Insulating Sobon Shed floor.

[Dave Shepard]

Thoughts on insulating the floor of a Sobon Shed? For those that are unfamiliar, the floor is 8x8 sills, with 4x6 joists, 2' on center. Building will be on some sort of pier system, one under each post.

[snowmountain]

I've thought about this a bunch. Planning to build one for my son to use in the yard. Depends on how much insulation you need.  If minimal, I've thought putting 1" of foam on top of 1" boards then a second layer of 1" boards on top.  Simple and keeps the mice out. Just needs a little work around the entry to hide the foam and second layer.  If you need alot of insulation, staple hardware cloth to the undersides of the joists and fill in with mineral wool.  Bug proof and very breathable so moisture would not bother.  Put 1x2 sleepers on joists and sills then drop in 1" foam then floor boards on top. If you were not concerned about the thermal bridging from the joists, put 2x2 along the joists, staple hardware cloth, drop in 2" foam, then boards.

Keeping the mice out is going to be the most important thing.

Jack

[brewdog]

hard to stop rodents ,have did lots of buildings,camps and sheds thought about used cooler or freezer panels ,here we could get damage overhead door panels,GOOD LUCK.

[CJ]

 Hi Dave,  If you plan on insulating the underside of the floor of this shed, I would go with a closed cell foam board and to prevent those pesky varmints from getting in and tearing the crap out it, place a metal lath on outside of that. We placed this on the underside of my brothers camp and it seems to have worked extremely well. I used 9/16" staples to put them in place, and where they overlap I used 1 1/4" roofing nails. You can use them on the perimeter as well. But seeing how there is no weight bearing on them, the staples would suffice. I hope that helps? 
One other thing! I'm not sure if there is such a product in the States that we have here in Canada. The stuff is called Fluid Film and it's an aerosol can that contains a lanolin oil (oil extract from sheeps wool and environmentally friendly) that I purchased to do the underside of my travel trailer that would see the odd mouse break in and have its way with things. By spraying the entire undercarriage, electrical wires and plumbing, not one mouse has made a break and enter in the trailer, and that has been two years running now. Even in the winter, they don't show up. This formula stays in kind of a wet state and the mice hate it and the smell (minimal at first). Spray the lath with it and you should be gold!


 https://www.homedepot.com/p/27-in-x-8-ft-Steel-Lath-2-5-METAL-LATH/202093395
 https://www.fluid-film.com