Garage inside metal building

[super99]

I have a 50 x 80 metal arch building. I want to work on a tractor inside this winter, but

anytime I have tried to add some heat, the moisture from the metal rains inside. I thinking about making a shelter inside that I can heat and protect from getting rained on. I looked at portable garages, Menards has a 13x20x10 high shelter for $436 after rebate. I know that lumber is skyhigh right now, I'm wondering about using conduit to make a frame and then get one of those billboard tarps to cover it. This isn't a 6 days a week, 10 hours a day deal. When the weather is above 20°, I just want a place I can add some heat and work with my gloves off 5 or 6 hours when I feel like it. It doesn't have to be huge, but I want enough room to work, I have a one car garage that is heated, but I put the Oliver 550 in it last winter and there wasn't enough room to walk all the way around it. I need to do an inframe overhaul on the IH 400 or else work on the 88, haven't decided which one yet. I'll admit it, I'm cheap!!! Looking for ideas for what I want to do. Thanks, Chris

This picture is to show the inside of the building, I won't be using the hoist inside the shelter.

 

[David G]

Why not just have this foamed?

 

[super99]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[DoubleO7]

Don't those buildings have a gazzilion fasteners holding each panel together?

Use galvanized wire from a fastener to suspend/hang conduit/tubing/pipes horizontally.
Drap some billboard tarps over them.
Hang billboard tarp across each end.

 

[MarkB_MI]

There are two things contributing to your condensation issue: First is that you are (most likely) using an unvented heat source, such as a torpedo heater or kerosene radiant heater. These heaters add a lot of water to your inside air because the combustion products aren't vented outside. The other problem is lack of insulation in your building, causing the condensation to form on exterior walls. Even if you fully insulated your building, condensation would still be a problem, except it would be forming on your tools and equipment rather than the walls.

If you construct a shed of sorts inside your building and heat it with an unvented heater, you'll just concentrate your moisture problem inside the shed. And you probably won't want to heat the whole building just to heat the shed.

I would first install a vented heater of some sort. Forced-air heaters are pretty inefficient; I would look into a <a href="https://www.reznorhvac.com/all-products/gas-radiant/">propane or natural gas radiant heater</a>. If you then still want to section off a portion of your building and just heat it, you can do that by adding plastic sheet partitions around the heater.

 

[Steve@Advance]

Insulation will be the best in the long run.

You have no room to spare or to loose.

Even if you just insulate the top for now, toward the sides the water should follow the wall down.

 

[DeltaSteve]

Building a 'tent' inside may be the easiest,but not the most ideal thing to do.Maybe for the future you could build a permenant shop room inside on one corner. Seen that done with good results.Or a lean to of sorts on the side with acess to the main building.

 

[tim s]

Those style buildings are cheap good cold storage buildings,,but they are not good for a shop in a cold climate. A good spray foam insulation is your best bet, and chose wisely when you go to looking at those, some are very flammable,,some fill the air with little fiber partials,,"for ever",,there were several of these done back in the 70's and 80's,,they never worked out well. You already have the building so your options are limited, but I would suggest that anyone thinking of building a shop should visit several and glean out the best ideas of them.

 

[showcrop]

Sure foam is a lot of money but I bet if you were to do it you would find that you get a lot more use out of it than you are thinking right now. Even if you did just a quarter of it you could have a really elegant comfortable shop that would enable you to be productive an additional six months a year.

 

[kcm.MN]

[b:ec8725a849]MarkB_MI[/b:ec8725a849] hit the nail on the head, but was more thorough and better worded than I could have put it!

I've had a couple of Shelter Logic buildings -- never again!! The last one I put a tarp on the floor and about 3 inches of cardboard to insulate from the cold ground in Winter. I ended up not using it much for various reasons, and my only heat source was the sun. Still, after just 1 1/2 years the cardboard had absorbed so much moisture from humidity that it would have been "making rain" by the 3rd Winter. A hail storm prevented that from happening. Didn't take long for wind to finish ripping the cover apart.

It's an interesting idea putting one building inside another, but without insulation and either electric or vented heat, you will still likely have some problems.

 

[flying belgian]

Pa had a Morton shed. He liked to tinker in the winter in his old age. Never had a heated shop, garage or anything. This is in Mn. He would be selective which winter days he worked out there. No wind and bright sunshine would be a day he would go out there. He had a 1500w. bathroom heater setting on the bench and would lay his tools on a rack above that. Claimed with the warm tools he could work without gloves. And if you can keep your hands warm, seems like your whole body stays warm. I don't know. That's his story and he stuck to it. So one year for his birthday my bils and I bought some of those orange tarps at Meynards. Nailed some trusses between the rafters in the middle of the Morton and tacked up one tarp for a ceiling. Then we hung the four sides down from that. Tied 3 corners together and left the 4th. loose for a door. It was about 12X12. In the summer we would just roll the sides up and throw them on top the ceiling. He would stick a knipko in the door of tent for some heat. He told us all this is not necessary but after we had it up and running he loved it. Got to use it 3 winters before he died.

 

[David G]

Start on the back end, foam 20' of it and close that off, an uninsulated building inside an uninsulated building is not going to gain much.

 

[Hockeygoon]

Covers your work area for the tractor.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Quictent-10x20-FT-Garden-Carport-Car-Shelter-Canopy-Outdoor-Garage-White-Storage/324010169934?hash=item4b7082d64e:g:OdsAAOSwvthfs2aJ

 

[ss55]

Can you hang plastic or inexpensive blue tarps down the center of the roof to direct condensation to the sides? If your heater's exhaust is staying inside the building, there isn't much you can do to stop the condensation. burning fuel will just produce more moisture.

 

[Tgrasher]

Use 3/4" pvc, anchored in 1" holes drilled in a 2 x 4 border on the floor. A 20 ft stick ( according to Menards site $2.49) makes a 7 ft arch 10 ft wide. Cover with clear plastic sheet to let light in, and a barn house heater will raise the temperature enough to work. I do something similar when I have to paint sheet metal in winter. Cheap and temporary, and can be used again.

 

[504]

I have a 40X60X16,same building. I have built 2X4 frames over winter projects and blue tarped them. I use LP torpedo heaters for heat. If you have condensation problems you need some air flow. I have a 44 inch fan at the eve and a 24 inch fan at eye level. Two windows ,on one end, doors on the other. Would I build another one ? No,but this one is water tight and paid for.

 

[Hobo,NC]

The one I have came with the land I brought from my uncle he did everything wrong when he put it up water was a big issue. I did get it taken care of I had to put flashing around the base and added Wind Driven Turbine Ventilators on the roof.