Condensation on Door

[aart]

Painted surfaces were moist and damp, exposed wood was dry, more or less.

Maybe not as cold...but also can actually can absorb any/most moisture that forms on the surface.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

And that's why you never paint the inside of beehives. Wood is an excellent moderator of moisture.

I'm confused why a drilled hole vent would need to be 6 inches diameter. It's area we're talking about and that can be done by four- 3 inch holes to every 6 inch hole. Regardless, the venting would most easily be achieved by cutting the sheathing 3 to 4 inches down along top angle and bottom angle of roof then covering with hardware cloth.

 

[JackE]

What I failed to mention was what was going on with my Woods house. When I went to check on it, the windows in it......inside and out.....were soaked. Water was dripping from them......and that was windows right next to the wide open front. These windows are hard vinyl plastic frames with glass panes. Plastic frames were wet too. Painted exterior of even the vertical walls was wet and water running down them. But inside and above the birds? Painted surfaces were moist and damp, exposed wood was dry, more or less.

I've never seen that in my Woods. The coop has been through some temp extremes, but I've never seen a build up of moisture/condensation, ever.

 

[aart]

Quote: @JackE .....Curious......When do you close up your windows for 'winter mode'?

 

[Howard E]

I've never seen that in my Woods. The coop has been through some temp extremes, but I've never seen a build up of moisture/condensation, ever.

As I recall, your window frames are wood and you also have a wood floor, so yours would be the driest of the dry version. About the only place moisture is going to come from is from the birds themselves, so that depends on your bird density per SF. If that is low, that is going to be a dry house.

My bird density is around 10 sf per bird, but I've got deep litter on dirt, and the day before all this happened, we got nearly an inch of rain, so way down below the litter, I suspect I'd find some ground moisture rising up from around the edges. Pretty dry in comparison to a lot of places, but not as dry as Jack's house would be.

 

[aart]

Quote: Deep litter on dirt vs wood floor, huge difference...true composting deep litter needs moisture, good reason IMO not to have it in the coop.

 

[JackE]

@JackE .....Curious......When do you close up your windows for 'winter mode'?

When the avg temps get below 40, consistently. As of now, everything is open, except for the main entry door. We've had some low temps of 30 at night a few times. But then, day temps can climb back into the 60s. Supposedly, we are in for some regular (Colder) winter weather later this week. I'll probably close the side windows, and adjust the upper monitor windows down to an inch or so open. I have found, with my coop, that unless the winter temp is consistently at 30 degrees, and under, I should not totally close the upper windows. It starts to stink in there. So I have to have the upper windows cracked open. I have found that there is no noticeable excess air movement in the coop, which might cause a dreaded draft. But it makes all the difference in the world as far as noticeable air quality goes, as in no smell, which is what we all want/strive to achieve.

 

[Beekissed]

I'd have to disagree with that....adequate ventilation in a coop with DL keeps that moisture from being an issue. Since moisture is going to be in a coop anyway, in the form of droppings, water spilled, and humidity from the birds, moisture in a winter coop is going to be a constant whether someone has composting DL or not, so ventilation is always the key to moving unwanted moisture out of a winter coop.

The reasons for having composting DL in the coop far outweigh the reasons for not having it there, so opening up a little more ventilation is a small price to pay for it, as well as beneficial under any circumstance, not just with composting DL.

 

[JackE]

As I recall, your window frames are wood and you also have a wood floor, so yours would be the driest of the dry version. About the only place moisture is going to come from is from the birds themselves, so that depends on your bird density per SF. If that is low, that is going to be a dry house.

My bird density is around 10 sf per bird, but I've got deep litter on dirt, and the day before all this happened, we got nearly an inch of rain, so way down below the litter, I suspect I'd find some ground moisture rising up from around the edges. Pretty dry in comparison to a lot of places, but not as dry as Jack's house would be.

Yep, that's what I have, wood framed windows, and a wood floor. With 18 birds, roughly around 7 sq. ft. per bird here.

 

[Howard E]

Also, for things to truly "compost", means the litter would have to be kept moist.......like that wrung out sponge they always talk about. Mine is only moist way down deep, so is more like rotting down vs. an active compost. My litter is more or less wicking up ground moisture to dry the place out. It is only wet under there after a period of heavy rain. But what I don't have is any odor. For the most part, it smells the same inside as it does outside.

But my building is the same width as Jack's but not as deep. So maybe the air in mine turns over more often? My side windows are closed (and have been for the past month or so) and I don't have monitor windows in yet. I still have the same plastic roofing material blocking the opening as I've always had. Those have 1 inch cracks on the sides, so my monitor is venting about the same as Jack's is with his windows still cracked open.