Dirt, dust, mildew & mold - How do you keep your layout clean?

You desperately need a bigger DE-humidifier. Don't wait! buy one as soon as you can. Mine has a air filter as well... and they are reasonably priced.

Look at putting in a drop ceiling as well and wrap your plumbing with molded foam tubing. 

My wife and I bought an older home ( 116 years old ) thirteen years ago. It had a finished attic that I built a layout in. However last year I got the notion I wanted to add a layout in the basement. But the basement had been closed up, window wise from before we bought the house. I had run a dehumidifier but it didn't take care of the closed in smell of musty. So last year I had the glass block windows replaced with ones that had a vent windows in them. It has helped to the point I have started the basement layout and the dehumidifier does not run as much. This took care of my problem. JDADDY suggested a larger dehumidifier which would help. Also do you have vents in your basement windows. If not those would help too......................Paul

Is the floor finished, or exposed concrete?  A lot of dust can be generated just by walking around on bare concrete floors, as shoes scuff the surface.  I would seal the floor at a minimum, but more likely put in a sturdy commercial carpet.  Keeps the dust down and is easier on the feet, knees, and back.

I've always wondered about keeping a large layout clean as well.  Like many, I've spent many hours dreaming about the lottery funded humongous layout.  But I now think that getting something like that built, and then maintaining it, is actually quite impractical.

This isn't a solution for the layout itself, but Chris Smith (Christopher N&W here) built a run-through shed with a vacuum attached to keep his rolling stock clean of dust.  I know he's shown pictures of it on the layout in the past, although I'm not sure on which forum.

Jim

Basements are tricky. My layout isn't in my basement, but I can relate to this story. My house is only 12 years old. 2 years ago, I replaced the power vented cast iron oil boiler with a high efficiency LPG boiler. The oil boiler is considered high mass and radiates a lot of heat. It also sucks air out of the house. The LPG unit radiates very little heat and derives its combustion air from a pipe vented outside. After one year with the LPG, I had mold growing in a small area of my basement. FWIW, this is a finished basement. The mold was growing on a record stand and record cabinet that I had moved up north from Florida. All, I can figure is that those items had mold spores on them from Florida and the conditions were right for the mold to grow. I now keep the thermostat in the basement at no less than 60F and monitor the humidity level. The upstairs AC keeps the basement humidity at about 45%.

This topic comes up all the time. We should get it pinned. Anyway, I run a dehumidifier, but make sure its' rated for a basement because a normal consumer grade one will ice up due to the heavier humidty. The unit I bought also has a washable air filter so that helps w/ dust.  I also run an air purifier & I cover my layouts with 1 mil plastic sheets in the off season from spring until fall. The O Gauge actually gets physically covered but the HO layout has 3 walls around it so I just make a 4th wall out of the plastic but you need to leave some small gaps for air circulation or mildew will grow on the landscape materials. I've heard the drop ceiling idea prevents dust from working down thru the floor above, but I like the storage the space up there provides so I haven't done that.

I forgot to ask, did you wrap your walls with mylar or seal the walls with paint before the basement was finished?

I was able to cut down on the moisture considerably, however the dust and spider web war is a constant battle.

Our part of the planet has fairly dry air and our basement is around 40-45% humidity usually. No dehum needed. Also I run a window exhaust fan whenever operating, and this helps to move fresh air from upstairs, or across the basement when I open a vent window on the other side.

As far as cleaning, the big problem is dust of course. I usually take a few hours once a year and vaccum, micro-fiber wipe and/or Swiffer all rolling stack and the entire layout. There is not much delicate highly detailed sceniccing, so this is doable.

Rod

For the most part my basement has been high and dry, though there have been a couple of minor incidents. The worst one was caused by rabbits burrowing in along the foundation. A heavy rain collapsed their tunnels and the water found a weak point between the wall and the slab. There was a quarter inch of standing water in that corner, while I frantically shop vaced it up. That was a long time ago, and the exterior damage has been repaired, and has never leaked since. I lost a few boxes on that one.

More recently another heavy rain had sent water down into the chimney foundation. While that didn't result in a puddle, the slab did wick up the moisture and again I had some box damage, very minor.

So back to the original question, how do I keep the basement dry? This was a primary concern back when I built the house 17 years ago. I chose to go with a foundation system of precast sectional concrete slabs. These have worked perfectly. Unfortunately for most here, you are not building new houses. If working with an unfinished basement, do everything possible to prevent moisture from the walls infiltrating the air inside. There are a lot of sealers on the market.

The next solution came from a train buddy of mine, who is also a master HVAC guy, and installed the air system on this house. We installed extra air return inlets in the train room, to allow additional dehumidification via the central air system. This solution is not a difficult retrofit for those with forced air systems.

Dust is a killer. It is a constant struggle to keep trains running in the construction zone, but that may be the best solution, keep them running! Once the bulk of the dust is vacuumed up, I have a train push my track cleaning car around. The car just has a Scotch-Brite pad on it, and clears the fine dust from the rails, almost like a snowplow. I'm looking to design a fleet of track cleaning cars that can stay in trains. Instead of the pad, I was thinking of just a piece of Masonite. My layout isn't scenicked yet either. Once you stop making dust, the task will be a lot easier. The track needs constant attention. The scenery, just go section by section as needed.

I built a new train recently and had a separate HVAC system from the house put in it. No more dust. It has its own high effecency  filter.   Keep humidity below 40% to prevent rust. To kept a constant humidity you need to kept the room at a constant temperature. I kept my train room at 73 degrees. Dehumidifier freezing up means room is too cold for condensing style. There is a different style dehumidifier which freezes the water out of the air for rooms kept at cooler temperatures.   If you have concrete floors, they need to be sealed to stop the dust. Need to clean mildew areas with Clorox to kill it.  

Try an air cleaner or air purifier.

Dyson sells some for about $500.

Andrew

Hey Rich,

Had a similar experience to what happened to you several years ago in my basement, finding mold and mildew on many boxes and other surfaces. It's a clean and "dry" basement with no leaks or incidents of water ingress ever. But what I learned after much work, research and talking with remediation companies is that mold and mildew spores are everywhere - there's no place without them.

But, the spores stay dormant unless the conditions are right for growth, which is cool, damp, still air. So as all the others suggested, a dehumidifier is #1 on the list to combat those conditions. Mine is set at 50% and runs pretty much 24/7 all summer but runs only occasionally now during the fall and almost nothing during the winter while the home's forced-air heat is running.

For cleaning up where the mold or mildew has spread, the most effective and easiest method is to wash it off with Borax, about one cup to the gallon. Not only does this clean it off, but it leaves a residue that prevents mold / mildew from regrowing on that surface. I even used it on carboard boxes (train boxes, etc.) that I wanted to keep, and the wooden layout table legs. Two years later, nothing has reappeared. But anything that would be too hard to wash thoroughly, or insignificant items (shipping cartons, papers, wood scraps, etc.) all got tossed.

Hope this helps.

Tom

Mold and mildew can be real problems.  In Virginia, we have only a half-basement, stairs go upstairs to the kitchen, and there is no door at the top of the stairs.  We run TWO large dehumidifiers, one a 90 qt, which empties continuously into the sump and a 70 qt in the train room which is emptied manually once per day.

Yes - the 70 qt. is FULL, even in the dry spell we just had (over 40 days no rain).  You have to get the moisture out.

"keep your layout clean"

Funny.

In addition to at least two dehumidifiers running in the fully finished 36x32 basement I have a radon mitigation system. It is a simple fan that pulls air from under the foundation and sucks it up a tube and out of the house. I also run an air purifier. 

As far as dust goes, I put in a drywall ceiling so the dust issue is not different than above grade. If you haven't finished the floor yet be sure to seal it off with water proofing. Next I highly recommend putting in the best padding and carpeting you can. It not only helps with all of the standing it does wonders in reducing the sound of the trains. I also put in acoustical insulation in  the ceiling. 

This is always an ongoing battle for basements and attics.  All good advice here.  A couple things I'll offer, one is to make sure your dehumidifier is rated for a little bit larger than the room size.  For my approximately 1500 sq. ft. room I use one rated for an 1800 sq. ft. room.

For dust control try one or two of these air purifiers.  Another way is to just get one or two 20" box fans and some cheap $1 20" air filters and duct tape the filter to the back of the fan and let the fan run on low.  Does a good job keeping the dust down.