is no denying that dust is the age-old enemy of vehicle storage. Leave an uncovered car in a seemingly enclosed garage for a short period time and before long a light coating has immersed itself on the paint. Take it for a drive and then get caught in a shower of rain and suddenly you have a vehicle in need of a good wash. In this article we share our tips based on our experiences in keeping the dust down in our car storage facility.

Clean Beginnings

The foundation of keeping the dust down and off your car starts Start by deep cleaning the entire vehicle storage space – both down-low and up high (dust will accumulate on rafters, cross bracing and support trusses, and then potentially be disturbed by wind pressure when opening and closing the access doors. Use a high-powered vacuum wherever possible, as this is the most effective way of actually removing the dust.

The same goes for the car itself – if dirty, give it a good hand wash before putting it away into the storage environment, otherwise the vehicle itself becomes a source of dust. This is particularly important if you plan to use a dust cover, as applying a cover on a dirty car can do more harm than good.

Look Down

A silent culprit of dust can be the floor itself. Unsealed concrete will eventually breakdown into fine cement particles, which are then prone to becoming airborne if disturbed by vehicle, machinery or even pedestrian movements. Using a quality penetrating sealing agent on your concrete will ensure cement dust contamination is minimised. Another culprit is unfilled concrete joints, such as pictured below. These gaps are prime for collecting dirt and debris that will be disturbed by garage/storage area movements. Investing in some gap-filler silicone is an effective way of eliminating this problem.

Filter your Windows & Vents

In the quest to ‘dust-proof’ your car storage environment, a cheap and effective solution can be found in a fine-gauze dust/pollen screen. Use this as a measure to mitigate dust migration without restricting ventilation.

Shut Up Shop

This is a pretty self explanatory one, and also assists with security and privacy.

Cover It Up (If You Have To)

As we highlighted in our car cover article earlier in the year, if you can’t ensure your car storage environment is completely dust free, use a soft, breathable cotton-based cover to protect your vehicle from dust contamination. The breathable fabric will allow moisture to escape, and its soft material will minimise any potential micro-scratching to the paint. (Tip: Don’t apply a cover on a car immediately after using it – let the engine bay cool down first, as this will avoid trapping any condensation under the cover. To be clear, a completely dust free environment is preferable over using a cover, however in most environments this is simply just not possible.

Lastly – never put a cover straight onto a dirty or dusty car. It is completely counter-intuitive, as the cover will swirl around the contamination, which will in-turn scratch the paint, and dirty the cover. A clean car will obviously have less dirt to spread around once in the garage.

Should I Use an Air Filtration System?

Using a dust air filtration system is another step to further cleanse the area of airborne particles. Probably not a necessity for most uses, however if dust is a real issue, or if having a dusty car is an even bigger issue then a small filtration machine like this one from Trade Tools will help keep the air low on dust pollution.

Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as we enjoyed putting it together!