New garage, but it's too hot to work in it.

SPIKER · Aug 22, 2015

brown40 said:
Uh-oh! Mines only been up two years. I put prodex under the roof (not double bubble, but a foam sandwiched between foils) and infrastop (double bubble foil sandwich) on the walls. Do you recall what product you used?

Interested to hear what product he used too, I still have 2 FULL rolls of the "Foil bubble bubble poly" left over from my concrete work & thinking of stapling it under the truss roof section for the radiant effect. it will eventually be sealed off but would like longevity out of it. (it is still rolled up after 8 or so years now.

I would put in 2 rook solar fans (no wires no cost to run) and in summer they run sun up till after sun down drawing out hot air. NY is high tax zone and Elec costs skyrocketing. Next would be the insulation, would love Spray foam however 3 or 4 times $ for it over standard INSTALLED costs insulation.

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PutnamVictor · Aug 22, 2015

Spiker, early on during this project I looked into foam as well and despite all it's benefits, the cost is so high I don't think it's worth it. (Not for a garage at least.) IMHO

I do like you solar fan idea.

Billrog · Aug 22, 2015

My shop is 30' x 42' 9' ceilings 12' insulation in the ceiling and 4" in 2x4 walls metal siding over 1x4 strapping & metal roof. 1 window with no direct sunlight insulated over head dr. and when it's 90 - 100 out side it's 68 inside. After working in there 6 or 7 hrs.it gets up to as high as 74. There is sofet venting and a large gable vent no fans though I realize they are beneficial. In the winter after 3 days with no heat it will get down to 43 temp. outside not extreme maybe 5 or 10 below. It has vapor barrier and drywall in side. I attribute this to the fact there's no windows and the majority of the sun hits the end of the building not the side & the side it does hit has a 3' overhang.

AGRIMAN · Aug 22, 2015

brown40 said:
Uh-oh! Mines only been up two years. I put prodex under the roof (not double bubble, but a foam sandwiched between foils) and infrastop (double bubble foil sandwich) on the walls. Do you recall what product you used?

Sorry, I don't remember the brand name. The company that I bought my metal from was pushing hard back then, but they have gone out of business. The prodex product looks to be thicker and heavier then what I used.

What i used is similar to the foil/white product in the below link.

Bubble Insulation Radiant Barrier - Ecofoil Bubble Foil Insulation

brown40 · Aug 23, 2015

AGRIMAN said:
Sorry, I don't remember the brand name. The company that I bought my metal from was pushing hard back then, but they have gone out of business. The prodex product looks to be thicker and heavier then what I used.

What i used is similar to the foil/white product in the below link.

Bubble Insulation Radiant Barrier - Ecofoil Bubble Foil Insulation

The prodex is interesting stuff but presented some flammability concerns and was physically weaker than the double bubble/mylar foil (I can part prodex easily, but the double bubble takes some oomph to stretch and part). The foil prodex isn't coated--it appears to be straight aluminum bonded to the surfaces. I only used the white faced WBBF on the roll-up door (defeating about half the radiant properties, gluing the reflective side directly to the ribs), and double reflective (FBBF) everywhere else, but like others suggested on this thread, intended to line the ceiling with it and separate the attic with a bright white finish that rolls on easily--I hate ceiling work. Just having prodex draped under the steel roof keeps the attic cooler than the exterior--I was still thinking a closed ceiling would help retain heat if I heated. All three products work really well for keeping it from being an oven--I just hope I don't end up with confetti down the road!

Gary Fowler · Aug 23, 2015

I put the radiant barrier material under the metal roof on my shop then 6" bat insulation between the rafters. Floored the area down the middle of the roof for storage. Walls also have 6" bat insulation and 3/8" plywood interior covering walls and ceiling. The roof just has a ridge vent and it does not get unbearably hot in the attic.
The interior holds the heat in the winter pretty well and requires just a 1500 watt ceramic heater to keep it comfortable in winter. I have a window AC for summers that I used for a while but found that I can work comfortably with a floor fan that only runs when I am there compared to running the AC full time in summer.
I did make the mistake of not insulating a side shed in order to save a few bucks in construction cost. This is where I store my boat and lawnmowers and it gets really hot in there and cold in winter. I am still contemplating putting in some wall and ceiling insulation to deal with it, but alas money becomes the issue and it really isn't necessary for the boat and lawnmowers to stay cool/warm.
I just keep the mandoor between my shop and boat shed closed and the shop stays pretty nice to work in for the most part.

AGRIMAN · Aug 23, 2015

brown40 said:
All three products work really well for keeping it from being an oven--I just hope I don't end up with confetti down the road!

Hopely you won't have the confetti problem like I do. Below is a picture of a Fab shop we sprayed a while back. 3" of closed cell foam painted white.

PhysAssist · Aug 24, 2015

PutnamVictor said:
s219, I'm in New York. I don't mind the cold, it's just the heat that is in issue.

aeblank, I put in split system in my house, and yes it does rock! It's a bit more then I want to spend for a garage.

Sounds like Insulation is key. I kind of thought so too, but did not want to change the look of the open studs.

Hi P-V,
Or I guess, Hi neighbor!

We're in upstate NY between Rochester and Batavia.

We put up our pole barn in 12/2012 and had a layer of insulation and vapor barrier installed on the inside of the roof over top of the purlins but under the metal (I guess that's obvious, no?) and have found that even on the hottest days, it's anywhere from 10-15 degrees cooler in the barn even (or especially) with the windows and doors shut.

I have been using a box fan to circulate air around me while I work, and that steps up the evaporative cooling to make things a lot more tolerable too.

We found some 60" diameter industrial metal-bladed ceiling fans on clearance at Home Despot and I can't wait to get those up and running.

PhysAssist · Aug 24, 2015

RalphVa said:
I'd put radiant barrier up against the rafters. Then insulate the ceiling. Been there. Done that.

Ralph

Oops, I forgot to mention that the insulation and vapor barrier have a radiant barrier facing the metal roof too.

We do also have soffit vents and a ridge vent.