Arch buildings are everywhere on the yards around Clairmont because they are cheap per square foot, they go up quickly and they shed snow. They also behave unlike any other farm or industrial building once there is anything warm or damp inside them, and almost everything distinctive about that comes from the shape.
Water on a curve does not fall, it runs
In a building with a flat ceiling, condensation forms overhead and drips straight down onto whatever is below it, which at least makes the cause obvious. On an arch the surface curves continuously toward the ground, so the water that forms high on the shell runs down the inside of the steel instead of dropping. It arrives at the base of the wall, soaks into whatever is stacked against it, pools on the floor at the perimeter and rots the bottom of anything stored there. Owners describe a floor that is wet around the edges and a dry centre and conclude that water is coming in from outside. Usually it is coming down the inside.
Grain and machinery under the same arch
Around here a quonset is frequently doing two jobs across the year. Equipment lives in it for the winter, and at harvest it may take bulk grain piled on the floor. Those two uses have opposite requirements. Grain gives off moisture, and a cold steel arch over a warm pile is the surface that moisture will find, with the water then running down the curve into the outside of the pile where spoilage starts. Machinery wants a dry shell so that it does not sit sweating all winter. Both point the same way: the shell has to stop being the cold surface, which means insulating it rather than merely sheltering under it.
Why nothing but foam works on an arch
There are no stud bays, no flat planes and no framing to staple to. Batt has nothing to sit in, and rigid board cannot follow a continuous curve without leaving voids behind it where it bridges the corrugations. A void against cold steel is precisely where water will collect, out of sight, for years. Sprayed foam is applied as a liquid and takes the shape of the arch including every flute, bonds to the steel so there is no cavity at all, and is the air barrier and the insulation in a single pass.
Snow at the base and the ice collar
An arch sheds its snow to the ground on both sides, so it builds a bank against the lower part of the shell rather than holding a load on top. Once there is heat inside, the snow touching the warm lower steel melts, runs down and refreezes where it reaches ground that is still frozen, which builds a collar of ice around the base of the building. That ice sits against the sheet ends and the base channel, which is where a quonset is most vulnerable to corrosion. It is worth looking at the base condition before any insulation goes on, because that is the part of the building most likely to already need attention.
The flat ends and the door
The two ends of an arch building are framed and clad separately from the shell, with the main door in one of them, and the junction where flat meets curved is a line no cut material fits. It is worth confirming explicitly whether a quote covers them, because an arch sprayed beautifully with the ends left open will not hold a temperature.
Who you are dealing with
We do Quonset spray foam insulation Clairmont ourselves. We scope and quote it, we book it, and our own installers spray it -- one company, one point of contact.
Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Clairmont: Common Questions
The floor is wet around the edges. Is the building leaking? Often not. Condensation on the inside of an arch runs down the curve to the base rather than dripping, so it arrives at the perimeter.
Can we store grain in an insulated quonset? Insulating removes the cold surface the grain's moisture would otherwise condense on, which helps considerably. Aeration still has to move that moisture out of the building.
Why not board or batt on the arch? Neither can follow a curve without leaving voids behind it, and voids against cold steel are where the water ends up.
How much does Quonset spray foam insulation cost in Clairmont? It follows the sprayed area of the arch plus the end walls, and the thickness. Clearing and cleaning a building that has been in use, and any base corrosion found, are the variables.
Who does Quonset spray foam insulation in Clairmont? We do. We look at the shell and the base condition, quote the arch and the ends separately so you can see both, schedule it and stand behind it.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Clairmont quote. More on Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.