How to heat and ventilate this 250 year old barn?

[Mark and Jen]

The barn next to my house is a mix of the original stone and lime mortar, a concrete floor and modern insulation and boarding under the roof. It also has various spots where concrete has been used for repairs over the years. Despite this rather inappropriate use of materials, it is rock solid and bone dry everywhere. I have spent the day with a lime expert learning how to fill in any large voids with stone and a hot lime mortar, then finish with a lime slurry and a lime whitewash. So the walls are going to look pretty good and finished in appropriate materials real soon.

Given the floor and roof are solid and dry, they are being left as they are (and covered with rubber flooring as the place is going to be a gym) oh, it also has modern UPVC doors. As such, it is going to be a fairly well insulated (for a very old barn) building and that is going to create humidity and condensation problems, especially as a gym!

So what is the solution to keep the air inside fresh and dry and heat the place?

With very little knowledge of the subject, I am thinking either...... an air-conditioning unit which should address everything or a MVHR unit and separate heating? or something else??

Oh, and one part of the barn, sealed off from the main area is used for my tools so has exactly the same plans and requirements but doesn't really need heating - although humidity in that room is just as bad due to the amount of metal stuff in there that will get soaking wet otherwise!

Any help would be amazing!

Mark

 

[Gothichome]

I think I would be looking into gas fired radiant system. It uses the mass as a heat sink.

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Not a recommendation just for reference of what’s out there at how it works.

 

[Cubist]

I would very strongly recommend that you re-consider this whole idea and opt instead for a GREEN KISS strategy.

A few simple modifications to some of your exercise equipment can be used to translate the mechanical energy you impart to these to drive a ventilation system to, pardon the pun, re-cycle the atmosphere. This same mechanism could also be used to power the compressors typically used in refrigerators/freezers to cool new air from outdoors before pushing it into the barn. All you then need to do is 'Get on Yer Bikes' to generate the heat energy that will keep your bodies warm whilst shedding/sharing that heat into the barns atmosphere.

Other than that I would think your only additional heating need would be in the workshop area where a small fan heater - perhaps powered by a battery which is regularly re-charged by other elements of your gym equipment - to keep you warm if the work done there doesn't do that for you more naturally anyway.