Timber Garage - Mould/Insulation advice

steeeb

Hi,

Hoping for some advice.

I have a 16x10 loglap timber garage which has a mould problem - it smells when you enter and the mild is white. It appears a bit on the ceiling and on the stuff in the garage. It's very humid when you enter.

The garage is on an old concrete base (was and old asbestos garage there originally. The base has a concrete lip around it where the walls are laying on and wooden beams inset in the lip in which a timber floor is sat on.

The garage has 3 small single glass windows (like 1ftx0.5ft).

I've not opened it much so I think lack of ventilation is the main cause of this - I'm patiently waiting for the weather to get better so I can start leaving the door open.

Also, when it's really raining it looks rather damp on the inside walls especially on one of the walls it's as if some water is getting in in between the loglap.

So - any advice on how to solve this?

I'm thinking I want to take a lot of the stuff out and bleach wash the inside to try kill some mould. Leave the windows and doors open when at home and not raining to try air it out.

Do I coat the outside with something that'll completely stop rain getting in on the wall I've noticed? If so, what? And install like a solar vent(s)?

I also want to insulate the garage to try tone down the temperate change and make it more usable. I obviously want to sort the mould issue first but i have some king span spare and might use polystyrene - do I need to leave a gap for air? And membrane need using?

I use the garage for storage but the stuff is starting to get ruined and I really need to try starting to fix the problem -- what would you do "immediately" to try help?

Thanks in advance.

wrightk

I'd be looking at taking the flooring up first and installing a damp proof membrane sheet between the concrete base and timber floor to prevent any damp rising up through the base (sounds like it doesn't have one due to age)
Id probably then start to think about the walls and maybe studding out the walls and insulating them or just using insulated plasterboard to warm up the space.
After that i'd think about ventilation. Some sort of through wall trickle vent.

Most importantly i'd then be looking at some sort of permanent heating system for it. All of this will make the space much more useable and comfortable

steeeb

Thanks for the advice. Should I be looking at completely solving the existing mould issue before trying to insulate it? I'm worried with spores already about then it could easily come back.

I'm aldi worried that with water getting in currently that insulating it will result in a bad problem where the insulation is as it'll get wet and have 0 ventilation.

Thanks

Davesnave

It sounds rather like my crappy old shed which is on a concrete base, rather than up off the ground like my chicken houses. A previous owner lagged the inside of this with rockwool and then sealed it in with hardboard. Result = rot. Once the walls start letting water through you are on a hiding to nothing trying to prevent it with coatings.

Despite having sweaty chickens in them, my chicken sheds are never noticeably damp because they're permanently ventilated. So, the main thing you'll need is ventilation, not insulation.

I also have a barn, which is breeze block and big 6 asbestos substitute. The walls are sound and rarely get damp, but items in there, even upstairs, become mildewed in winter. It's just a fact of life that there's a lot of moisture in the air at this time of year. The only way to get rid of that would be to use a dehumidifier, but for something larger than my house, it's obviously not worth it.

It's probably not worth it in your garage either.

So, ventilation, ventilation, ventilation.

steeeb

Thanks for the advice