Does ventilation help prevent condensation in my storage building?

How to prevent condensation in your storage building and is condensation the reason why you need to ventilate the storage building? These two topics, condensation and ventilation, are often interconnected. And yes, they are definitely related. But condensation can never be completely avoided. In this blog, we explain how condensation occurs in a storage building and what you can do about it. Ventilation will also be discussed.

When does condensation occur in your storage building?

Condensation occurs at high humidity levels. The (warm) air cools down against the colder parts of a storage building such as the wall and roof panels and the floor, causing the water vapor in the air to condense. These surfaces of the storage building become moist, and water droplets form. If the droplets on the ceiling become too large and therefore too heavy, they fall down. This is inconvenient because the water droplets can damage the items stored in the storage building. In an insulated storage building, you will have less condensation issues. Due to the insulation of the roof and wall panels of an insulated storage building, the surfaces are less cold, and condensation occurs in fewer places.

Is a ventilation system needed for a storage building?

For storage builings, there are no ventilation standards that you need to adhere to. Unless you store items in the storage building for which ventilation standards have been established, such as the storage of chemicals, for example. In uninsulated storage buildings, we use natural ventilation. This is a passive way of ventilating. You don’t need to open anything or do anything. Due to the blocked profile of the corrugated panels covering the frame of the uninsulated storage building, air holes remain open, allowing air to flow freely in and out. Natural ventilation takes place. This happens at the ridge and at the base profile of the storage building. In the photos, you can see how the blocked profile of the corrugated panel creates air openings.

In an insulated storage building, all gaps are sealed with foam tape to keep the heat inside and maintain a constant temperature in the storage building. Holes and gaps do not help with this. Therefore, insulated storage buildings do not have ventilation openings for natural ventilation.

Dripstop® to prevent damage from water droplets in the storage building

To prevent damage from falling water droplets in an uninsulated storage building as much as possible, we use Dripstop. Dripstop is a layer of felt that is standardly applied to the underside of the solid roof panels of our uninsulated H-series storage buildings. Please note, it is not applied to the skylights in the roof to avoid blocking daylight. Dripstop ensures that valuable goods and materials remain dry even in a condensation situation. The Dripstop felt layer absorbs the condensation. As soon as the outside temperature rises, the moisture evaporates again. This prevents condensation from dripping off the roof panels and damaging the stored products or machinery.

You don’t need to ventilate your storage building

In fact, it is not necessary to ventilate a storage building. Uninsulated storage buildings have natural ventilation. You don’t need to do anything for this. If condensation occurs, Dripstop prevents condensation droplets from falling off the roof panels.

In insulated storage buildings, you have much less condensation issues, and ventilation or a ventilation system is not necessary. If you use the storage building for something that requires forced ventilation, you can have a ventilation system installed in your storage building. For this, engage a party with expertise in forced ventilation. We would like to point out that our storage buildings are designed for the storage of machinery or goods. If you use the storage building for other purposes, it is at your own risk.

We hope the above information helps you make an informed choice. If you want to know exactly what the storage building of your choice costs, feel free to fill in our quotation tool. From this, you will receive a quote by email, showing at a glance what the costs, including transport costs, are for your storage building. You can request multiple quotes and select different options. This way, you can compare them thoroughly.

If you still have questions, we are happy to assist further.