Storage

I have a question about vehicle storage. I currently have one of my vehicles in a garage and the others under a carport. I haven't seen any mice or anything but I know that putting poision is a deterrent. What i do have in both the garage and carport is numerous spiders, millipedes, and general bugs. How harmful can they be and what if anything can i do to prevent any damage they can cause?

Thanks

 

Well spiders are a touph one, they can get past everything if not covered (some times). I have a few cars stored in a barn, this is what I have done. Spray, not the car but a perimiter around the car with "said" bug deterant/chimical. In your garage I can see yousing less because it's closed off/dry. In your car port you may need to apply more often because of rain, wind, etc.

IMO you should contact a exterinator for some questions, what works for me may not work for you on your side of the continent.

I use Diazinon. I still have a 1/2 gallon but you can't buy it any more.
http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/a/Diazinon.htm When it was being eliminated 1 bout several gallons, works like a champ.

I'm gona run out of the stuff soon, I planed on calling exterminators just to get some feed back.

You get the idea though, rite?

 

Use a CAR JACKET !

The best protection is a felt car cover directly on a dry clean car - DRY is a MUST or you'll turn your car into a mold infestation - followed by a zip up mouse proof air tight car jacket found in various supply houses or at autoanything.com for about $250.

http://www.autoanything.com/car-covers/69A1798A0A0.aspx

It is hard to figure out what size to buy. The one for my mustang is a very tight fit so I got one of the larger sizes which is way huger than my Towncar. To my knowledge it is the only way to prevent mice eating your car from the inside out, and worse yet, dying inside and leaving a nasty hard to find gift for your spring cleaning.

I've stored 3 cars this way and it does a lot to preserve them from mice, insects, weather (as long as the car is indoors or else well tarped over and around the jacket) as well as reducing oxygen in the car which slows rust and other time (=oxygen) related degradation of rubber and foams.

To keep a little bit of air circulating you want to leave one of the windows open a small crack. Of course only the poor in oxygen air will circulate, this is mostly to avoid humidity depositing on the inside of the car instead of o the inside of the bag when the weather changes and condensation starts.

Happy storage!

Vic

 

i guess there is no "easy" way. in the more urban area, I had no protection from the sun and had to worry about dents & dings. Now in the rural area, I got the critters and rodents to watch out for.

 

Outside storage is always a pain. Tedy's offered some good tips too. Diazonon is/was made with diatomashious earth, used to keep potatoe bugs off. It also a very fine polishing grit. Don't know if you can find it out your way or not. BUT you can buy desecant bags, like they use in electronic device packing, usually in 2, 5 or 10 lb bags. It's also a mineral, like the potatoe bug powder above, made from silica sand.

Throw a couple in the car and the trunk/tire well, and change them every couple months - you can reuse them, after you dry the silica sand bags under a heat lamp for an hour or so. Keeps the sheetmetal cleaner for longer.

 

I had very good success storing a car by driving it onto a tarp and folding it up over the car. This protects it from moisture and stuff crawling in.

 

Plastic or canvas tarp?

Sounds interesting.

 

My fears were confirmed yesterday. I opened the hoods yesterday on my caprices and found guests. On the sedan, a family of mice scurried from their nest to the the other side. I managed to to get them with my glue trap. In the wagon, I saw the same signs of nesting but no actual mice. They seem to be in the same exact spot too. I have poison but some places say not to use it for fear they hide somewhere and die. any temporary solutions one can recommend? the car jackets at $250 a pop are not a realistic optin for me right now.

Visitors


Sedan


Wagon (I had already cleaned out the "ball" of insulation that was in the same spot as above)

 

X2. Oh that's me....I'm repeating myself.

 

Oh, thats a bummer man!

Mice,,,,,you may not be a cat person but maybe you should consider getting a couple mousers. Touph call on exactly what to do. I rent a barn on a farm where I keep a few cars and parts. They don't use poison because of where they mite crawl off and die, it's a very valid point. The barn has cat doors and it's been working over the years. Another farm trap that is used on the property is a 1/2 full of water 5 gallon pail. !/2 full then syrophome packing pop corn is put on top, just enouph to make the surface look solid. then some real buttered pop corn is placed on top. A stick is laid as a ramp for them to walk up. They look, they jump in for the food, they drown! Over the years I've been there hords of mice and rats have met there doom that way.

 

my wife pointed out this option. i must have overlooked it. so you just drive on it and fold up? tying the corners together? how high does it come up on the vehicle?

 

Wish I had a nice place like that to store my old cars. You should see my wagon... backed in a "hole", under trees, with river cane growing up beside of it and all I have is a tarp covering the tarp, which has been known to blow off and soak the inside of the car since the windows all leak.

My car is now full of spiders. Havent seen any mice though or signs of them. Seen your captured mouse pic and lost my dinner (weak stomach). lol.

 

I have seen one of these used, and they work great! The one I saw had a wire put through the center of a peanut butter covered can and hung across the bucket to act as a roller. When the mouse got on the can to get the peanut butter, it would roll off. It was winter, so they replaced the water in the bucket with antifreeze and also addded some used motor oil to the antifreeze, which created a film on the surface of the water so there was no smell of dead mice.

Here is a link how to build one cheap and easy.
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/better-mouse-trap/

 

I'm not sure how effective it might be given the cars are stored outside, but I've heard that sprinkling mothballs under the car around the perimeter will keep mice out.. they don't like the smell. Also, stuff some steel wool in your exhaust pipe to keep mice from nesting in the muffler.

 

Diatomaceous earth is used in swimming pool filters also and is non-toxic. I'm told it scratches the insect's exo-skeleton causing them to dehydrate.
Interesting stuff; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth
I think it needs to be dry to be effective with insects.