Not all arch buildings are the same building. Quonset spray foam insulation in Cold Lake runs into a wide range of ages and gauges, and how old the structure is changes what is sensible to do with it more than most owners expect. The word quonset covers everything from a light wartime-pattern shell to a modern heavy-gauge arch, and they do not behave alike.
Older shells are thinner and move more
An older arch is generally lighter steel, and light steel moves with temperature. Over a wide swing - and this corner of the province delivers plenty of those - the shell expands and contracts noticeably, working every seam and fastener. That movement is part of why older buildings leak air at the laps and why they have usually corroded along those same lines. Foam bonded to the shell moves with it rather than being fastened through it, which suits an older building better than anything mechanically attached.
Age is not the disqualifier, condition is
A forty-year-old arch with sound steel and a roof that does not leak is a good candidate. A newer one that has been dripping on itself into a corner for a decade may not be. What matters is whether the shell is intact and whether the fasteners still hold, not the date on it. That gets checked on the walk-around and it sometimes ends with us saying to repair first.
Older buildings often hide previous attempts
Batts jammed up against the arch, poly stapled to a frame hung inside, a liner fitted at some point and half fallen down. All of them create a void against cold steel, all of them have usually taken on water, and all of them have to come out before anything is sprayed. Spraying over saturated material seals the water against the shell, which is the opposite of the intent.
What the long winter does here
Cold sits for months rather than passing through, so a building either holds a temperature or it does not, and the failures are unambiguous. An arch used for cold storage only needs its condensation stopped. One that has to keep anything above freezing needs the shell genuinely sealed, because at these temperatures heat leaves an unsealed building faster than a modest heat source can replace it. Deciding which of those two the building is doing comes before any specification.
Why the shape rules the product
There are no stud bays and no flat planes on an arch. Batt has nothing to sit in and rigid board cannot follow a curve without leaving voids behind it. Foam bonds to the shell and takes its shape, so there is no cavity to condense in. It needs clean dry steel with any active rust addressed rather than sealed under it.
Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Cold Lake: Common Questions
Is an old quonset too old to insulate? Age is not the test. Sound steel and fasteners that still hold are, and plenty of older Cold Lake arches pass on both counts, and plenty of older arches pass while some newer ones do not.
We have batts stuffed up against the arch - can you spray over them? No. They will have taken on water, and spraying over that traps it against the steel.
Does an unheated arch need the full treatment? Usually just enough to stop the condensation. If it has to stay above freezing, that is a different and more thorough specification.
Estimate the thickness with the R-value calculator, then get a free Cold Lake quote. More on Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.