Thoughts on inexpensive insulation for pole barn garage...

[jwamplerpa]

I had a 20 x 20 polebarn built that will not be heated or cooled probably ever, but I do want to put something over the girts on the inside to "finish" it and maybe provide a little insulation to keep it cooler in the summer. One of the guys on the crew said I could just put 1.5" Foam board between the girts and then go over it with OSB. That would give me more room inside the garage as I wouldn't be framing out the wall to the inside of the posts. I'm just worried if I'll have condensation issues if I fill the gap between the steel and the OSB with foam board? Any thoughts on if this is a good/bad idea? Any other inexpensive options for this? I really like the idea of fastening the OSB right to the girts for the amount of extra space on the outside walls.

Thanks,
Keff

 

[Firebrick43]

The steel has ribs, that if not sealed by foam or something, provide ample ventilation. While I put the 1.5 foam in my building and some others it was in addition to fiberglass, not foam alone.

I helped a friend finish a pole building in the manner your talking about with every thing to the inside of the post and it was a nightmare. He had already installed the foam and put 2x2 on the face of the outside girts to add another r13 of fiberglass horizontally. He was worried about the "space he was going to lose".

It was so miserable to cut every thing to fit. At least every other vertical sheet needs to be trimmed to fit between the post(with 8' post spacing). In the conventional manner you only need to trim the last sheet on the wall to fit to width. The ceiling J channel and ceiling panels themselves where exceptionally bad at killing time.

Another portion of the building that had no insulation i told him I wouldn't help unless we put face girts on the inside in the conventional manner. He couldn't believe how much faster and easier it went, I am guessing a quarter of the time.

After a few years I asked on that wall (where his benches and toolboxes are) if he missed the space and he said no. He said it was actually better because he could put a bench anywhere instead of working around and moving things to where the post sticking out dictates on the other walls.

 

[jwamplerpa]

The steel has ribs, that if not sealed by foam or something, provide ample ventilation. While I put the 1.5 foam in my building and some others it was in addition to fiberglass, not foam alone.

I helped a friend finish a pole building in the manner your talking about with every thing to the inside of the post and it was a nightmare. He had already installed the foam and put 2x2 on the face of the outside girts to add another r13 of fiberglass horizontally. He was worried about the "space he was going to lose".

It was so miserable to cut every thing to fit. At least every other vertical sheet needs to be trimmed to fit between the post(with 8' post spacing). In the conventional manner you only need to trim the last sheet on the wall to fit to width. The ceiling J channel and ceiling panels themselves where exceptionally bad at killing time.

Another portion of the building that had no insulation i told him I wouldn't help unless we put face girts on the inside in the conventional manner. He couldn't believe how much faster and easier it went, I am guessing a quarter of the time.

After a few years I asked on that wall (where his benches and toolboxes are) if he missed the space and he said no. He said it was actually better because he could put a bench anywhere instead of working around and moving things to where the post sticking out dictates on the other walls.

I hear you, but I unfortunately I had to reduce the size from a 24' x 24' to a 20' x 20' to avoid thousands of dollars in engineering and excavating for drainage, so I'm already losing space. It comes out to almost 30 sq. ft. of lost space by my calculations. I definately don't want to add girts on the inside as that would lose even more space. If I was going to heat and cool it, I would probably frame out between the posts, but I don't want to go through that much trouble. It's basically a big shed, but I want to finish the walls with something and figured I may as well add some insulation to it but don't want to cause any moisture issues that will decrease the life of the steel.