Pole barn spray foam insulation in Medicine Hat is asked for as often to keep heat out as to keep it in. In the sunniest part of the country a large steel-clad post-frame building is an extremely effective solar collector, and by mid-afternoon that is what it has become.
A building that bakes
Steel cladding in direct sun reaches temperatures far above the air around it, and it radiates that heat straight into the space underneath. In an uninsulated post-frame building there is nothing between the panel and the interior, so the inside becomes hotter than outdoors and stays that way into the evening. Anyone who works in one here knows the pattern; what is less obvious is that the same layer which would fix the winter problem fixes this one.
Sun on the south and west walls
It is not evenly distributed. The south wall takes sun through the middle of the day and the west wall takes it at its lowest angle in the late afternoon, which is when the building is already at its warmest and when people are most likely to be in it. Where a budget will not cover the whole shell, the roof and those two walls are where it does the most, and that is a genuinely different priority from the one that applies further north.
What a light-coloured roof does, and does not do
A lighter roof reflects some of what arrives and it helps. What it cannot do is stop the heat that is absorbed from radiating inward, because there is nothing in the way. Reflectivity reduces the load; insulation reduces the transfer. The two work together and neither substitutes for the other, which is worth understanding before spending on a recoat and expecting it to solve the problem on its own.
Deciding between a coating and a lining
Where the building will be used as a workspace the foam needs an approved covering, and the choice is usually between a coating applied over it and a lined interior. A coating follows the shape of the structure and needs no framing; a lining gives flat walls and a cavity for services but takes space and adds cost. That decision affects the quote more than the thickness does and it is worth making early.
Pole Barn Spray Foam Insulation Medicine Hat: Common Questions
It is hotter inside than outside by afternoon. Why? The steel absorbs sun and radiates it inward with nothing in between. In Medicine Hat that makes an uninsulated building warmer than the air outside it.
Would painting the roof a lighter colour fix it? It helps but it does not solve it. Reflectivity reduces how much heat arrives; insulation reduces how much of it transfers inside.
If I can only do part of it, what comes first? The roof, then the south and west walls. That is where the sun lands hardest in this part of the province.
Work out the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Medicine Hat quote. More on Pole Barn Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.