Shipping container spray foam insulation in Westlock is a farm-yard job more often than anything else. A sea can is cheap, it arrives on a truck, it needs no foundation and it locks, which makes it the default solution around here for secure storage of tools, parts, chemical and anything that walks off a yard. What it is not is a building, and the difference becomes obvious the first winter.
Container rain is a real phenomenon
A steel box has no insulation, no cavity and no capacity to absorb moisture. Whatever water is in the air inside it, or in the contents, or evaporating off the gravel underneath, condenses on the underside of the roof when the steel goes cold. On a container it then drips, because the roof is nearly flat and corrugated across the short direction, so the water collects in the valleys and falls. People open a can that has been locked since autumn and find everything wet with no sign of a leak anywhere. That is condensation, and in a winter that stays frozen for months with no thaw it builds as frost and comes down in a single event when the weather turns.
Why closed-cell against the steel is the only sensible approach
There is nothing to fasten to and nowhere to put a cavity, which is the same geometric problem a quonset has. Framing a stud wall inside a container costs a foot of its already limited width on each side and puts a fastener through the shell. Closed-cell foam sprayed directly onto the inside of the corrugated steel bonds to it, follows the corrugation, seals the seams and the door frame, and at reasonable depth stops vapour reaching the steel at all. It adds very little to the internal dimensions, which on a container is a genuine consideration.
The floor and the doors
Two things that get skipped. Container floors are plywood on steel cross-members, sitting close to the ground on blocks or rails, and in winter they are the coldest surface in the box; spraying the underside where it can be reached, or at minimum sealing the perimeter so wind is not washing under it, changes how the inside behaves. And the door end is a pair of large steel doors with gaskets designed for ocean transit rather than for a prairie winter, which means they are the weak point of an otherwise sealed box and are worth attention at the same visit.
Containers used as shops and offices
Some yards convert a can into a parts room or a small heated office. That raises the stakes, because heating a steel box puts a large temperature difference across a single layer of metal and condensation becomes guaranteed rather than seasonal. In that case the depth goes up, the doors get addressed properly, and ventilation has to be planned rather than assumed, because a sealed container has very little air volume to work with.
We take care of the work
Shipping container spray foam insulation Westlock gets handled by us from the walk-through onward. We quote and manage it, and our own installers apply the foam.
Shipping Container Spray Foam Insulation Westlock: Common Questions
Why is everything in our sea can wet when nothing leaks? Moisture in the air condenses on the cold steel roof and drips. It is the normal behaviour of an uninsulated steel box, not a defect in the container.
Can a container be framed and insulated with batt instead? It can, but it costs usable width on both sides and still leaves air against the steel. Foam bonded to the shell avoids both problems.
Does the floor need doing? It is the coldest surface in the box and worth addressing, either by spraying the underside where reachable or by closing the gap underneath so wind cannot wash through.
How much does shipping container spray foam insulation cost in Westlock? It prices per board foot over the interior surface at the depth chosen, so a standard can is a predictable area. Depth goes up if the container is to be heated.
How do I choose a shipping container spray foam contractor in Westlock? Ask what they will do at the door end and underneath. A can sprayed on the walls and roof alone still has its two biggest weaknesses untouched.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Westlock quote. More on Shipping Container Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.