Almost a year after we started its finally nearing completion. My 70 year old father and built this 30x50 pole barn in the dead of winter last year. Started setting poles January 28th and completed the shell about a month later. We took delivery of our mill in June and tore off a 20ft section for the log deck to feed logs to the mill. Widened the door from 12ft to 18ft and pretty mulched trashed a nice new barn. This fall we decided it was time for concrete and to close the barn up for winter. Moved the mill and other equipment out and had the floor and sidewalk poured with 6 inches of wire reinforced concrete about a month ago. We decided to go the expensive but what I think was the best choice for insulation and had the spray foam crew out this week to foam it. They sprayed the walls with a good 4 inches of closed cell and the roof deck with 10 inches of open cell. I'm still waiting for the overhead door so the 18 x 10'6" hole is covered with plastic sheeting for now. Have running water ,electric and heat. Just need the door and a little more electrical work. The finish line is in sight.
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Double post please delete
I like the spray on insulation. Is it very expensive to have installed, or did you do it yourself?
Nice job! When's the barn dance 8).
smiley_clapping
Nice work👍
Going to have one myself some day
Thanks guys, I had a good sized barn at my old place but no heat , water, concrete or power. It was just a big tractor shed.
Reswire, the foam is very expensive. It was more than what I paid for the 6in of wire reinforced concrete for the barn , sidewalk and boiler pad. 8500 for the insulation and that was the cheapest of the 3 quotes I had. It is expensive but it has good r. Value , seals everything up nice and tight and adds a ton of structural strength. So far I'm very impressed with the heat holding capability. Example. I had the thermostat set to 60f over night. I went down there at 8 this morning. We had a couple inches of snow overnight and the outside temperature was 27f with a decent breeze blowing. I went in the barn and it was 61f, I waited 25 min before the temp dropped to 60f and the heater kicked on. I turned the thermostat up to 70f. 8 minutes later it had gone from 60f to 72f. Its losing less than 3 degrees an hour and this is with plastic covering the 18'x10'6" hole in the side of the building.
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Quote from: Busysawyer on November 10, 2018, 12:02:34 PMIts losing less than 3 degrees an hour and this is with plastic covering the 18'x10'6" hole in the side of the building.
That's amazing. My house can't do that well.
Nice barn.
Btulloh, there was supposed to be 10 inches on the roof deck but they over applied and most places I checked there was at least 12. So there's a good r-40 plus there. The walls are a minimum of about 4 in closed cell so about r-30 there. The cement is 6 inches thick with 2ft of 2in rigid polystyrene around the perimeter . The great thing about foam is not really the r value but the fact that it seals every nook and cranny up tight. I'm not sure what the numbers are but I can guarantee r-30 of foam will perform a heck of a lot better than r-30 of fiberglass.
@Busysawyer (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=39432) : question for you. Could you explain the open vs closed cell decision? What happens if you have a leak in the roof? I mean is it metal attached to purloins or ? Most barn roofs get a drip or two so I was wondering, seems like it would speed up rotting. But I know nothing and am putting up a pole barn before the holidays and this is on the maybe next year list for us.
Nativewolf, yes my barn is steel on wood perlins.I have closed cell on the walls . Closed cell has about twice the r value as open per inch of thickness. Open cell is quite a bit cheaper to achieve the same r value as with closed cell. My barn walls are only 6in wide so filling that cavity with open cell wouldn't be thick enough to get the r value I wanted. Closed cell is much denser, harder and increases strength. Two reasons i went with open on the roof deck. One is if I do have a leak it will make it's way through the foam and I'll know about it. Then I can address the issue by fixing the leak and replacing a small area of the foam. If you use close cell you wont know you have a leak until the trusses and perlins rot out. Second reason is cost.
Closed on the walls and open on the roof deck was the way all three foam companys I had estimates from reccomended. The owner of the company said his shop is the same construction as my barn and this is the same way he did his shop years ago and has had no issues.
Quote from: Busysawyer on November 10, 2018, 07:34:12 PM
Nativewolf, yes my barn is steel on wood perlins.I have closed cell on the walls . Closed cell has about twice the r value as open per inch of thickness. Open cell is quite a bit cheaper to achieve the same r value as with closed cell. My barn walls are only 6in wide so filling that cavity with open cell wouldn't be thick enough to get the r value I wanted. Closed cell is much denser, harder and increases strength. Two reasons i went with open on the roof deck. One is if I do have a leak it will make it's way through the foam and I'll know about it. Then I can address the issue by fixing the leak and replacing a small area of the foam. If you use close cell you wont know you have a leak until the trusses and perlins rot out. Second reason is cost.
Closed on the walls and open on the roof deck was the way all three foam companys I had estimates from reccomended. The owner of the company said his shop is the same construction as my barn and this is the same way he did his shop years ago and has had no issues.
Great info, thanks! So the open cell foam is somewhat porus. Interesting. Ours is a real...budget barn. Locust poles, salvaged plate and girt materials. We'll have someone saw board and batten for our siding and then figure out how to do that. First, we'll get poles and roof up.
Quote from: Busysawyer on November 10, 2018, 05:00:53 PM
Btulloh, there was supposed to be 10 inches on the roof deck but they over applied and most places I checked there was at least 12. So there's a good r-40 plus there. The walls are a minimum of about 4 in closed cell so about r-30 there. The cement is 6 inches thick with 2ft of 2in rigid polystyrene around the perimeter . The great thing about foam is not really the r value but the fact that it seals every nook and cranny up tight. I'm not sure what the numbers are but I can guarantee r-30 of foam will perform a heck of a lot better than r-30 of fiberglass.
Make sure to get a few CO detectors in there. If it is that tight your going to want to keep an eye on that.