Foil insulation for workshop?

[Jay Knepper]

I'm considering options for insulating my 30' x 40' workshop, which is a steel building.

Spraying on 1" of closed cell foam would cost nearly $4K (doing it myself) and would give an R-value of about 7. Spraying foam does not look like it's an easy job in an established workshop with DC ducting and wiring.

I'm more interested in a double foil insulation with a 1/4" thick foam core. It comes in 4' by 175' rolls and has a stated R-value of 14. Information on this product can be found at www.insulation4less.com (http://www.insulation4less.com). The job should cost about $1K with this option.

Has anyone tried this or a similar product? Any thoughts on the advantages/disadvantages of the foil insulation approach would be much appreciated.

[Dan Racette]

Interested in the feedback you get!

D

[Don Baer]

Lets see now hmmm R7 Cost $4k
R14 Cost $1K
I know what I would do.
I've used the foil/foam stuff and it is easy to use. I just used a circ saw when I needed to cut it and used good ole yellow glue to hang it. Very easy and fairly clean. Wear a mask when cutting it.

[George Summers]

I will be ordering the FBF before this winter sets in. I have been looking at it and comparing other alternatives for a year now. I wonder, why you have chosen the FfmF instead of the FBF? The FBF is rated at R14.1 and is cheaper that the FfmF rated at only R.4 more (R14.5).

George

[Eddie Watkins]

I put the FBWP in my shop (metal building) when I built it a few years ago and the label said R-11. I notice the web site that Jay linked to says R-7. What I found is the stuff works really well in the summer keeping the radiant heat from the sun out but is not nearly as effective in the winter keeping the heat in. Of course I have the white poly on the inside so that could be part of the problem. It has little value for conductive heat loss. This web site explains it partially. http://www.astrofoil.net/astrofoil.insulation.r-values.html.
I could be totally wrong on this so ignore what you choose but, as I understand it, this type of insulation and the the corresponding R value is for radiant heat. It does not apply to conductive or convective heat at all. I have since gone back and retrofitted the ceiling and most of the walls with 3" fiberglass type insulation so that I could heat and cool it a little more efficiently. I could keep my shop at 65 degrees and probably higher in the winter with the FBWP with a small ventless heater so it worked okay. Around here where our winters are usually not very harsh or very long it worked much better than nothing but don't expect the same results you would get with regular insulation. By the way retrofitting is a really bad job, if you are building go with the 3" fiberglass with Poly backing or foil from the start. I used poly because I preferred the white over shiny for personal preference aesthetics.

[George Summers]

Eddie -

I am going with the 'foil' both sides because I think that the foil will reflect heat better than poly. This way the summer heat will be reflected back out and in the winter my heater heat will be reflected back in.

George

[Steve Clardy]

I went with the roll 1/4 foil both sides on my addition. 3'x50' rolls were 98.00 I think.

Keeps the sweat away on the tin roof.

[Don Baer]

Years ago I did a consulting job for a startup company that was making insulation by taking foil and laminating it to heavy paper then forming a pocket with the foil on the outsides and the paper on the inside. What was neat about this stuff that when it was installed it made a cavity with foil on both sides and air was trapped in the middle(dead air make a very good insulator). It was sold in in rolls and came either 16" or 24" widths and had tabs on each side to you could staple it to the inside of studs. I forget the R rating of this stuff but I know it was at or better then R-14, easy to install and fairly inexpensive. Wish I could remember the name of that company. Tey say that your memory is the second thing to go. Now I wish I could remember the first thing..:confused: