A couple of months ago I purchased one of the portable garages from machine mart To protect one of my 5s over the winter. It replaced a smaller folding garage on the same site Which was bone dry.
The new garage runs with condensation inside. The roof is covered with drops of water, and falls like rain if disturbed. I would be better off leaving my car under a waterfall!
in an attempt to stop it I have covered the floor in builders waterproof membrane, which made no difference, so I cut two louvred vents into each end Apex. This made no differece either.
I then resorted to leaving the door up. ( no difference).
propping the bottom skirt up to allow air flow also didn’t cure it?
I can’t work it out. Has anybody else had this. Am I missing something obvious? Or are these garage just a load of ******
Your problem is caused by the cold weather and no heating on. The easiest way to keep the condensation down is through heat or having a De-humidifier on 24/7. I put a radiator in my garage, plumbed in from the bungalow, that keeps most but not all of all of the condensation away. My friend who has vintage Jaguars uses a De-humidifier most of the year and it is surprising the amount of water he gets to empty from it. In your case I would opt for the De-humidifier. I will try and find out what size you may need and the cost to run it, for you.
My garage is made of re-inforced concrete slabs, the roof is made of the stuff that replaced asbestos sheeting, with a metal “up & over” main door and a wooden back door. Under certain atmospheric conditions (inversion?) it’s the same and it needs a good strong wind blowing through, in one door and out the other to clear it, so I have a half cover to protect the soft top. At the same time the inside of my wooden sheds are bone dry, so it must be, at least in part, due to the materials used in construction.
My brick built garage attached to the side of the house has a flat roof and metal up and over door. When windy you can definitely feel the draft in there but that keeps the air flowing around, never had any condensation problems. There’s a sizeable gap around the metal door and more importantly a gap at the roof where the facia board fastens to the roof bearers, so a through flow. All I’ve had to do is make a good seal to the rear door which accesses the house, it used to really blow through the gap in the frame/door.
First you need to understand the physics behind condensation. Then avoid those conditions. It boils down to warm moist air contacting a cold surface. Usually avoided by double layering surfaces to avoid the cold and fans for ventilation. Sounds like this particular structure isn’t fit for purpose. Contact machine mart and the makers, kick up a fuss and get them to advise and cure the problem or refund your money.
Not too sure a de-humidifier is going to be of any use in a cold environment, you need warm ambient temperature for it to work efficiently.
I have one in my bedroom as it gets pretty damp.
It doesn’t work particularly well unless I also have the heating on.
With the heating it works great and regular emptying is necessary.
As I understand it there are 2 types of dehumidifier, a normal one with just a fan, or one that actually heats the air as it goes- costs more to run.
In this instance can’t see how either type is going to cure the OP’s problem.
As above a complaint as not fit for purpose would be the way to go for me at least.
Clarke is Machine Mart’s own brand, and has been their most profitable during the downturn.
Its impossible to determine why a previous enclosure worked, and why the Clarke’s version doesn’t. There may be a difference in the materials used. The previous shelter may have had a more efficient means to promote ventilation. Or the shelters may have a different volume, and the impact of that on dew point.
then I would say it’s the greenhouse type conditions (warm/cold surfaces), condensation forms on the inside surfaces of those, this can’t be that much different.
Re “not fit for purpose” claim, the ads for the Clarke temporary garages that I’ve seen seem to have a line to the effect that in order to “keep the contents free of moisture you should buy/use a dehumidifier”. Wouldn’t that count as an exclusion if you didn’t use one?
I’m speculating that the roof is thin metal or fibreglass, and/or has metal frames. These act like cold-pipes to the outside world. During the day the air in the garage is warmer and can hold more moisture, at night the warmest moistest air rises and contacts the icy cold surface and bingo all the water transfers to that. This is repeated until all the moisture in the air is on the chilly inside surface where it can then rain from.
If it has a pitched roof, something with some slope to it, I would consider making up an inner tent of tyvek (a very tough fabric used as the waterproof breathable layer in house roofs walls etc), and suspend it close to the inside of the roof to allow the drips drain to the walls away from the car. Maybe even some little gutters? Tyvek is not cheap but it is superb value for money.
Our conservatory roof has ali beams, and despite these being covered outside and inside the inner plastic covers still drip water if there is the least hint of moisture in the conservatory on a chilly night. In the previous version the old wooden beams never had a hint of condensation.
My garage door has a fibreglass skin and the inside of this used to run with water in the winter, mainly because the warm air in the garage held moisture from the warm house around it. At least the cold door was wet and not the warmer car. However I then lined the door with a inch thick layer of celotex (foam sheet with ali facing on both sides, BUT also a potential fire hazard if left near something that can get it started), and sealed this all around to the structural ribs of the door apart from a few drain/breather holes at the bottom edge. Now no drips partly because the breathers only see low humidity cold air from near the floor and outside, and mainly because the new inner surface is is not cold. This also makes a big difference to the temperature in the garage, and the fan heater is no longer needed.
Here you are as promised, this is what my friend emailed me.
I have 2 dehumidifiers but would not recommend either for use in a very damp garage environment. Both were bought for domestic use in an aluminium framed conservatory where condensation was a problem and eventually relegated to the workshop and garage.
One is an old, cheap B&Q job which runs continuously but seems to have minimal effect.The other is an Ebac which has auto cut-off when humidity is low. It cuts off quite regularly and only needs emptying occasionally, probably because the workshop is well insulated.
I have no idea how much power they consume.
There are larger dehumidifiers much more suited for garage use.
I would think those large dehumidifiers are quite expensive to run, and I’m wondering if the OP has access to power at the site of the garage in question?
Just to clarify. The garage is made of a plastic coated canvas type material. The smaller garage I removed was made of similar stuff . The site is a gravel drive, but the first garage didn’t have the damp proof floor I have installed in this one. I can’t see where the moister is coming from. There’s nothing warm in the garage And there is now loads of ventilation.
thanks for your answers though it’s been most interesting.
I have noticed that conditions that produce condensation on the windows in my house that are single glazed have occurred far more frequently this winter than in the previous 2 or 3.
I also notice it forming on the metal cabinets and draws in my unheated garage down here in South Devon.
Recently the weather has warmed up considerably and no condensation. It seems that near freezing conditions overnight are the usual catalyst.
I am suggesting the possibility that it could be the recent weather that has caused you this problem rather than the product - something to consider perhaps?
I have been looking at these Clark Portable Garages in particular the 24 ft by 12 ft 3 ins.I need to make a decision on purchase before Jan 07 18 the last day of a V.A.T free offer period,if the Forum allows it do any contributors object to me Printing this Thread to pass on to Machine Mart and ask their opinion before i spend my Pension on one,And Oblige.
Kind Regards
Ian.
You can try, but I suspect they will still try and sell you a garage. My experience is that the persons behind the counter at your local branch will know no more about portable garages as they would about other products.
Everything suggests to me that these cannot be considered as an alternative to a more expensive car storage product, and that all these portable garages can do is provide a reasonably dry area to carry out work on your car.