Ideas for garage ventilation.

[Rorschach]

I've got a garage in a block I use for storage of things like garden furniture, building materials etc. The roof is good, no leaks but the walls are part buried and always damp.

Just before christmas I put a dining table in there for temporary storage, covered it to keep the spider poop off and left it.

Went back today and the table is covered in white mildew/mould, very annoying. I notice other wooden items are similar.

I know we had a particularly wet winter but I think this is going to be a constant problem. I think I need to sort out some kind of ventilation but of course I don't have power and I don't want to compromise security.

Any suggestions?

[Someone-Else]

Mould/mold is caused by the air being too damp (sorry if you knew that) so you need to make it less damp, you can do this by adding a dehumidifier or a heater (yes, I know, now power) or add ventilation. If you are going for ventilation make orifices not the same height. So for example at the back rear, and the front top. The idea is air will flow from top to bottom, or bottom to top. If you had holes both at the top, or only the bottom air would go in one side and out the other ignoring the middle bit (where you have most damp air)
Don't cover stuff in plastic, as that will trap the air in the plastic.

[dewaltdisney]

I mentioned in another thread about the garage I owned in a block at my first house. The garage was a Marley concrete section garage and it was like a fridge in winter, my car used to frost inside it in severe weather. That is the problem you have, these buildings are heat sinks, and as such the temperature and humidity changes lag behind outside temperature changes. Ventilation does not necessarily overcome these internal conditions and an improvement could only be achieved by insulation. Hardly worth it in this instance I would think.

DWD