Quonsets are still standing in yards all around Diamond Valley, and many of them are older than the people working in them. Quonset spray foam insulation in Diamond Valley is the application where foam has the least competition, because there is genuinely nothing else that fits the shape.
A building with no flat surfaces
The arch is the whole problem. A Quonset is a continuous curve of corrugated steel on arched ribs, which means there is no stud, no plate, no flat plane and no rectangular cavity anywhere in the structure. Every insulation product that comes in a rectangle has to be cut, bent, overlapped and fastened against a curve, and all four of those operations leave gaps.
The usual attempt is a blanket wrapped up the inside of the arch and strapped. It slips, it compresses where it is strapped, it leaves a gap at every lap, and the laps are the full height of the building. Behind all of it there is an air space against cold steel, which is where the water appears.
Sprayed foam does not care about the geometry. It is applied as a liquid and takes the shape it lands on, so a continuous arch gets a continuous layer with no laps, no fasteners and no air space.
Condensation is usually the reason for the call
Few people insulate a Quonset to save heating cost, because most of them are not heated. They do it because the building rains on its contents.
The mechanism is straightforward. Steel loses heat to the night sky and to cold air faster than the air inside the building cools, so the inside face of the steel drops below the dew point of the air touching it. Water condenses there, runs down the corrugation, and drips from the lowest point of the curve — which in an arch is directly over whatever is stored along the walls.
In the foothills the chinook makes this worse, not better. A warm humid air mass arriving over steel that is still cold from a hard freeze is the strongest condensing condition a building gets, and this country gets that condition repeatedly across a winter.
The ribs are a line of frost
Where the arch ribs contact the steel, the rib conducts heat and becomes a cold line through any insulation that stops at it. In a wrapped building you can read the rib spacing off the frost pattern on the inside in cold weather.
Foam sprayed over the ribs rather than between them removes that. The continuity over the structural member is the second reason sprayed product suits this building type.
The end walls, which are a different building
The curved shell is usually steel, but the end walls are often framed timber with cladding, sometimes with a large sliding or overhead door in one of them. They are built conventionally, they leak conventionally, and they are a large share of the exterior surface on a short Quonset.
A quote that covers the arch and not the end walls has covered the part that is interesting to spray and left out the part that is losing the air. The door needs treating the same way — seals that contact, and a bottom that meets the floor.
Heated, tempered, or just dry
Three outcomes are worth distinguishing. Keeping the contents dry needs enough foam to hold the steel's inside face above the dew point and no more. Tempering the building so it can be worked in needs more. Holding a steady working temperature needs more again plus attention to the end walls and the door. The right depth follows from which of those you want, so it is worth saying which before anyone prices it.
Who you are dealing with
Quonset spray foam insulation Diamond Valley is quoted, scheduled and sprayed by us. Our own installers are on the job, and the number you are given is the number we stand behind.
Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Diamond Valley: Common Questions
Can a Quonset be insulated at all? Yes, and it is one of the best cases for sprayed foam because nothing rigid or rolled fits a continuous curve.
Why does it drip inside on a clear cold day? Because the steel is colder than the dew point of the air touching it. It is condensation, not a roof leak.
Do the end walls need doing too? They should be. On a shorter building they are a significant share of the surface and they are framed conventionally, so they leak conventionally.
How much does Quonset spray foam insulation cost in Diamond Valley? Priced per board foot of sprayed surface. The arch has more surface area than its footprint suggests, so the span and length matter more than people expect.
How do I choose a Quonset insulation contractor in Diamond Valley? Ask whether they spray over the ribs or stop at them, and whether the end walls are in the price.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Diamond Valley quote. More on Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.