Shop help

[mach1stang]

Hey guys,

Anybody that lives in Florida knows this is not the nicest place for working on hot rods. Our shop is 50x30 foot shop. But it is built out of pretty thin sheetmetal. It gets so far past hot in there some times it is not even funny, in fact I have seen temps inside up to 110 degrees!!! And lets be honest it is probablly not the safest working as hard as I do in that kind of heat. So we have finally said that until we can cool the shop down there will be very little work done on the mustang so we are trying to come up with ways to cool it down and spruce it up. The shop allready has A/C but it not worth the extra money to keep the A/C on all day when as fast as the cool comes in it gets heated back up. I have come up with and idea that we could use reagular old rolls of insulation to cool it down and using siding wood to keep the insulation on the tin, plus it would look better. What do you guys think about this method to cool my oven down? And has any body done anything like this before?

Thanks for your help.
Kody

[wedgehead]

My auto shop is a metal building also. A couple of years ago I had the inside walls and roof spray foamed. Was the best thing I could have ever done. The foam lowered the temp inside about 15-20 degrees over the non foamed roof and walls.That was measuring with a infared heat gun shot at the walls and ceiling before and after foaming. I had seen temps as high as 130 at the roof. Now have never seen it go over ambient mostly lower than ambient. It wasn't cheap but well worth it. Now I call it my big metal Icechest, It also made it quieter an added bonus.

[ProdigyCustoms]

We have a air conditioned shop that is a metal building. Drop ceiling is the answer. Insulation in the walls is good, but drop ceiling is everything. It actually is cheaper then you think to do one of these ceilings and easy to install.

It cost us $300 additional to A/C the shop in the hot months which doubles our $300 dollar power bill. But the cost is pennies compared to the productivity difference. Helps us do those 16 hour days during the SEMA boggie! Probably could not do those hours without A/C, wears you out not to mention the rashes one developes sweating all day!

[MrQuick]

whats a drop ceiling? I was going to say add some roof vents along with the insulation.

[mach1stang]

I know we will insulating the whole building for noise and heat. I don't think we can put a drop ceiling in our shop but the way the roof does is it runs to the peak at the top but has braces that run a cross about three feet from the peak out maybe 4.5 feet, so we will run the A/C threw that with duct board and put vents in it to keep it cool.

[toxicz28]

whats a drop ceiling?

here ya go
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropped_ceiling

[ProdigyCustoms]

Yup, that is it. Super easy to hang.

[MonzaRacer]

spray foam

[mach1stang]

We are thinking about using the new spray insulation.

[Paul_J]

I have a 30X50 on my property. It is insulated with fiberglass batting that was installed when it was built. It helps but if you want to Air condition the space, reducing the overall volume and creating the air space between the roof and the space with a drop ceiling is the way to go. I also wanted to add that if it is possible to add awnings on the sunny sides of the building will go a long way in reducing the heat load coming from the sun bearing down on the walls. My front roll-up doors get so hot you can barley touch them.

[mach1stang]

How tall is your shop?

[Paul_J]

10' to the eaves. I have some trees that shade the building pretty good so I'll just live with it like it is since I don't make a living out of it. Having the roll up door in the back really helps get the heat out of the space.