Morris Minor Owners Club

I recently laid my van up for the winter, my garage has a concrete floor, it crossed my mind that it might be an idea to spread a layer of stiff cardboard underneath the van, to stop any rising damp/condensation from the concrete. Is this a reasonable consideration ?

I keep a sheet of cardboard under my Traveller, mainly to catch the oil drips......if I had the luxury of being able to lay my car up over the winter, I doubt I'd worry too much about dampness coming up from the concrete floor, provided the garage is reasonably well ventilated.

Well it’s not airtight but as the air doesn’t circulate as such, I thought of this safeguard.

I notice many of you ‘lay up’ your cars during winter. I’m curious to know reasons for this? Is it just a personal choice? Do moggies not cope well with the cold? Does it depend on area etc?

When I do get one I hope to use it all year round and it won’t ever be garaged as I don’t have a garage!

The concrete floor is effectively an impervious layer so damp cannot rise through the floor. The floor can get very cold though and if the floor is colder than the "dew point" then water will condense on it. I do find that my car sometimes "sweats" when in the garage. This usually happens when the car itself is colder than the surrounding air and then water vapour condenses on the car. Then as the garage warms up with the sun this condensation evaporates back into the air and the cycle repeats.

With energy cost as they are I cannot afford to heat the garage. An ideal solution, if I could afford it, would be to have a large blower heater that only operates to keep the garage temperature above the dew point.

A cheaper solution is to improve "passive" ventilation. Since my garage is draughty anyway, it has that already.

Cardboard on the floor or other insulation could reduce wetness on the concrete but the trouble with any insulation that can adsorb water is that it can become wet itself and make the problem worse.

Stephen

mrs.smith2012 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 5:55 pm I notice many of you ‘lay up’ your cars during winter. I’m curious to know reasons for this? Is it just a personal choice? Do moggies not cope well with the cold? Does it depend on area etc?

When I do get one I hope to use it all year round and it won’t ever be garaged as I don’t have a garage!

A lot of us have a Minor as a second car but originally drove Minors as our only cars. The Minor is perfectly able to cope with the harshest of winters but many of worry about the corrosive effects of salt on the roads and so some people hibernate their Minors over winter. I don't hibernate mine but I won't take it out when I know the roads have been salted.

Stephen

Well I do it because I’ve got a more practical car, more comfortable, warmer and more relaxing. To be honest I don’t use the Minor much even in the summer. The days of Minors are becoming less appealing now after years of running old cars, days gone by a new car was out of reach, unless you had one on the never never. Which I never never did, ———see what I did there.
Thanks for the insight regarding the concrete floor Stephen.

I have an old desk fan on a timer to circulate the air in the garage and keep condensation down.

Sorry I completely crashed the thread there didn’t I

Thank you for the responses. The minor will be a second car so she’ll only be used for short trips but do hope to use her regularly all year round. That’s a good point about salting the roads. I’ll also avoid driving her then. I’m assuming my car will be female btw… I don’t have my car yet!

mrs.smith2012 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 5:55 pm I notice many of you ‘lay up’ your cars during winter. I’m curious to know reasons for this? Is it just a personal choice? Do moggies not cope well with the cold? Does it depend on area etc?

When I do get one I hope to use it all year round and it won’t ever be garaged as I don’t have a garage!

I don't lay mine up for winter as I don't have any other car............but I do try and avoid country lanes after rain as there is so much mud and cow***t which sprays up underneath and then needs to be cleaned off

Reassuring to know that a few of you do use your cars with no problems through winter!

I think if I was worried about condensation I'd just open the garage door for an hour or so on a dry day every couple of weeks.

I have had my car for 15 years of spring and summer driving only.
The floor of the garage is layered with a couple of old rugs the mem sahib chucked out, she chucks stuff, I save it.
There is the benefit of insulating the floor a little under the Morris, but also I use the rugs to lie on when working under the car outside the garage.
The car is rust free.
In the old days you could buy flattish paraffin heaters, lit under the sump, not very safe I would not have thought but then pre-central heating we had paraffin heaters on the landing of the house to "take the chill off" again not safe today, not safe then, but the smell of paraffin takes me right back to a wonderful childhood.
A bit like the smell of creosote too.
Anyway, I use a small fan heater in the man cave, I imagine the same would work well in the garage.

Yes thanks for all the views on this.

mrs.smith2012 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 6:54 pm Sorry I completely crashed the thread there didn’t I

No worries you didn’t, threads often change direction, it can give a thread variety.

I remember paraffin heaters. The warm, humid reek of paraffin. Quite comforting actually. Adjusting the wick to get a blue flame and trimming the wick and stinking of paraffin. It's hard to believe we had no central heating. I don't remember being especially cold but I certainly used the dog as a hot water bottle.

As a small boy I was sent to the oil shop to buy a gallon of paraffin at a time. That little ironmongery shop is still there and it was claimed that the very same shop was the inspiration for the Two Ronnies sketch "Four Candles". There is still a signed Two Ronnies photo on the wall in the shop and Ronnie Corbett lived nearby at the time. Probably just a myth but a good story.

I went on to collect paraffin pressure stoves and lamps so I still buy paraffin there!

Paraffin heaters are really no good in garages or greenhouses. Obviously they're not very safe but the bigger problem is water is produced when paraffin is burnt so they actually make the damp worse. Instead of cold damp it's warm damp.

Stephen

One for you Stephen

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 11:22 pm One for you Stephen
Screenshot_20251126-231812_Google.jpg

Marvellous. Somewhere I still have an Esso Blue notepad.

Stephen

Wow! Love hearing all these memories! I always find it incredible how times have changed, even since my own childhood (80s/90s).

Our house was built in the 70s and it just doesn’t heat well, even with insulation and central heating. Cant imagine how cold it must have been before central heating existed! (I’m sitting in my office with 4 layers and gloves… and that’s with heating ON )

mrs.smith2012 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 27, 2025 9:25 am even since my own childhood (80s/90s).

Us 80's/90's kids weren't built for the cold

https://youtu.be/VKHFZBUTA4k?si=3LiOXcWrfdUIBPg2

50s child, no heating except coal fire, no hot water unless you boiled kettle and no bathroom.
The good old days