What to use to prevent condensation in outside garage

[DIwhattY]

I am a total DIY novice and not really any good at this type of thing. However I am converting my external outside garage into a home gym.

One problem at the moment is, even though there are no leakages from the roof when it has been raining or sometimes even when it has not been raining.

The room will be very damp. This has caused the weights in the garage to rust. I am wondering how I can prevent this.

The garage has a tiled sloping roof however the walls on the left and right of the building do not directly meet with the roof. There is a gap which currently has some poly foam triangly shaped lengths gitted into this gap. These however have little gaps in them.

I realise with this description it might be impossible to offer advice but if anyone knows of any resources that deal with this type of thing and can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

I was thinking about just trying to cover every little gap and crevice in the building, do you think this would do the trick?

Any help, hints, tips, advice would be really appreciated.


Pics are available:- (Use the filenames with L at the end, they are smaller and download quicker)

http://www.btinternet.com/~paul.kirkbride2k1/

 

[breezer]

condenstaion is caused by lack of air flow, so filling in all the holes is bad.

why not put an air brick in (or two) near the bottom of each wall, this should allow more of an air flow

 

[DIwhattY]

I've just been doing some research now on condensation and everywhere indicates that if the garage is well ventilated then condensation is unlikely to occur.

Problem is my garage is VERY well ventilated, if you look at the pics in the link you can see there are decent sized gaps on each side of the garage.

Problem is rust is still occuring on the weights whihc I leave on the floor. I find the weight plates which have rust on them now are wet and the same with the non-painted weight bar which is not on the floor.

So now I'm totally confused as to how to solve this issue. My only thought is to pay through the nose for a dehumidifier and run it 24-7. This will cost me tons though and not something I really want to do.

Help... anyone ??

 

[masona]

Might be easier to put the air vent in the wooden door than the pre-cast slab.
You may have plenty ventilation but have trap condensation with no replacement of air, ideally would be an air vent from bottom and out to top of the roof for a circulation of air flow. A carpet on top of dpm might help on the floor.

 

[DIwhattY]

Not sure what a dpm is? I'm going to be putting down some rubber matting on the concrete floor soon. Will this help slightly?

I'm still confused over the air vent thing? Do you have any links to any pics of examples.

Sorry for the newbie questions by the way but I'm a total novice and not sure about the best way of solving this problem.

Thanks for the help and advice so far!!

 

[breezer]

in order for air to flow it needs some where to come in somewhere to go out.

by having one at the bottom and one at the top the air can flow between the two.

now do this on all wals it will help imensly

dpm= damp proof membrane

when a concrete floor is laid a dpm is put down the concrete poured on top. the idea is thet the dpm stops the concrete acting as a wick and pulling moisture up from the ground on which it sits

 

[DIwhattY]

There is no way I could manage to put air vents on each wall. I'm simply not good enough to do this type of thing. Plus the outside of the garage is brick and then on the inside it is concrete. It's not as if I could just knock a brick or two out of the outside wall and replace them with air vents. I would also need to knock through the concrete on the inside of the garage. Too much of a problem I think.

I think I will put down some poly on the floor and some rubber matting. Then put an air vent near the bottom of the wooden door.

I'm hoping this will help. I'm also at a later date going to purchase a basic dehumidifier, say from Index/Argos for about £100.

I did an expirement last night placing the weight plates at various locations around the garage. Not one had any dampness on them in the morning.

I'm thinking the problem is not as bad as I initially feared. It seems too only happen when the weather is very very cold and there is frost about. If I use the dehumidifier on such nights/days then they problem should be very limited.

Does this sound like a reasonable idea?

 

[breezer]

no.

why not drill holes through the wall (both walls) surely you can do that. if you drill several say 6 in a horizontal line in one place, them repeat as required, no bricks to remove, just big bit required say 12mm

 

[masona]

If I use the dehumidifier on such nights/days then they problem should be very limited.

I'm afraid it's waste of time and money as the dehumidifier only works in in a air tight space. The dehumidifier will be working flat out as it will be collecting damp air from the outside as well. I noticed you have a wooden panel at the other end of the garage, put a air-vent open/shut cover at the highest point you can and put one at the bottom of the door as lowest as possible.

 

[shaggy]

breezer said:

condenstaion is caused by lack of air flow

That's not really true. Condensation occurs when the air cools below the dew point. By adding insulation to the cold surface reduces the possibility, which is why double-glazing is effective. Agreed that if you have ventilation then you can replace the air with colder air which is drier.
It's important to understand the mechanism of condensation when you are looking for solutions.

 

[DIwhattY]

The problem is definatly when the weather is very cold outside, so cold it causes frost. The frost tends to occur during the night so the weight plates become very very cold.

Then from 5AM onwards the weather outside starts to warm slightly. The air in the garage as a result starts to warm. However the weight plates cannot keep up with this rise in temperature as a result water forms on the weight plates.

I brought the weight plates into my house this morning. The house was really really warm and within 4-5 mins the plates were very damp.

I'm thinking a simple solution as the problem is only occuring during the very cold months would be to put the weight plates inside poly bags and place them inside boxes after use.

I've currently purchased some brand new weights and they are inside poly bags in cardboard boxes and are fine after 2 weeks. ** Although this could be because the poly bags are still sealed and thus airtight.

 

[masona]

which is why double-glazing is effective.

I think the double glazing make it worse because the air moisture cannot get out therefore more condensation. I know where you're coming from and I think having a low cost tube heater in the garage is the answer but wasted of heat as well or just use a calor gas fire when needed.

I just finish building my wife machinist workshop out of pre-slab at the back of the garden and use a floating laminated floor and have soffit vent all round. So far I has no condensation yet but having said that I have no cold metal object to create condensation.

 

[big-all]

even with all the airflow you will still get rusting as the air comming in is moisture ladden steel being the coldest surface[probably]attracts the moisture
try covering the weights with a blanket or somthing simmilar and hopefully the moisture will condense on something else

this subject was talked about a great lengths on another forum about sheds and garages used for workshops and the condensation and rust thing was very prevelent now the airflow thing is good execpt in the evening the air outside is going to be damper than inside the shed the only real solution was to insulate

now i can see part of the problem is the fact its a gym hot sweaty bodys mouisture laden breath hangs in the air till the air cools down unable to hold the moisture and drops it on the nearest cold object wich is your weights so as i say cover with somthing but make shure you air the blanket every day to let it dry out[this is how i keep my bandsaw and combination table chopsaw dry in the winter]

 

[masona]

Just seen your post,

A floating insulation floor should help.

 

[DIwhattY]

I'm planning on putting some flooring down very soon. My plan had been to put some poly down on the concrete floor and then some of these mats:-

http://www.johnlewis.com/Shopping/P...ure&PRT=Gym+Accessories&Type=SKU&Id=230190140

They are made of closed cell foam and are 15mm thick.

Is this a floating insulation floor? Or would I need something else under this as well? I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible as well.