ᐅ Equipment room constantly "damp" – How to insulate it properly?
Created on: 28 Dec 2016 14:15
I
Illo77Hello everyone, a few years ago I built a carport at our house that runs around the corner of the building, creating a large open area used for trash bins, bicycles, garden furniture, etc. (which I now want to enclose at the front with a sliding gate). The smaller section around the corner is separated as its own room, which serves as an entrance to the house. It has a built-in sliding door to the outside with a cat flap and a wooden sliding door leading to the carport. Above, we made the skylight strip weatherproof with Plexiglas.
It was built traditionally using 12x12 cm (5x5 inch) timber, clad on the outside with facade panels and lined on the inside with OSB boards. At the top, there is a skylight strip about 30 cm (12 inches) wide that is open in the carport area and covered with translucent sheets in the enclosed room. At the bottom, there is about a 10 cm (4 inch) gap between the ground and the bottom edge of the facade panels for ventilation. The roof is made of drip-resistant trapezoidal metal sheets. The wooden sliding door between the room and carport is open all around, mainly for visual separation and to prevent the dog from escaping. The exterior sliding door for the room is not airtight—there are gaps all around, but it is weatherproof and includes the cat flap.
Now I have the following problem: the small enclosed room is always damp in humid weather conditions. The garden tools stored there are damp, and everything feels moist. Even the concrete paving slabs almost all remain dark and damp. It is said that there is not enough ventilation, although there is an opening at the bottom allowing air to pass through, and the "room" itself was not built to be airtight.
I am considering sealing the room completely and insulating both the roof and the walls. The sliding door to the outside is not an option since it is an OSB board with exterior facade cladding that slides directly along the wall, and it contains the cat flap. But will sealing and insulating the room help, or will it cause moisture to build up even more because there is no proper ventilation anymore?
It was built traditionally using 12x12 cm (5x5 inch) timber, clad on the outside with facade panels and lined on the inside with OSB boards. At the top, there is a skylight strip about 30 cm (12 inches) wide that is open in the carport area and covered with translucent sheets in the enclosed room. At the bottom, there is about a 10 cm (4 inch) gap between the ground and the bottom edge of the facade panels for ventilation. The roof is made of drip-resistant trapezoidal metal sheets. The wooden sliding door between the room and carport is open all around, mainly for visual separation and to prevent the dog from escaping. The exterior sliding door for the room is not airtight—there are gaps all around, but it is weatherproof and includes the cat flap.
Now I have the following problem: the small enclosed room is always damp in humid weather conditions. The garden tools stored there are damp, and everything feels moist. Even the concrete paving slabs almost all remain dark and damp. It is said that there is not enough ventilation, although there is an opening at the bottom allowing air to pass through, and the "room" itself was not built to be airtight.
I am considering sealing the room completely and insulating both the roof and the walls. The sliding door to the outside is not an option since it is an OSB board with exterior facade cladding that slides directly along the wall, and it contains the cat flap. But will sealing and insulating the room help, or will it cause moisture to build up even more because there is no proper ventilation anymore?
If you make the shed airtight and also insulate it, you will have to heat it as well. Otherwise, the structure will start to develop mold.
When it rains and it’s wet outside, the shed cannot be dry either. The air is moist and the moisture settles everywhere. This has little to do with ventilation. However, once it gets drier again, dry air comes in and dries the wood. This is essentially how a carport works.
OSB boards are a somewhat special case because they already have a vapor barrier or something similar built in, so moisture cannot pass through them. These panels tend to mold more easily as a result.
When it rains and it’s wet outside, the shed cannot be dry either. The air is moist and the moisture settles everywhere. This has little to do with ventilation. However, once it gets drier again, dry air comes in and dries the wood. This is essentially how a carport works.
OSB boards are a somewhat special case because they already have a vapor barrier or something similar built in, so moisture cannot pass through them. These panels tend to mold more easily as a result.
I’m by no means an expert, but as payday mentioned, OSB does have a high adhesive content, which makes it almost impermeable to water vapor. Is it really a suitable material for cladding the interior walls of a carport? I would say that once moisture gets in there, it’s very difficult for it to escape.
Similar topics