Lethbridge warehousing serves an agri-food region, and that changes what the envelope is being asked to do.
Product-driven, not comfort-driven
In a general distribution warehouse the envelope is about operating cost. In a food or agricultural warehouse it is often about the product, and the tolerance is narrower.
Two things follow.
Temperature stability matters more than temperature. A building that swings is harder on stored produce than one that sits slightly warmer but steady. Stability comes from a continuous envelope and a large thermal buffer, not from a bigger heater.
Humidity is part of the specification. Produce respires and gives off moisture. Washing and handling add more. That moisture has to be managed rather than allowed to migrate to the roof deck, condense on cold steel, and fall back onto the stack.
If your building holds anything perishable, say so when you enquire. It changes the specification, not just the quantity.
Where the money actually goes
The roof deck, not the walls. In a warehouse footprint the roof is the dominant surface and sits at the top of the pressure gradient. Heat rises to it and leaves through it.
Stratification. Heating a tall space to be comfortable at floor level means the upper volume runs much hotter, and that hot layer sits against the deck. You are paying to heat air nobody uses.
Door cycling, which insulation cannot fix. The achievable goal is fast recovery between cycles - and sealing is what delivers that, because you stop reheating air that immediately leaks away.
Wind changes the door maths
This is the Lethbridge difference. In a sheltered location a dock or overhead door loses a defined volume per cycle and then the building settles. Under steady wind the losses continue after the door closes, because pressure keeps driving air through the gaps around the opening.
So the door perimeter seal matters more here than almost anywhere in the province, and it is the detail most often left out of a quote. Ask about it directly.
Condensation on the deck
Warm moist air rising to cold steel condenses and falls on whatever is below. In a warehouse holding cardboard, packaging or produce that is damaged product, and it is routinely chased as a roof leak for years.
A continuous adhered air and vapour seal against the deck stops interior air reaching the steel at all. See stopping condensation in a metal building and insulating a warehouse cost-effectively.
Why work with us
Alberta's spray foam specialists. Every installer in our network is checked for CAN/ULC-S705 certification, current insurance and WCB standing before they set foot on your property.
No price without a site visit - a warehouse cannot be quoted from a floor area. Get a quote, and tell us the clear height, what you store and how often the doors cycle.
See also warehouse insulation and cold storage.