Moisture in the Garage

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captain america

captain america

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I purchased a house last month, and the owner that I purchased the house from put up a Pole barn in the back yard. I was very happy with the pole barn at first. He even had a wood burning stove installed and left all the work benches and cabinets. All I really had to do was put up gutters, which I did and put a drive way in. The problem I am having now, is there is a lot of moisture in the garage. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? I was thinking about insulating the garage somehow but not really sure how I should go about doing that with a pole barn.
 

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I have one and you need to get air movement in it, if you have sofits see if you can put open vent sofit panels in a few, also you need to insulate the roof with 1" thick hard foam panels.
 

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I'm guessing you're getting moisture from it being cold and when you get the wood stove going as things warm up they sweat. Probably insulate and install some kind of furnace/heater to keep it at a constant temp.

Now if it's warm all of the time, I dunno.
 
I also did the walls with rolls of foil bubble insulation that I got at Lowes and covered the walls MDF and the lower half with metal
 
At my home basement in PA I run fans all the time,Keep the air moving. If you have room ,home ceiling fans work great. Had two of them in a high ceiling truck garage,they are reversable,pull the hot air from the ceiling in the winter,cool air from the floor in the summer.
 
Get a dehumidifier. I use one down here in FL all the time. Most have a hose hookup where you can run the drain outside, and won't have to worry about emptying the bucket.
 
I have 2x4's running between the trusses to keep the foam boards in place on the underside of the roof panles
 
When I had my pole barn (shop) built, it was insulated.
It was like a terrium in there, it would form water droplets from the roof insulation.
I did two things, first I have a small ossialating fan running 24-7 / 365 days.
Second, I install my heater & vented it, I still run that fan around the clock.
Its been going for 5 years now.
 
I built a 40x100 pole building. NOTE: you cant use cellulose insulation because of the chemical they use to make it fire retardent will rust the steel..I used an insulation that is called insul.4 I put R48 in the ceiling and R34 in the walls with vapor barriers in both My building heats with a candle and is dry as a popcorn fart...LOL There is nothing worse than a damp building.. All your tools and equipment will rust not to mention your car...So you want to do it right and not cheap out...Good luck...Bill
 
If you crank up the heat to work then shut it off the temp fluctuation will make all the cold metal sweat in the winter including the engine block! Best to put in a furnace and keep it running in the winter say at 50 degrees then kick it to 68 or so when your in there working. Need to insulate the barn to keep cost down.
 
EL5DEMON340 said:
If you crank up the heat to work then shut it off the temp fluctuation will make all the cold metal sweat in the winter including the engine block! Best to put in a furnace and keep it running in the winter say at 50 degrees then kick it to 68 or so when your in there working. Need to insulate the barn to keep cost down.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
 
All of these suggestions are correct. IMO the most important of them all is venting properly, get a dehumidifier AND a giant fan 365/24/7. A monitor heater set at 50d. will help a lot. Pink fluffy insulation cannot be put near metal, it will react to it. FRom all the research I've done, closed cell spray foam insulation is the best. Some Home Cheapo's have machines that can be rented. However, after checking prices, my local insulating contractor will come, spray, cleanup and be gone in 1/2 day. I have been in construction for 30 years and the pink fluffy stuff is BAD stuff. Also unless you cover the pink stuff, it is ALWAYS raining pink crap everywhere. Good luck
 
Thanks everyone for your help. I will take your advice as soon as I get better. I just had knee surgery and can not do anything. It is starting to drive me nuts too because I can see all the moisture in the garage, and I'm worried about the cars. I recently purchased a good car cover and just have to wait till I get better to fix the garage.
 
If you cannot get out there to do anything -should try a fan something to move some air around. If you don't have the heat on crack open a window with the fan running -even in this cold to move some air around and get the dampness out.
I would put some damp rid in the cars
 
Thanks dwire67 I put a fan into the garage and purchased some damp rid hopefully that is enough untill I get better.
 
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