Sweating Concrete in large coop!

[Ashleyboz]

we converted our dog kennel into a chicken coop. We live in Western North Dakota now that it’s starting to warm up a little bit. The frost is coming out of the ground. Our concrete floor in the coop is sweating. It sweats a lot. Enough to where we have to redo bedding two or three times a week. We usually do just pine shavings but recently tried hemp with a coop floor dry stuff for coops. That worked for a bit. I keep it clean but the ammonia smell comes out horribly when it is damp constantly with the spring melt. Does anybody have any suggestions how to remedy this?

 

[50-45-1]

Maybe not helpful. But have you considered a dehumidifier?
Not sure why concrete sweats.
If it pulling moisture from the air, is a problem with ventalation?
Fans?
Hope someone more knowledgable than me helps out!
Good Luck!

 

[aart]

Does anybody have any suggestions how to remedy this?

Only thing I can think is to use poop boards with zeolite under roosts, cleaning the poops out everyday will reduce odors.
Maybe increasing ventilation in the building would help.
Do your birds have an outside run or are they in the building 24/7?

Not sure why concrete sweats.

Because the concrete it cold and the air is warmer and humid......the dampness on the concrete is condensation. A dehumidifier might help, but with good ventilation in the building it might be like trying to dehumidify the 'whole world'.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Concrete sweating is normal. Warm air over cold concrete causes sweating.
Here's some helpful info and suggestions to stop it.

https://ghostshield.com/articles/how-to-stop-concrete-sweating#:~:text=Concrete sweating is often times,the concrete floor to sweat.

 

[wrathsfarm]

A concrete sealer would be your best choice.
I have a 24x24 pole barn with concrete floor. This is where all my coops are for the moment.
I have ducks also and as they sleep on the floor I built a subfloor for their coop. I laid down plastic, 2" foam, then built the sub floor on top... Thick layer of bedding on top of that.

I will be doing my brooder coop here soon the same.

 

[aart]

A concrete sealer would be your best choice.

A sealer won't stop the condensation from happening, might keep it from soaking into the concrete tho.
A subfloor would keep the bedding dryer.

 

[Penpal]

there should be a barrier between the concrete and the soil. There probably isn't. I would put a sealant over the entire slab. I would also put down vinyl flooring where the chickens are.

 

[wrathsfarm]

A sealer won't stop the condensation from happening, might keep it from soaking into the concrete tho.
A subfloor would keep the bedding dryer.

I can agree with you, sort of... And my fault for not going further in depth. Water will seep up from under, same as it will soak in.
Which could be construed as condensation because it usually happens in the spring when temps start rising.
A sealer will help stop that, and not allow the smells to soak in.

Don't get me wrong, I always value your insight even when you correct my posts.

 

[aart]

So @Ashleyboz is there water coming up from underneath or just surface condensation?
I imagine you would know this from the past.

 

[Ashleyboz]

So @Ashleyboz is there water coming up from underneath or just surface condensation?
I imagine you would know this from the past.

I’m almost sure it’s condensation. It’s not like it soaks thick bedding but when you start smelling funk you can scoop around and see where the concrete is damp and some places aren’t. In the deep litter is where it was smelling of ammonia the most. I shoveled everything and laid some coop dry down and just doing a very thin layer of shavings Incase we have to seal it. I don’t want to scoop anymore then I have to