How to Ventilate a Metal Building

Planning, designing, and pricing a metal building kit needs to include a metal building ventilation system based on your climate, building’s contents, and end-use. For instance, chemical or wet substances require more metal building exhaust fans than dry goods in relatively arid environments. In addition, agricultural metal buildings need to have proper metal barn vents to mitigate the dangers posed by ammonia and other corrosive airborne fumes. 

Efficient metal shop ventilation systems protect your investment by regulating temperatures and reducing the risk of condensation and other moisture-related issues. They also help create a comfortable and healthy work environment – vital to a productive and financially successful company.

Why Is Efficient Metal Building Ventilation So Important?

Adequate ventilation optimizes the performance and efficiency of metal buildings by controlling condensation, regulating temperatures, and preserving the air quality through natural and active ventilation (e.g., fans, wall vents, and building vents).

Preventing Condensation In Metal Buildings

Condensation on metal leads to corrosion, lower insulation thermal performance, mold growth, and insect infestations. For example, unventilated air entering a building can bring significant humidity indoors, particularly in warm areas, creating an uncomfortable environment, accelerating metal panel weathering, and unhealthy and damaging mold. The situation worsens when the outside temperature falls below the inside temperature, and accelerates condensation development.

Regulating Temperature In Metal Buildings

Regulating and maintaining a metal building’s interior temperature cools the building, keeping it comfortable for the occupants during the warm months. Temperature regulation also can protect a building’s integrity from excess metal panel expansion and contraction. Expansions and contraction of metal panels can weaken the fastener’s integrity, allowing the panels to detach from the substrate.

Preserving Air Quality Inside A Metal Building

Adequate ventilation removes volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other air pollutants detrimental to health and productivity. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guide for indoor air quality standards in commercial and institutional buildings sets the ventilation standards needed to ensure compliance.

How Building Size Affects Ventilation

The amount of ventilation required for a building depends on its size, along with its shape, location, and purpose. Typically 2,400 ft2 of metal building space requires a 10-foot ridge ventilator. However, large buildings occupied by people, animals, or valuable products require more careful consideration. In addition, an effective system requires cross-ventilation, meaning metal building roof vents need a louver near the floor. 

Natural Ventilation

Natural ventilation regulates the indoor climate and air quality by moving hot-humid-polluted air from the base of a building out through openings in the roof. However, because natural ventilation relies on prevailing winds and thermal convection to move the air, a metal building should include a hybrid ventilation system to ensure consistent adequate ventilation.

Benefits

Natural ventilation for a metal building provides many benefits, such as lowering operating costs and improving the structure’s indoor environmental quality (IEQ).  

Lower Energy Bills 

Natural ventilation systems rely on natural forces to operate, which reduces the building’s energy consumption, and saves significantly on energy bills.

Reduced Maintenance 

Low maintenance natural ventilation reduces long-term building costs, as well as time and effort.

Improved Air Quality 

Natural ventilation systems keep air flowing throughout the building, to improve air quality and the health, productivity, and concentration levels of the occupants.  

Consistent Temperatures 

Natural ventilation keeps each room or zone supplied with comfortable amounts of cool and warm air, which eliminates the need to adjust the system constantly.

Reduces Carbon Emissions 

Natural ventilation lowers energy consumption, reduces carbon emissions and contributes to the building’s sustainability profile.

Components

Natural forces drive outdoor air through purpose-built building envelope openings like cross-ventilation (wind effect) and thermal buoyancy: 

Cross-ventilation naturally cools a building by relying on wind to force cool exterior air into the building through an inlet in the building envelope while forcing warm interior air outside through a roof vent or higher window opening.

Thermal buoyancy ventilates a building by denser-cold air, lifting warmer air up and out of the building through roof vents or high window openings. Increasing the height and temperature differential increases the ventilation rate.

Purpose-built openings to enhance natural ventilation include windows, louvers, framed openings, turbine vents, and ridge vents. 

Windows

Operable windows at the lower and upper levels of a building create a natural airflow that brings fresh air inside and allows hot, humid, and polluted air to vent. The process occurs when the less dense warm air rises towards the roof vents, creating a vacuum in the building’s lower level that pulls fresh air in through ground-level windows. 

roll fomer

roofing sheet manufacturing machine

wall panel machines