I have 60x40 foot pole barn that the previous owner insulated the walls and under the roof sheathing with r19 fiberglass batting. However, he blocked all the eave vents with pieces of insulation and left the ridge vent completely open. The last couple of winters I have noticed a humidity issue when the weather fluctuated. Once the building got up to 90% humidity, it was near impossible to get that back down without leaving the doors open for days at a time. I wanted to just remove the insulation from the eave vents and let the building breath naturally which I am guessing would solve that problem (if its humid out for a while but dries out, then the barn would dry out better after the humidity causing weather event?), but that will just negate the insulation during the winter, although it would be nice during the summer (I live in NE Ohio, so colder winters and hot humid summers).
What was the previous owner trying to accomplish by blocking the ventilation, was he just trying to lock the building up for warmth? There isn't a gas line out there, so I am not really enthused about heating options at the moment since the cost of running the line isn't cheap. My wife likes the ability to keep the structure warmer during the winter without heating it, for the most part it hovers around the freezing mark even in the colder days of winter, but I am less concerned with that since I'd rather have the building's humidity stable than have that bit of extra warmth which eventually goes away if the winter drags on.
Is there an alternative to controlling the humidity levels in the building that aren't either heating it or cooling it or buying expensive dehumidifiers that can handle the near freezing temperatures? Could I install a big enough vent fan to draw outside air in when I want it? (although that to me defeats the purpose of insulation in the winter because I would just be drawing in cold air to dry out the building when the eave vents do that for free). If the previous owner didn't have heating, why would he insulate the entire building and close off the ventilation? Am I missing something if I just unblock the eave vents?
What was the previous owner trying to accomplish by blocking the ventilation, was he just trying to lock the building up for warmth? There isn't a gas line out there, so I am not really enthused about heating options at the moment since the cost of running the line isn't cheap. My wife likes the ability to keep the structure warmer during the winter without heating it, for the most part it hovers around the freezing mark even in the colder days of winter, but I am less concerned with that since I'd rather have the building's humidity stable than have that bit of extra warmth which eventually goes away if the winter drags on.
Is there an alternative to controlling the humidity levels in the building that aren't either heating it or cooling it or buying expensive dehumidifiers that can handle the near freezing temperatures? Could I install a big enough vent fan to draw outside air in when I want it? (although that to me defeats the purpose of insulation in the winter because I would just be drawing in cold air to dry out the building when the eave vents do that for free). If the previous owner didn't have heating, why would he insulate the entire building and close off the ventilation? Am I missing something if I just unblock the eave vents?