"Ended up raising them about a foot higher and adding angled covers—made a huge difference."
Glad you mentioned this, because I had a similar experience with our shelter a couple years back. At first, I was convinced it was just condensation too—especially since we live in an area with pretty drastic temperature swings. But after one particularly nasty storm, I noticed actual puddles forming near the vents. Turns out, ours weren't just positioned low; they were also facing directly into the prevailing wind direction. Talk about a design oversight...
Anyway, we ended up repositioning ours higher and angled them away from the usual wind path. Also added some simple DIY covers made from leftover roofing material. It wasn't exactly pretty at first (my wife jokingly called it our "Frankenstein fix"), but it worked wonders. Haven't had moisture issues since, even during heavy downpours.
One thing I'm curious about though—did you notice any changes in airflow or ventilation quality after raising your vents? Ours improved noticeably, probably because they weren't getting blocked by debris and mud splashes anymore. Wondering if anyone else experienced something similar after making adjustments...
Interesting points here, but I’d caution against assuming higher vents always equal better airflow. In my experience, raising vents can sometimes create unexpected dead spots inside the shelter, especially if you angle them too sharply away from prevailing winds. Had a client last year who did something similar—raised and angled the vents upward to avoid water ingress—and ended up with noticeably stale air in certain corners of their shelter.
We ended up compromising by adding a small secondary vent lower down on the opposite side to encourage cross-ventilation. That way, they still avoided moisture issues without sacrificing airflow quality. Just something to keep in mind if anyone notices uneven ventilation after making these adjustments...
Good to know, thanks for the heads-up. I'm still figuring out this whole ventilation thing myself—honestly, I thought higher vents were always better too, haha. Might have to rethink my setup a bit now...
Haha, I totally get you—I used to think the same thing about vents being higher up. Took me a couple tries (and some friendly advice from the inspector) to realize lower vents can actually help airflow better in certain setups. You're definitely not alone in rethinking things... but hey, that's half the fun of DIY projects, right? Sounds like you're on the right track though, so don't sweat it too much.
I had a similar experience when we built our shelter a few years back. Initially, I thought higher vents made sense—heat rises, right? But after chatting with our inspector, he explained how lower vents actually help pull cooler air in and push warmer air out more effectively. Felt counterintuitive at first, but after adjusting ours, the difference was noticeable. DIY always seems straightforward until you dive in...then it's all about adapting as you go. Glad yours passed inspection smoothly!
