14'x10' wood shed floor insulation question.

[harry moss]

Hey Everyone,

I retired last November and getting ready to finish up converting my 20 year old prefab wood shed into a metal/wood workshop and currently planning out how to insulate the floor. I have used your search function and have a pretty good understanding of wood shed insulation from the various posts over the years.

I live in Greensboro NC and get a little bit of all kinds of weather. I keep a fan running inside the shed and do not have any big humidity issues so I must have some good airflow. I plan on using a oil filled radiant heater for the winter and open windows/doors for all other seasons.

Had a ridge vent installed with a new roof about 5 years ago and no soffit vents, which I plan on installing. Shed currently resides on 2 4”x6” beams running length wise about 19” in from the outside edge with 4 cement blocks under each beam. My metal lathe and end mill each weight around 600 pounds each and I plan on installing another 4”x6” beam centered between the two existing ones to provide extra support for when I move my equipment out from sitting right up against the walls (under the current 4”x6” beams). My floor consists of 2 sheets of plywood with 2”x6” 16” center joists.

So now for my my floor insulation question.. The back side of my shed (length wise) is only about 6”off the ground and I had to replace the T11 wood siding about 5 years ago do to rotted wood at the bottom. Installing gutters is my next project. My qut feeling, even with the gutters, is that any insulation butting up against the 2”x6” floor band will allow water to splash up into the floor insulation between the floor joist.Would a solution be to install rigid insulation from the 2”x6”floor band to the inside of the 4”x6” wood bean and then fiberglass insulation batts for the rest insulation? The front of the shed is about 2' off the ground so I do not have any water splashing issues to contend with there.

FYI - Had 100 amp panel installed last year.

Thanks in advance for any/all responses.
411268
Harry

[Bernie May]

I am not sure I see that much need for floor insulation for you. You don't lose much heat through a floor as heat rises and you are not air conditioning your shop, so no loss of cold air through the floor.

[Ted Reischl]

I don't see a need for it either, but hey, us guys want to do what we want to do (my wife calls it stubborn).

How about just putting a vinyl skirt of some sort around the perimeter on the outside?

[julian abram]

I agree, would not waste the time or money on insulating the floor, put your resources in the walls and roof. I have about the same situation, shop over a crawl space, located in a mild climate. I do heat and cool the shop, works fine.

[Ted Reischl]

As you can see from my location data we live in coastal NC near Wilmington. It gets downright hot and muggy here in the summer, not like Florida, but sure as heck not like Wisconsin, Michigan and other points north.

Anyway, we have combination wall units in our shops. Both of the shops are in one building and are 14X28. The wall units are very inexpensive to run and the initial cost is low. Something to think about. What we do NOT do is completely turn them off ever. That does two things, first it keeps things from rusting, secondly it does not take as long to bring the shops to a comfortable temperature in the morning. Yup, it probably costs a bit more but it is worth it for us. My shop has an old, OLD, GE steel fan that I keep in one corner. It keeps the air moving in the shop and makes it very comfortable. Probably helps move the dust to the overhead filter too, LOL.