Metal building spray foam insulation in Didsbury is applied directly to the inside of the steel skin, and on the small commercial buildings around this town the person deciding is usually the person whose own money pays the heating bill.
An owner who feels the running cost personally
There is no facilities department on a building of this size here. The person weighing this up owns the business, works in the building, and sees the utility bill as a household would. That changes the conversation in a useful direction, because it makes the question specific: what does this cost and what does it change, this winter, in this building. Vague answers do not survive that, and they should not.
Why the vapour barrier and blanket arrangement fails
Most of these went up with fibreglass blanket rolled between the skin and the purlins, wrapped in a thin facing. Over time the facing tears at the laps, the blanket compresses to nothing where it passes over a purlin, and the whole assembly sags. Warm indoor air then reaches the steel directly and water forms on it, which is the drip that gets blamed on the roof. Closed cell applied straight to the sheet removes the gap entirely, so there is no route to the cold surface any more.
What the steel has to be like before anything is applied
Foam adheres to sound, clean, dry steel. On an older Didsbury building the checks are corrosion along the eave and at the base where water has sat, any sheet that has worked loose at its fixings, and whether there is an active leak. Repair comes before insulation in every case, because covering a leak simply puts it out of sight, and on a small commercial building that is money the owner cannot get back.
The overhead doors and the slab edge decide the rest
The shell is one part. On most of these the doors are the largest uninsulated area and the biggest air leak in the building, and the perimeter of the slab loses heat continuously into the ground. Neither is exotic work and both are frequently left out of a quote, which is how a building ends up insulated and still expensive to heat. Where a Didsbury building is used as a workspace the foam also needs a thermal barrier over it, so that covering belongs in the price from the beginning. More on thermal barrier vs ignition barrier.
Metal Building Spray Foam Insulation Didsbury: Common Questions
Why does water drip off the roof steel inside? That is condensation on the sheet, not a roof leak, and it is what this work stops.
Does blanket already in the building have to come out before spray foam? Blanket compresses at the purlins and tears at the laps. That is where the water forms.
What is usually left out of a quote? The overhead doors and the slab edge. Both matter more than people expect.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Didsbury quote. More on Metal Building Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.