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Using blow-iin insulation in a shop building

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Faster horses

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We are going to insulate our shop. It's a pole barn with concrete floor. We have talked to two people who do that work and one says 3" of insulation and the other one says we usually only do 2" with 3" inside the roof. Of course doing 2" is much cheaper than 3". We will heat it with an overhead heater. The one that recommends 3" also recommends lining it with colored tin. We are thinking we don't need the whole thing lined, just the ceiling and the side where Mr. FH has his workbench. The people that recommend 2" say that not many people line the building with tin.
So we would like your input on this, and thanks!
 
How many hours a year are you going to heat? I have built 2 small factories in the last 5 years and we used 10" fiberglass bats in the sidewalls between interior and exterior metal walls - - - we put 30" of blown in over the ceiling but these were heated at least 40 hours every week and as such the insulation was a bargain.

If you only heat a few hours a week the extra fuel used would not off set the cost of the insulation.

If you are only going to heat a couple of hours a week you would probably save money by not insulating at all - - - comes down to economics and intended use.
 
Spray 3"s on, then cover it in tin.A friend of mine rebuilt his shop after he did'nt line it a spark from a grinder caught it on fire and the place burned pretty good only thing that saved it was he lives a mile from the fire department. I'd Line it and no way would I not insulate thats not a shop thats just a machine shed.
 
What Denny said. And make sure that it is rodent-PROOF or in a few years you will have mice and rat tunnels all through it.

Guess how I know? :( Had a calf barn that we foamed and boy did the rodents make a mess of it.
 
FH, guess I, like others may be assuming that is the foam blown in as a liquid. Otherwise the 2 or 3 " wouldn't make sense in SD!!! I agree with lining the thing, at least partially. Sure didn't know about mice being such a problem with foam. I'm not sure it is possible to make a building "mouse proof". My best luck at deterring mice has been keeping a paper towel with several drops of pure mint oil on it in each room in the garage and the house. They need to be renewed once every two weeks. Works better than anything else......and we have quite a 'crew' of feral cats that roam this area that are pretty good mousers, too.

We are building a new calving/cattle working barn and I wish they had put foam insul. in it, but it was deemed too expensive. Maybe not knowing anyone who puts the stuff in had something to do with that decision, too.

'Retirement age' folks also need to look at future needs, and having the building well finished with the metal lining just might make it enough more valuable when selling to make sense........and you will sort of get the convenience and extra comfort at a 'bargain rate'.

Whatever you decide, enjoy your project, especially the 'end product'.

mrj
 
Thanks everyone. Good points, all. I did mean foam insulation---thought of that after I was in bed....

George, he tried it with no insulation.......that won't work in Mt. or SD. Plus, he would be in there a lot, like every day during the winter months.

When we had the building built, the builder asked if we were going to insulate it and we said we were not. Things change....and from what we have found, as BMR said, the foam insulation will make the structure more sound. Now, with that being said, there is like $5000 difference between 2" and 3" of insulation. They tell us that over time the extra will pay for itself. We are at the age that I don't think we have that much time :? ....our neighbor had his building foam insulated and lined with white tin. It looks so nice....and Denny, one of those we got a quote from did mention the fire hazard, so thanks for bringing that up. Mr. FH :cboy: would weld in there, but there is a camper trailer along the opposite wall from where he would be working, so I thought maybe just cover the wall where he works, and maybe only up 8'. This building has 16' walls in order to get the 5th wheel camper in it. So it's TALL. Anyone/everyone how do you think it would work to go up 8' instead of the full 16'? We would put a ceiling in and line that with white tin as that reflects light and we think that we would definitely line the ceiling.

MICE!! I hate mice....there are some places where you can see the ground at the bottom of the building but so far we have not had mice in there. Maybe it's too slick for them. That foam would fill up those places. OMG. MICE! I couldn't handle that. We have mice problems in the house at the ranch and have made great effort to find where they are getting in. If we don't get it figured out (although we have slowed them down a BUNCH) I'm moving out or we will have to move something in for me to stay in. I HATE MICE! How would you possibly keep mice from getting in a pole barn :help: .....except that so far, so good.... :?
 
It's tough to make an existing structure rodent-proof. Deterrent and control is the next best option, as mrj has said.

If the exterior is steel sheeting, it needs to have a "J" trim installed at the bottom so mice cannot climb up inside the ribs of the steel. If you are lining the inside, the same applies.

A vapor barrier is also needful if you are lining it with anything, but I'm not sure how it works when installed on the warm side of the wall. A builder would have to address that one too.
 
burnt said:
It's tough to make an existing structure rodent-proof. Deterrent and control is the next best option, as mrj has said.

If the exterior is steel sheeting, it needs to have a "J" trim installed at the bottom so mice cannot climb up inside the ribs of the steel. If you are lining the inside, the same applies.

A vapor barrier is also needful if you are lining it with anything, but I'm not sure how it works when installed on the warm side of the wall. A builder would have to address that one too.
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Can you put on the J-trim after the building is constructed? It's a nice, well-made building, but I did see the ground outside when looking along the bottom. It's been up about 3 or 4 years so far and no sign of mice. Lots of flies (whew, LOTS of flies) but no mice. We just checked the camper to see if there had been any mice activity in it and there hasn't been. We do have a killer cat, but he's not there all the time, as neither are we.
 
We used sheet rock in my shop at the time I was flat broke and it was the most reasonable it was 11'7"s from the concrete to the ceiling so we bought 12' pieces cut off 5"s and stood them up we never taped or painted any of it and one section is behind the cut off saw for 22 years and no fire as of yet.Thats alot of sparks like 850 trailers worth of sparks on the same section of sheetrock.
 
littlejoe said:
find some ol' boy that warehouses sacks of hi dollar grass seed, etc---ask him what he uses for mice and buy some from him.
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Just put up a sign

No Mice :cboy:
 

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