Insulate New Shop

[monteu]

Hi,

I have a 40 x 30 x 12 Adams Truss shop I am putting up. What would you all recommend? Spray foam is good, but hardly feel I can afford it. Then rolled bat type insulation is quite economical. Also I can get a thermax board that supposed to be really good. What have you all been happy with? Thanks

 

[930dreamer]

I had lunch with a co-worker earlier this week, his 30x40 shop has some older type spray foam in it. It was zero with the wind chill outside and the shop was holding at 40 degrees.

 

[samert111]

In my 28x48 Pole Barn I have R19 fiberglass in the walls and R30 fiberglass in the ceiling and it stays between 40-50F degrees during the day here in Michigan. Within 20 minutes I can have it at 70 degrees with my 125K BTU kerosine salamander heater and after that it comes on for 10 minutes about every hour but there is about a 10 degree swing between on and off. I suppose if I kept it on all day the swings would be less but these type of heaters do not have a very good thermostat.

 

[zeebad1]

Spray foam is good, but hardly feel I can afford it.

You can't look at it this way. It probably cost me 4 times more for spray foam initially, but I wouldn't have anything else. It may take some time, but it will offset the extra expense in the long run.

I'm amazed at the newer buildings I've been in, that are wrapped & insulated to the hilt, and still have drafts & air infiltration. I have none of that with mine.

I just had a call this week from a friend with a brand new post-frame building, from a very reputable company, and he's so disgusted with the air infiltration that he's ready to have them pull the liner & insulation out, and have foam sprayed on. I asked if the company was paying for that, and he said that they assured him that he would have no problems with their insulation package. They were wrong again.

I know that you "save" money on the construction cost, but it will always "cost" you in the long run.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Dragster Racer]

I think Zeebad has a great point....but it may be more of a critisism of building and construction methods IMO. Contractors make it look pretty, and the details that few of us pay attention to are missed. You can insulate a building well using traditional methods, but it takes a lot of attention to detail, which few contractors are willing to spend the time with. Zeebad has a huge shop that is sprayed and floor heat. Not the direction I would have gone, but it's pretty hard to argue with the finished product in this case. Very very nice.
I may very well change my view on spray foam. I always do a cost anaysis and payback, and around here with current fuel prices, the payback has always shown me 15 or so years. That doesn't usually fit my criteria for a good investment. But all the efforts in my house and shop stopping air infiltration have me rethinking my view on foam.