Shop ceiling - Victim of my own cheapness

[7milesup]

Reflective barriers are worthless unless you put them on the outside of a building in a warm climate.
A plastic barrier that is sealed will slow down vapor transfer and stop the wind from blowing through.

Read this article on reflective insulation. https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.co...-by-hd-and-lowes-and-used-by-many-contractors

There is very little understanding of building science, certainly among the general population, and even most contractors have very limited grasp on how to slow heat transfer.

 

[Howard E.]

Reflective barriers are worthless unless you put them on the outside of a building in a warm climate.

From my experience I'd have to disagree with that. I've done a basement as well as the garage ceiling with reflective foam. I can attest that he stuff I used does indeed do a very good job of reflecting heat verified with both an ir camera & the simple expedient of standing about 3' away from the corners in the basement- I could easily feel my body heat being reflected back at me. Of course in the basement I had to to cover it over with drywall to meet fire code but as long as you leave an air gap between the drywall & foil it will work as advertised.

 

[7milesup]

From my experience I'd have to disagree with that. I've done a basement as well as the garage ceiling with reflective foam. I can attest that he stuff I used does indeed do a very good job of reflecting heat verified with both an ir camera & the simple expedient of standing about 3' away from the corners in the basement- I could easily feel my body heat being reflected back at me. Of course in the basement I had to to cover it over with drywall to meet fire code but as long as you leave an air gap between the drywall & foil it will work as advertised.

I think we are talking about two different products. I was referencing "nnam" and his reflective barrier, which is just bubble wrap with a reflective coating. Reflectix at Home Depot

Products like closed-cell polyisocyanurate foam that has the reflective coating, usually on one side, is far superior to the Reflectix type of product. The closed-cell polyisocyanurate foam with a reflective layer has an R value of about 6 per inch.

 

[Howard E.]

I'll agree that the r value of the bubble wrap isn't great & I certainly would not use the bubble stuff on it's own but whether it's bubble wrap or the foiled rigid foam radiant reflectivity is definitely a big help in keeping heat inside. Consider emergency blankets- that thin piece of mylar can keep someone pretty warn.

 

[BGHansen]

I'm happy with my ceiling and insulation. My shop takes up 32' x 40' of a 40' x 96' pole barn. Width is the 40'. I used 16' x 3' white barn steel for the ceiling. It cost $25 a sheet back in the day or about $17 per foot over the 40' width. I recall pricing drywall at about half the cost minus tape, mud, paint and the cost of renting a jack. I hung the steel with all of the shop equipment in place. I screwed a cleat to the wall that was moved for each sheet. There was a frame hinged to the cleat made from a couple of pieces of the angle steel used on the stack of barn steel to protect the edges when banded. Ran a 2 x 2 cross piece with a hinged 2 x 4 that when lifted got the steel a couple of inches from the bottom of the trusses.

It went up pretty quickly, was able to work around everything in place. Screwed up the steel with drywall screws. Electrical boxes were a bit of a pain but were manageable. I insulated with 10" or 12" batts and have since gone over that with 6" more.

I keep the shop at 40 F and bump it up to 50-55 F when I'm out working. Happy to say that there's as much snow on the heated shop roof as there is on the rest of the barn.

Bruce