Hello, We have a carport shared with the neighbours (4 of them). The flooring is concrete blocking.
The end of the whole carport is blocked off with a canexel wall..
I have blocked off the end of our bit of the carport and we store things in here. We have a slight damp problem however so im looking into how to resolve this.

Im pretty sure the blocks are put down with no DPM underneath.

Do i create a floating wooden floor supported underneath by say cut down orange pipes (cheap way to make a spacer).. The space is ventilated at the bottom and at the top and the roof is that of the carport..

Or do i need to take the blocks up and put a DPM down before i do this?

Or something else completely?

thanks for any help!

any builder types?

damp problems…

What ventilation is there?

The space is ventilated at the bottom and at the top and the roof is that of the carport..

Doh!!!!!!

How is this damp manifesting it’s self ? Stuff is getting wet or simply moulding.

If you have plenty ventilation which it sound alike you do since it’s still essentially a carport the I reckon you have a leak somewhete… Is there anything between this canexel and the floor if they are just touching then the water will just pass between the wood and the block like the woods not even there. As well as the blocks being porous and drawing water in from outside.

well the bikes and other things in there are on the whole dry, but just recently with the more colder weather i have noticed the bike grips are damp and the bar tape on the roadie has some mould..

We do have a sliding door at the front and the sides are panelled off so its like a little shed if you will.

There is a gap of about 5cm between the canexel wall and the block floor so this is where the water would get in, but it hasnt rained in weeks here and things are damp – hence the thought of condensation?

would it be a problem to have a floating floor then?

If the spacers are those big plastic pipes then they wont be affected by any moisture.. but what would happen to the wooden floor? If i put a membrane down first would this help?

Not sure the floor spacer idea would work, the pipes would lose strength when sliced in half.

Can you just try to increase the ventilation first? Are you producing moisture…warm damp air from a window or vent from the house, tumble dryer etc?

pardon?! imagine headset spacers, disc if you like… lying flat.. you’d have to go a long way to crush those…

this is a car port that is shared with the neighbours, not linked to any house atall.. its standalone.

no windows, but all around at floor level there is a 5cm gap and above the sliding door there are two huge holes.. i dont think ventilation is the problem?

Assuming the bikes aren’t being submerged, the mould on the bar tape is being increased by high humidity.
Creating a false floor to lift the bikes off it, isn’t going to help reduce humidity IMHO.
I’d look to improve air flow / ventilation.

What spooky said.

I thought you were slicing the pipes longways 😆

But still…not sure what a raised floor is going to achieve…if the floor itself is damp its just going to make the problem worse!

Do you get any condensation in there on the walls or ceiling…especially in the morning when the sun comes out?

Given the time of year things will get damp in there. If you have 5cm gaps etc around doors it’s essentially the same as having something sitting outside. Cars etc get damp this time of year so anything in the car port as described will too.

Ah ok..non nô i thought of making spacer to lift the floor from the blocks..

Well the floor itself is dry, no rain can get in really except driving rain and even that is doubtful really. The idea of a floating floor was to be able to put some insulation in and seal it more like a shed..?

Insulation is only going to help with condensation if you are heating it. Air flow is what you need really.

ok i’ll have to look into increasing the airflow then. Not sure how to improve on this though! i have essentially big vents at the bottom and big ones at the top.. should allow air to circulate?

or do i need to try a fan? would have to be solar as no electricty to the carport..

will try a solar fan.. see if that makes a difference.