Self storage on the edge of a town like Stettler is almost always rows of steel buildings divided into unheated bays, with perhaps a heated block for the units people pay more for. The insulation question on these buildings is different from every other commercial building, for one reason: the thing that gets damaged is not yours. It belongs to a tenant, and they will tell you about it.
The roof deck is a condensing surface
An unheated steel building tracks outdoor temperature, and the underside of its roof is the coldest surface inside it. On a mild humid day following a cold night, the air drawn into the building carries moisture to that cold deck, it condenses, and it drips. It lands on furniture, boxes, mattresses, documents and whatever else a tenant assumed was under a roof. The tenant reports a leaking roof, and the roof is not leaking.
Why it happens worst in spring and fall
The driver is not winter cold, it is the difference between the overnight temperature of the steel and the moisture content of the daytime air. Spring and fall supply that combination repeatedly. A building that goes through a whole winter without a complaint can produce several in April, which is also why the problem is so often misdiagnosed as a roofing defect.
Spraying the deck, and only the deck
In an unheated storage building the economical scope is usually the underside of the roof deck alone. A continuous closed-cell layer bonded to the steel takes the deck out of the condensing role: there is no air gap behind it for air to reach cold metal, and at about two inches it is a vapour barrier in its own right. Walls add comfort in a heated block but contribute little in a bay that was never going to be warmed, so the roof plane is where the money belongs.
The heated block is a separate scope
If part of the facility is heated, that block is a conventional insulated building and needs the walls, the roof and the demising walls between the heated and unheated sections treated. The junction between the two is the detail that gets missed: an uninsulated demising wall means the heated units are paying to warm the cold ones through the partition.
Doors, drifting snow and the ground
Roll-up doors on every bay mean a great many openings, and on open prairie the wind drives fine snow into any gap around them. Drifts form along the windward row and meltwater runs under the doors into the units. Sealing around the door frames and getting the grade and the apron right matters as much to a tenant as the roof does, and no insulation product substitutes for it.
The crew on your job
Self storage spray foam insulation Stettler 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.
Self Storage Spray Foam Insulation Stettler: Common Questions
Our tenants say the roof leaks but we cannot find a leak. What is it? Almost certainly condensation on the underside of the steel deck, which forms overnight and drips when the building warms up.
Is it worth insulating units we do not heat? The roof plane usually is, because it stops the deck being the condensing surface. The walls generally are not.
When is the problem worst? Spring and fall, when cold steel meets humid daytime air. Deep winter is often quieter.
How much does self storage spray foam insulation cost in Stettler? It is priced per board foot over the sprayed area, so the roof area and the thickness set it. Doing the deck across a whole row at once is more practical than returning bay by bay, and whether tenants' goods have to be moved is the other real factor.
How do I choose a self storage spray foam contractor in Stettler? Ask whether they would do the roof deck only or the whole shell, and why. On unheated bays the roof-only answer shows they know what is actually failing.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Stettler quote. More on Self Storage Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.