Feeling The Weather Change,Movement On Your Layout?

[ac4400fan]

Hi Guys.

I myself are back into the hobby.i live in phx az. where its mostley hot,and cool,and moist, some of the time,as the weather gets dryer,andthe moister goes away ,in most cases does this happen to alot of modelers? and is this something i just have to live with,as the table ,might shift in the weather change ,causing some track problems..

carl.[8)]

[retsignalmtr]

my layout is in my family room which is 2' below the grade of my property. it sits on a concrete slab with cement block walls. the room is paneled, has a suspended ceiling and a pergo laminate floor. the house has central ac in the summer and hot air heat in the winter. also i have a wood stove that burns about 16 hrs a day in the winter in the family room. between the ac in the summer and the wood stove in the winter the humidity stays about the same although i don't know what it is. but the temperature does change from about 68 deg in the summer up to around 80 deg in the winter. i began building my layout in the summer with a six foot long yard along a wall. i left a 10 thousandths gap between rail ends around switches and joints that i was not soldering. due to the temp change in the winter the rails in my yard
expanded causing the flextrack in it to look something like a snake and raise up on one side even after being ballasted. not enough to have to tear it up but it looks like i was drunk while putting it down.

[Fergmiester]

Without fail! I'll be firing up the dehumidifier in about a month's time.

Fergie

[jrbernier]

My layout is in the lower level of a 'split entry' home. That is a basement only 4' below grade. I have forced air heating and central A/C. The layout and track really have not shifted since I started construction in 1987. I do notice that it may be 'damper/cooler' in the basement in the July/Aug time frame, but nothing of 'mildew' status. In the winter the layout area is a little cooler until I turn on the layout lighting(10 twin flouresent fixtures). I have a large humidifier upstairs, but nothing to add humidity in the basement, and still have no problems. As mentioned in a previous post, I drop the tip of an Xacto knife in each rail gap before spiking down the flex track. I think this has saved me over the seasons! My first layout did not have this, and I did have one curve buckle, and a switch had the points bind up.

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

This is an issue that prevented me from even attempting to buid a layout in my 2-car garage, until I installed a new combination heat pump/AC unit that has sufficient BTUs to heat or cool the area as needed. Now I'm "back in business."