Shipping container spray foam insulation in Cardston is yard work. Out here a container is bought for one reason: it is a lockable, rodent resistant, weatherproof box that can be set down anywhere on a property without a building permit conversation, and on a ranch where the usable buildings are a century old and already full, that is a useful thing to own.
What they actually get used for here
Tack and saddlery, which must stay dry or the leather is ruined. Medicine, vaccine and animal health supplies, which must not freeze. Bagged feed and mineral, kept away from rodents. Fencing supplies, tools and a quad. Occasionally a seasonal workshop. Every one of those uses is about controlling moisture and the temperature swing, and almost none of them is about keeping a space comfortable for a person, which is the opposite of what most container insulation discussion assumes.
A steel box sweats more than a building does
A container is corrugated steel of about two millimetres with nothing on the inside but paint and a plywood floor. It has no thermal mass worth speaking of and no insulation at all, so its skin follows the outside air and the sky almost immediately. Sunlight in the afternoon drives the inside temperature well above the air, and clear night sky pulls the skin cold again. Each of those swings moves air in and out through the door seals and the vents, and each time the air cools below its dew point the water appears on the inside of the roof and the walls and drips onto whatever is beneath. Container sweat is the single most common complaint and it is purely a surface temperature problem.
Closed cell sprayed to the steel is the only sensible assembly
There is no cavity in a container, no framing to attach to, and no spare interior dimension to give away. Closed cell foam at around R-6 to R-7 an inch is sprayed directly to the inside of the corrugations, filling them, adhering to the steel and becoming a vapour barrier at roughly two inches. Because it is adhered there is no gap where air can reach the metal, so the dripping stops rather than being hidden behind a liner. Anything hung inside a container instead leaves exactly that gap, and the water keeps forming where it cannot be seen.
Prepare the steel and treat the floor
A used container has oil, grease, loose paint and surface rust inside, and foam will not bond properly to any of it. Cleaning and drying the interior is real work and it comes first. The plywood floor is a separate question: it is treated, it sits on the steel cross members, and the underside of those members is open to the air beneath the box. If the container is to be used in cold weather for anything freeze sensitive, the floor and the underside have to be in the conversation, as does getting the box up off the dirt so it is not sitting in meltwater.
Doors, vents and the sun
The door end is the weak point and it has to stay operable, so the seals and the hinges set the limit on how far the sprayed layer can be carried. The existing vents are there for a reason and a sealed container needs its ventilation thought about deliberately rather than simply blocked. And foam must be sprayed on the inside: it degrades in sunlight, so an exterior application would need a protective coating over it to survive outdoors at all.
One company, start to finish
There is no handing you off here. We quote and manage shipping container spray foam insulation Cardston start to finish, and our crews do the spraying.
Shipping Container Spray Foam Insulation Cardston: Common Questions
Why does our container rain inside? Because the steel skin follows the outside temperature closely, and the humid air inside condenses on it. It is the shell, not a leak.
Can it be insulated without losing much space? Closed cell gives the most R-value per inch, which is why it is used here. A couple of inches handles both the heat and the vapour.
Will insulating it keep medicine from freezing? It slows the swing substantially, but if freeze protection has to be guaranteed then the floor, the underside and a heat source all belong in the plan.
How much does shipping container spray foam insulation cost in Cardston? Priced per board foot over the sprayed area, so a standard box is a predictable area. Cleaning the interior first is the part people do not expect to pay for.
How do I choose a shipping container spray foam contractor in Cardston? Ask how they will prepare the steel and what they will do at the door end. Both answers tell you whether the layer will stay stuck and whether the doors will still work.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Cardston quote. More on Shipping Container Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.