Cottage spray foam insulation in Olds is usually work on a second property rather than a lake place, and more and more often on one that is let out for part of the year.
A building operated by people who do not pay to heat it
A cottage used only by its owner behaves one way. A cottage that is let, even for a few weeks a season, behaves differently, because the people in it have no reason to think about the heating and every reason to be warm. Windows get opened with the heat running. The thermostat goes up on arrival and stays there. Nobody drains or checks anything on the way out. An envelope specified on the assumption of a careful owner is the wrong specification for a building used that way, and around Olds that arrangement is now common enough to be the sensible default assumption.
Hold and recover is the specification, not comfort
The brief for one of these is not a comfortable building. It is a building that tolerates being run badly and then left alone. It has to hold a low temperature cheaply through the empty stretches, come back up quickly when somebody arrives, and offer moisture nowhere to accumulate while nobody is looking at it. Closed cell against the shell does all three, because it is the insulation and the air seal in one pass, so there is no cavity for indoor air to reach a cold surface inside.
Why the thermostat setting is a design decision
Most owners settle on leaving one of these at a low holding temperature rather than shutting it down entirely, and that is usually the right call, but it only works in a sealed building. In a leaky shell a low holding temperature is the worst of both worlds: it costs money continuously and still leaves the cold surfaces sitting below the dew point of the air inside. Sealing is what makes the holding strategy cheap enough to be worth adopting through an Olds winter.
What can be staged, and what cannot be revisited
Owners in this district are likelier than most to do parts of the work themselves, and staging it is sensible, but the order is not optional. Anything that is going to be buried has to be right before it is covered, and the air sealing is the layer that cannot be corrected later without pulling the finish back off. Roof plane and rim joist first, finishes afterwards. Where the building sits on piers with an open underside, that underside is a separate decision, and it is frequently the one that pays back soonest.
Cottage Spray Foam Insulation Olds: Common Questions
What if it gets rented out for part of the season? Then specify it for careless operation, not for a careful owner. That is a different building.
Leave the heat low, or shut it off? Low works well, but only once the shell is sealed. In a leaky building it is the worst option.
Can we do it in stages? Yes, provided the air sealing and anything getting buried comes before the finishes.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Olds quote. More on Cottage Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.