How to Insulate your Workshop on a Budget + Prevent Condensation & Mold

hi guys and welcome back to the channel so you join me here today in my uh workshop shed mancave whatever you'd like to call it and i thought i'd do an in-depth sort of discussion or talk about um ways that you can keep your shed warm during the winter time insulate it help with condensation things like that as i've had this about 14 months now since i built it and i'll leave a link in the description below if you want to see how i built the shed so yeah i thought i'd go through all the things i've done so far to improve the um the capacity to keep it warm and cozy during the wintertime okay so the first thing i've got on my list is insulate the walls so what i've done is i've insulated all the walls so the insulation that i've used is an aluminium bubble wrap which is cheap you can pick this up quite cheaply at all good diy shops um it's probably the cheapest way to insulate your shed it might not be the best way but it's definitely the cheapest that i've found so what it create what it does is it creates an air gap between the cold surface and the interior surface by there's air inside these bubbles here so what you want to do is when you want to insulate something you want to create an air gap so that you you reduce the amount of heat condensing when it hits a cold surface so if you think about a window in the winter time this window for example this is double glazed but say a single glazed window it's cold on the outside but it's warm on the inside the hot air will hit the window and condense and turn into liquid you don't want that so you want to create an air gap and that's uh pretty much what double glazing does it creates a vacuum or a gas inside creates an air gap to stop condensation in other words so this helps to reduce condensation there's an air gap in between these bubbles and what i've done is i've some of the panels like this one i've doubled it up you can just see there's a gap here there's two layers which helps even further with that and i've covered all the cavities all these empty spaces and it definitely makes a difference it also helps with sound proofing um helps to stop sand getting out of the shed if you're using power tools as well okay so the second thing on my list is insulate the ceiling so again what i've done is i've gone over the whole ceiling with the aluminium bubble wrap and i've gone in between the rafters and filled in every section and again this creates an air gap so as the hot air rises it hits this instead of hitting the cold surface behind it and it minimizes heat loss and condensation and stops heat a lot of the sand escaping through the roof as well and uh what i've done is as well i've filled in the eaves so behind here i've blocked out these eaves with pieces of wood and then i've gone over the top with the bubble wrap and i've done that all the way along both sides of the shed and up above the windows as well okay so the third thing i've got on my list is board the walls so what i've started to do is this year i've started boarding out the walls now you could go over the top of your studs but i've chose to go inside the studs and i'll leave a link to a video down below to how i did this and it saves you on space so you can see i've inset the walls are inset there and you've got tools which are actually sitting flush into the wall just to save on space if you've got a small workshop so this again helps with uh sound proofing and insulation because it adds an extra barrier so behind here there's the two layers of bubble wrap then there's actually a cavity that i've created another air gap so we have board air gap then we have the aluminium bubble wrap which creates another air gap so this really helps to uh block out sand and insulate the building even further so the fourth thing i've got on the list is a line and insulate the floor so i'll just talk a little bit about my floor it's a bit muddy at the moment excuse that um with the floor what i've done is i've lined underneath the floor i've used a damp course um mainly so that any cold air warm air rising from the ground in the evening time will not rise up through these boards it will hit the damp course and condense and then drop back down again so it does it acts as it gives you two benefits it it stops the the warm air rising and causing damp inside the building but it also prevents drafts coming up through the boards or through if you've got sheets down it prevents any cold air coming up and you can also insulate underneath the floor i haven't done that i haven't found it it needs it but you could also insulate it as well fifth thing that i've got on my list is seal any gaps and prevent drafts so just been through that with the floor but with the walls so what i've got here is i've got at the beginning outside i've got a layer of feather edge board and then behind that i've got a wrap which is a breathable wrap and i've sealed up the wrap with aluminium tape so some people say that's overkill for a workshop but what i wanted to do was prevent any drafts getting in because a little the slightest amount of draft really you really feel it in the winter so an aluminium tape is quite cheap as well so the whole building is wrapped up like a bag and it's sealed so that there's no air gaps and the same with the door i've used a double glazed plastic door because i mean they're cheap when you buy them used this was used and you know there's no gaps like a wooden door you can see here there's no air getting in and then where it connects to the wood i've sealed it you can see the sealant there so i get no draft or anything coming through here and it's perfect okay so the next thing is a seal around windows with silicon so what i've done with every window such as even this double glazed one i've i've sealed behind here all around to to stop any small air gaps you can use silicon sealants you could use an acrylic sealant you could use expanding foam depending on how big your gaps are all these windows there i've siliconed behind the beading on top of the beading on the other side as well and that actually helps with soundproofing insulation uh stops water getting in but most importantly it stops drafts so i've done the same with my other windows down here they're all sealed the ones up here are sealed as well i think that's really important i've got here on my list add a vent this is really important when you're keeping your shed warm because you're going to end up with a shed that is very well sealed and insulated so anything inside it such as your your breath or heat is going to stay in there and if there's no ventilation it can condense and cause mold similar to a tent if you sleep in a tent when you wake up in the morning it tends to have condensation on the walls and wetness so um what i'd recommend is what i've done is i've added one window that can be opened so you've always got the option of ventilation but also when you're not in the shed i've added a trickle vent as high up as possible because the hot air rises you can see here this is just a large trickle vents which you can buy really cheap i think there's three or four pans and they're designed to add into double glazed windows i've just added it into this window here um and i'll leave that open and it will let all the hot air trickle out and i've also got another vent here which is actually the lid of a sweet jar and the neck of a sweet jar and i've glued it in which it's really strong that's a epoxy i've used there really strong just a big event there and you want these vents just to keep everything dry because um you might think that you've got a problem with condensation or damp rising but actually it's just because the the heat that you're creating with your own breath inside the building is condensing because it can't escape so it's always important to have a vent and a window especially uh have a vent maybe if you're going to add a log burner you definitely want some good ventilations if i had a lug burner i don't have one but if i did i'd probably have this window open all the time that i was using the log burner just to get a nice steady flow of oxygen it's also really useful to have some sort of a thermometer like i have uh and it tells me the intel inside temperature 13.7 here as i'm not working in here today i've just come in but it allows you to see how fast you're warming up so it's always good to keep an eye on the temperature because sometimes when you're working it can be really cold and you don't realize it and you get really cold all of a sudden and then you can't get your body temperature back up so it's always good to know how cold it is so that you know how much heat you need to get it comfortable and i just use a very basic uh fan heater and i've got it up high pointed downwards so that the hot air blows down and then rises up again to create a nice flow and it's just an old a really old heat i only have it on a half setting and it heats up pretty fast this is a 16x8 workshop and even on the coldest days it's it's bearable within probably 20 minutes of just having the heating on a few more final points that i've got about keeping your shed warm and uh out of the elements as much as possible if you can build your shed next to a garden fence so at least one side of it isn't being hit by the wind and also try to add an overhang because an overhang will keep a lot of the cold driving rain off the building and it will prevent it from cooling down as fast so you can see here i've got an overhang and i've also boxed in the eve so the eaves come out here and i've boxed over that and sealed it so no cold air can come up into the eaves right then guys so that's my uh all my tips that i've got for you after 14 months or so of uh building and working in a workshop and getting to know with the english climate um what to expect um there's a lot in england and a lot of other places there's a lot of damp a lot of rain during the winter time a lot of wind so you've got to battle the wind the rain and uh just general cold and darkness as well so they're all my tips that i've got for you so far if you've got any tips for me please let me know in the comments below and i hope you found this video useful um i'm probably going to learn more along the way but i think i've pretty much cracked it now i don't have any condensation or damp in here everything that i store in here um if i leave my laptop in here or anything nothing seems to get rusty everything is dry to the touch and usually when you've got a garden shed your tools get rusty and damp so the building is completely sealed a lot of people when i when i made this video originally when i built this workshop they said it was overkill but i really don't think it is i think if you're going to work in a workshop and take it seriously and it's not just a storage shed you can actually be in here and store things in here that can be quite expensive then you really want to make it as comfortable as possible and it's not that expensive aluminium tape is quite cheap breathable wrap is quite cheap as well if you don't have breathable wrap you could also use damp coarse you can buy it in bulk in massive sheets it's really cheap um it doesn't really add much cost to the overall cost of the that's it they're my tips if you found this video useful please like and also consider subscribing for more woodworking videos i also do gardening videos in the summer and upcycling pallets and reclaimed wood and things like that so thank you very much for watching and i'll see you next time

Channel: Phill Wyatt Projects

Views: 28,337

Rating: 4.8647342 out of 5

Keywords: how to insulate a shed, how to insulate a workshop, how to insulate a mancave, how to prevent mold, how to prevent condensation, how to stop condensation, how to prevent condensation metal shed, how to keep shed warm, how to keep workshop warm, how to heat mancave, how to build a workshop, how to build a shed, how to prevent rising damp, how to stop damp, how to ventilate a workshop, how to ventilate a shed, workshop tips, diy tips

Id: taqiulTmTpg

Length: 12min 26sec (746 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 26 2020