Insulating pole barn

[Reit38]

I'm wanting to insulate my pole barn with fiberglass insulation. Spray foam is out of the question due to available finances. I have 6in posts with 2x girts on the outside. Should I be looking at r19 or r25 fiberglass. I know you lose a little bit of r value when you compress the fiberglass but in my thinking that would only be where the outside girts and cross braces are. I plan to finish inside of walls with 1/2in plywood attached to girts on the inside of my posts

Right now Menards has r25 in sale for $8 after rebate making it real appealing

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[bullnerd]

You can see how I did mine in my build in my sig.

Lots of different ways, I copied Morton buildings technique.

 

[stm317]

It really depends on your budget, your intended use, and your desired comfort level. I have a similar setup as you, and have just installed 1.5 inch thick styrofoam panels between the girts. Since they're the same thickness as a 2x4 or 2x6 girt, they fit perfectly between the posts and the metal and they don't intrude into the building at all. The foam is around R9, and cost me under $600 to do my 32x48x10 shop. It also allows far less air movement than fiberglass, so drafts and sound don't penetrate it the way that they do in fiberglass. And, I was able to fit it in between the posts and metal, which you wouldn't really be able to do with rolls of fiberglass.
As time/money allow, I'll frame walls up flush with the inner face of the posts, and insulate with fiberglass for 2X6 walls (R19-ish) for a total somewhere near R30. I'm in central Indiana, so similar weather to what you see in Iowa, and the plan is to eventually install a mini split system to heat/cool the space to more moderate temps when needed.

 

[tom-ky]

It really depends on your budget, your intended use, and your desired comfort level. I have a similar setup as you, and have just installed 1.5 inch thick styrofoam panels between the girts. Since they're the same thickness as a 2x4 or 2x6 girt, they fit perfectly between the posts and the metal and they don't intrude into the building at all. The foam is around R9, and cost me under $600 to do my 32x48x10 shop. It also allows far less air movement than fiberglass, so drafts and sound don't penetrate it the way that they do in fiberglass. And, I was able to fit it in between the posts and metal, which you wouldn't really be able to do with rolls of fiberglass.
As time/money allow, I'll frame walls up flush with the inner face of the posts, and insulate with fiberglass for 2X6 walls (R19-ish) for a total somewhere near R30. I'm in central Indiana, so similar weather to what you see in Iowa, and the plan is to eventually install a mini split system to heat/cool the space to more moderate temps when needed.

That is what I was considering doing on mine. Did it make a big difference in yours? Did you have anything thing at all before the foam? Mine has the double bubble now and I wondered if I could still fit the 1 1/2 foam in behind the posts or if I should use 1 inch.

 

[stm317]

Mine just had Tyvek on the outside of the framing, and double bubble on the underside of the roof. I'm happy with the foam board so far. It has made a difference, but my ceiling isn't insulated well enough yet, so most of the heat loss still occurs through the roof. The building definitely seems to retain heat from the previous day better than before however, or perhaps it just feels less drafty. I think my expectations were reasonable since it's just R9, and it's in the walls rather than the ceiling but overall I'm pleased. I think it's a relatively small thing that will make it much nicer down the line when everything is done.

 

[howpeculiar]

R19 fits in the cavity pretty well. I used it in my build, and it fluffs out to around 6.5 inches or so. I framed inside and tacked the kraft paper, put I imagine there are a lot of ways to skin this kitten!

 

[cj7jeep81]

I'm using R19 from Menards in mine, behind the 2" blanket that was wrapped around the outside. I'd run the numbers, but with their sale, the R19 is just a bit more than half the price of the R25. For me, I can't justify going over R19, especially since I won't be heating it all the time.

 

[lakeroadster]

I'm wanting to insulate my pole barn with fiberglass insulation. Spray foam is out of the question due to available finances. I have 6in posts with 2x girts on the outside. Should I be looking at r19 or r25 fiberglass. I know you lose a little bit of r value when you compress the fiberglass but in my thinking that would only be where the outside girts and cross braces are. I plan to finish inside of walls with 1/2in plywood attached to girts on the inside of my posts

Right now Menards has r25 in sale for $8 after rebate making it real appealing

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

It kind of depends on what your end use of the building is, what you have for a heat source and what the R value is for the rest of the building, such as overhead doors, windows, etc.

I used R-19... simply because I'll rarely be heating the space and never cooling it. Therefore the return on investment by using the more expensive R-25 wasn't there.

 

[tom-ky]

Mine just had Tyvek on the outside of the framing, and double bubble on the underside of the roof. I'm happy with the foam board so far. It has made a difference, but my ceiling isn't insulated well enough yet, so most of the heat loss still occurs through the roof. The building definitely seems to retain heat from the previous day better than before however, or perhaps it just feels less drafty. I think my expectations were reasonable since it's just R9, and it's in the walls rather than the ceiling but overall I'm pleased. I think it's a relatively small thing that will make it much nicer down the line when everything is done.

Mine has the roll out fiberglass on the roof. Wanting to add to the walls. Our wise I guess the foam board is the way to go.

 

[Buck41]

I built my 40x64x14 a few years ago but I insulated it with 4x8 sheets of foam board that had OSB strips glued in flush at 24 OCthe full length of the panel. I bought this stuff at big sky insulation in Belgrade Montana. In my ceiling,I put blown in at R-49. My shop stays very warm in the winter here in Montana and cool in the hot summers here
The 4x8 sheets fit flush between the post and girts. Nice thing about this is there is no framing. Just screw the panels to the girts. I think it’s the same as SIPs panels.