Quonset spray foam insulation in Drumheller is work on the corrugated steel arch buildings that sit on farmyards across the tableland above the valley and on the benches around the river. They were put up because they are strong, cheap for the span and quick to erect, and they are still doing useful work decades later. They were not put up with any thought to insulating them, and the geometry is the reason that is hard.
An arch is a surface, not a framed wall
Every other building type on a farm has a cavity. A stud wall, a post-frame girt bay, a purlin space under a roof. An arch has none. The corrugated steel is both the structure and the skin, curving continuously from the floor on one side to the floor on the other, with stiffening ribs on the inside face and no flat plane anywhere. Nothing manufactured in sheets fits that. Rigid board has to be cut into narrow strips and faceted around the curve, leaving a gap at every joint and an air space behind every strip, and batts have nothing to be held in. This is the single clearest case in farm construction where sprayed foam is not one option among several; it is the only material that becomes the shape of the building.
Condensation runs round the curve
The corrugation on the inside of an uninsulated arch collects condensate in its valleys and the curve then delivers it in a line down the wall to the floor, usually onto whatever is stacked along the side. Owners describe this as the building leaking at the base. It is the arch doing what an arch does with water formed on its own inner surface. An adhered sprayed layer removes the cold surface entirely, which is why the problem disappears rather than being redirected.
Semi-arid weather makes it worse, not better
Drumheller sits in semi-arid country and the local instinct is that dry air means no sweating. The water in a Quonset comes from inside: machinery driven in wet, grain or feed stored in it, snow carried in on a vehicle. Clear dry nights let the steel radiate hard and get very cold, and cold steel condenses that interior moisture more readily. The record low here is minus 43.9 degrees Celsius, set in January 1996, and the record high is 40.6, set in July 1941. An arch of bare steel follows both ends closely because it has no mass and no resistance.
Where the arch meets the ground
The base of the arch is the detail that decides whether the job holds. The valley and the surrounding ground are bentonitic shale and clay, which swells with moisture and shrinks as it dries, so the concrete apron or grade beam under an arch has usually moved. The gap between the bottom of the steel and the floor is not a constant, and on many buildings it is partly earth. Foam carried down the arch and across that joint seals it as found. A board system set into it is a straight line fitted to a line that is not straight.
Depth, endwalls and what it is for
Closed-cell at roughly R-6 to R-7 per inch does the most in the least thickness, and past about two inches it is its own vapour retarder, so nothing further has to be fitted to a curved surface. The endwalls are usually conventional framing or steel sheet and are treated as a separate assembly, and the large door in one of them is often the biggest remaining loss. Many Quonsets here only need to be dry, not warm, and in that case a modest adhered depth over the whole inner surface does the job completely. We quote the job, schedule it and stand behind it, and pricing follows the sprayed area and depth.
Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Drumheller: Common Questions
Can a Quonset be insulated with board? Not well. There is no flat surface and no cavity, so board has to be faceted around the curve and leaves a gap and an air space at every joint.
Water runs down the inside wall to the floor. Is the roof leaking? Usually not. Condensate forms in the corrugations on the inside face and the curve carries it down to the base in a line.
Does it have to be heated for the foam to be worth it? No. If the aim is only to stop the sweating and keep contents dry, a continuous adhered layer achieves that with no heat at all.
How much does Quonset spray foam insulation cost in Drumheller? It follows the sprayed area and the depth, and an arch has a large surface area for its footprint, so the area is bigger than owners expect. A dry-only depth is a much smaller scope than a warm building.
How do I choose a Quonset spray foam contractor in Drumheller? Ask how they intend to detail the base of the arch and the endwalls. Those two are where a Quonset job is won or lost, and a quote that is only a thickness and an area has skipped both.
Set the depth with the R-value calculator, then get a free Drumheller quote. More on Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.