shop sweats

[capt jack]

My 20'x20' metal shop building concrete slab (no vapor barrier or wall/ceiling insulation) sweats like a congressman on judgement day. I keep my hand tools oiled down (a pain), but anything else steel :jack stands, chains etc. are solid rust. Ive had other shops build much like this that did not sweat. This one may be "tighter",. This seems to be mostly a winter event (as much winter as we have in North Texas). Are gable vents my answer?

 

[CurlyDave]

There is no guarantee, but that is one of the things I would do. I would also add some ventillation close to the floor. The iodea is to get some natural circulation goiong. The sun heats the building, the higher temp air inside goes out the top, and fresh air comes in the bottom.

The other one is to seal the slab. There are products which will supposedly seal concrete. I don't know if they are as effective as a real vapor barrier, but it is probably worth a shot.

I had a metal shed (about 10' x 12') once where the condensation was so bad in the winter some people thought the roof leaked and rain was coming in.

I just took a saber saw to the gables and cut about a square foot out of both ends, kind of free-form. Covered it with window screen and all was well. The shed wasn't going to make the "House Beautiful" list during my lifetime and this didn't help in that department, but it was cheap & effective.

 

[DUMBDOG]

When my pole barn was built, they had to heat the building for the cement to dry as it was late fall and to cold out for the cement to dry. In order to do this, they had to seal the vents up. The result was that it rained inside. Once the vents were opened up, the raining ceased. Gable vents will be the answer.