Ventilation of the garage and preventing getting mold in the garage

2020-09-11

Mold in your garage as in other rooms is caused by too much humidity. Especially during the winter months when your cars are wet or covered with snow, the air humidity gets higher. Excessive humidity in your garage can also have other reasons. In this Hörmann tip you get to know which factors can be responsible for mold arising in your garage and what you can do to avoid it.

 

Why will mold arise in your garage?

 

Mold spores are spread in the air. If there is enough humidity and organic material available, mold can spread out easily. Especially rooms, for example, that are not heated and rarely ventilated like the garage can be affected. When the car is wet the air humidity in your garage even increases and the spread of mold spores gets even higher. Also, wet walls caused by unsealed parts of the building are often a reason for mold spores.

 

Even well insulated and heated garages require ventilation on a regular basis: if the garage door is opened when parking the car, cold air gets inside. This cold air gets wet when it gets warmer inside and can therefore lead to mold growth on the walls. Generally it is always recommended to have sufficient ventilation inside the garage to prevent getting mold inside the garage.

 

The most common reasons for excessive humidity in your garage:

 

  • High air humidity caused by wet vehicles (especially in winter)


  • Insufficient or defective insulation


  • Polluted or damaged roof drainage


  • Soaking water, that gets into the brick wall


  • No air ventilation that caused by missing garage ventilation


Figure: When finding mold in your garage you should get it removed fast and thoroughly and find out the reason. Afterwards you should find out about preventing measures from an expert.

 

Mold in your garage - what to do?

 

When finding mold in your garage, it should be removed fast and thoroughly, and the reason for it should be found as well. There are different products available in shops to get rid of mold, that can also be used inside rooms. For larger areas that are affected by mold you can consult experts, who specialize in removing mold. In some cases, it can even be necessary to sand down the affected parts or to paint them again, if the treatment causes bad looking spots on the wall. Once the mold has been removed it is important to avoid another occurrence of mold and regulate the ventilation and air humidity inside the garage. The humidity should at maximum be between 45 and 55 percent, to give mold no chance.

 

Prevent mold and ventilate the garage - Like this!

 

To regulate air humidity the garage has to be ventilated on a regular basis. This can be especially convenient with a climate sensor provided by Hörmann. It consists of two sensors that detect the air humidity inside and outside the garage and open the door automatically to a certain height if the air humidity in the garage is too high. Once the humidity inside the garage is normal again the door closes automatically. Like that the ventilation of the garage is regulated without controlling all the time and even without manual operation. This is even working if you are not at home, like during the working day or if you are on holiday.

 

Especially in wet and cold winter months the automated control of the garage door with a climate sensor is a great solution to avoid excessive humidity inside the garage. The climate sensor only opens the garage when the humidity inside is higher than outside. To avoid that the door opens when it is freezing outside a fixed range of temperatures can be defined, so that the door only opens automatically when it is really necessary.

 

Figure: The Hörmann climate interior sensor HKSI (right) is fixed inside the garage. Together with the outer sensor HKSA (left) it has the aim to open the garage door when the air humidity is too high to automatically ventilate the garage.

 

To avoid that when the door is opened on the ground during the ventilation leaves, small animals or unwelcome guests get into the garage additionally to the climate sensors also folding-roll holds can be installed. That means that during the ventilation not the whole door is opened, but only the top section is folded inside. In this case the base part of the garage door stays closed.

 

Figure: The garage ventilation is done with a climate sensor and a folding-roll hold by Hörmann automatically. The top section folds inside when the humidity is too high. The bottom part of the door stays closed, so that nothing gets into the garage.

 

As an additional support for ventilation a locally-installed air blower can help, which can be operated by the climate sensor as well. Apart from that the use of bottom seals with air slots at the garage door improves the air circulation additionally.

 

Figure: To provide additional air circulation in the garage a bottom seal with air slots is recommended.

 

The Hörmann climate sensor, consisting of the indoor sensor HKSI and the outdoor sensor HKSA with folding-roll hold as an option should in the ideal case be considered when buying the garage door. However, it can also be installed afterwards for already existing garage doors and operators. Whether the products are also usable for your door and your garage door operator, you can get to know from your Hörmann expert.

 

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