Anybody ever insulate a Steel Garage?

[tumper93]

Just wondering if any of you have any information on what is the best course of action to insulate my detached steel garage? It is 24x30 w/15' ceilings with no heat at this point, also there is a vapor barrier under the concrete. I have been looking at Lowes and Home Depot at their 4x8 sheets of insulation that has the silver backing on both sides and is 3/4" thick http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=15355-10477-15355&lpage=none To do my whole garage myself with this would be about $700 which isn't too bad. The thing is would this insulation work for what I need? I am tired of it being so cold in the winter and super hot in the summer, not to mention all the condensation that appears with the temp changes in central NC. As this is a new venture I would appreciate any help.

[molyorange 77]

R 2.9 is not much. Cellulose is the way to go in a metal building IMO, You get at least a R19 or 20 out of that. I will say that the expense is much greater but the $700 you spend on the foam board will be much more useful on the cellulose. on our 40x50 we spent $1600 for the walls and slipped the guy $100 and got the roof done too!! Oh by the way I live in the SUB TROPICS of central MISSSISSIPPI where it can easily hit 130 inside an unisulated building. HEAT+HUMIDITY=SUCKS!

[tumper93]

The problem with using that type of insulation is I have no interior walls in which to blow it in. I only have the exterior walls and then the truses etc on the inside. This is what is making this a hard project. I am just not sure as to what to do.

[Dagger]

Not sure if vertical surfaces are practical, but here in sunny Florida sprayed-on expanding foam type insulation on the underside of roofs is becoming more and more popular. I'm sure it has a pretty high R value and is more or less just sprayed on A/B type foam. Might be worth some additional investigation. Just a thought.

[molyorange 77]

We had it blown on the exterior wall and exposed beams and trusses etc. quick tip though run your electrical conduit and wire and tape off the boxes before insulation. but run your airlines after the insulation in case you have a future air leak and you won't have to disturb the insulation to get to the lines. I will take some pics if you would like me to But it will be this weekend!! Just let me know..

[rjsjea]

I had the sprayfoam done in my 20x20 shop.......Good results, said to be R11. It wasnt cheap though about $1300bucks

[dhutton]

I insulated my 42x60 shop with the same material you are asking about. The trick is to make sure the foil side faces an air space to get the full benefit of the radiant barrier. Here in Texas I find it does help considerably in the hot summer and the building does warm up some in the winter when I am working out there. I'm not trying to heat or air condition the shop so I don't think I need R30 or anything like that. It's the radiant barrier that helps more than the R2.9. I've seen no condensation issues with this material.

I noticed the local Jiffy Lube uses the same material on the ceiling of their shop.

Don

[tumper93]

The condensation problem is my number one issue also. I have looked over what is available locally that I can install since I don't have studs like most buildings. There was this type and also the foiled bubble type, which oddly enough has a much higher insulating vlaue than this type I asked about has. It is by Reflex or something like this and I searched on the net about it and it is used quite a bit in the steel building market for insulation, but I am not sure about how it will work with lowering the condensation problem. The price on it is not much different and may be about the same or less. Anybody ever use this typr of insulation--called double bubble.

[amx2334]

http://www.mascoat.com/
We did some testing on some similar type stuff about 8 yrs. ago. It worked pretty good. Never did an entire building with it though.We just used it as an insulater in air handling equipment.