How we Insulated our Steel Building/Garage… We used Foam Board vs Spray Foam Insulation.

The most impressive part of this whole video is that you actually get your girls to help out. My kids laugh at me when I ask them to help me. That decision will come back to bite them.

Hi Chad, having about 50 years experience as a thermal engineer, just a minor comment on filling the 1/4 inch gaps with 3 inches of foam. I would recommend not filling the full 3" thickness with the foam, but rather just enough thickness, say 1/4", to block air exchange between the outer air volume next to the outer wall and the air volumes in the 1/4 inch gap, leaving the remaining 2.75" of gap with a trapped air volume. Reason being, air is a much better insulator than any insulation material. And with gaps less than about 3/4 inch convection is negligible and the dominant mode of heat transfer will be air conduction, a much better insulator than if that volume was filled with foam. Not a big deal tho since your overall crack area for the 1/4" gaps is small compared to the total insulated wall area. Also if the foam board were available with aluminum foil on one or both sides of the boards, it would increase your overall effective R value even more by greatly reducing any thermal radiation transfer across the external gap (foam board to outer wall) and internal foam board surface to room interior. Just food for thought. But I love your overall approach for avoiding condensation on the outer wall. Good job!

I'm at drywall contractor and my daughter helps me all the time. Great to see your daughters learning some life skills. Good job girls and dad. Love the video.

I did this but I used 2, 1-1/2” thick panels stacked to make 3” where the seems were offset so there was no air leakage and no need to spray the gaps with extra foam

Way to go Dad. Your girls are learning math, survival skills, feedback with love, and many wonderful things for life. Thank you for being there.

He used 3” thick Owens-Corning Foamular 250 sheets with R-15. 1) 11:42 Scoring the panels and then breaking them apart will result in an uneven edge. Best to cut with table saw, circular saw, electric kitchen knife, or even a regular hand saw for wood. 2) He installed the sheets over some horizontal 1X’s so there’s a 1 1/2” air gap between the inside of the metal walls and the back of the 3” thick foam panels. This air gap should allow any possible moisture to dry up. 3) All foam panels were cut so there was a 1/4” gap between the edges. This 1/4” gap made it much easier to fit the panels. 4) 6:17 The spray foam that bled out was easily trimmed off after drying later using a multi tool. Keep it flat! 5) 14:24 He left a gap around the wall outlets and stuffed it with regular pink FG insulation so he get replace or modify later. 6) Some in comments used two 1 1/2” thick sheets STAGGERED to avoid the gap between sheets and filling with foam and trimming later. See the comments that I liked below for more information.

Congrats for being an awesome father. I found my daughter is very receptive to things I show her, including bird hunting and shooting. Your daughters are very fortunate to have you spend time with them and teach important skills. Stay warm.

Great video! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll be putting up an identical steel building and the difference in cost with and without the insulation options is HUGE. I like the way you did it. Much appreciated.

Hey Chad. Your girls are learning so much from you and getting the hands-on experience with everything they do. That's just so awesome! So proud of them. Take care.

You just answered a bunch of questions I was having about my own situation. Great information. I love what you are doing. Keep doing it!

You made me smile when you were showing your daughter how to do it! Tell her her braided hair looked great! I have 3 girls of my own, all growed-up. Miss those times of teaching them new stuff.

Greatest part about this is the teachings the the kids are receiving in my opinion. They'll remember helping their rest of their lives. Also, when you set up the wall metal, lay it on horses 10 or so sheets clamped together, layout your purlin location, snap lines, and pre drill several sheets at a time. Even though you might be using self tapping screws, it'll make life a lot easier. Nice looking shop y'all!

Very Detailed! Great job in explaining your actions and including your daughters in the action! Great job as a father! Keep up the good work!

I used a Japanese saw to cut that stuff a while back ....the blade is much thinner, cuts like butter.

This is what I came up with for my pole building after the sky high spray foam quote . Super nice to see someone besides me used this technique. Looks great ..Thank for making the video

Your doing an awesome job and it looks like your helpers are learning and having a great time with dad take care

I love that you gave your daughter good safety and work instructions for the oscillating tool; and repeated not to touch anywhere near that blade and to keep good control of it. She can then build confidence in using them why also respecting what they can do both good and bad.

As a fire inspector very glad you are placing the foam behind a thermal barrier. That foam will turn the place into the Station Nightclub if left exposed. ALSO.....great fathering. My teen daughter is very comfortable with power tools and helps build all the time. Even has her own chainsaw.

I've used rigid foam for a number of applications. I even built a refrigerated cabinet for storing vegetables for an organic farmer. For cutting, I tried several things and settled on one. I had a 2" wide x 4" inch long putty knife. I slightly sharpened the 4" side (not even to a knife edge) and it slid through the foam like butter. I used my 48" aluminum t-square for a straight edge.

Instead of sinking the screws 1", just throw some larger washers on the screws. Drive the screw until the washer dimples the foam board (don't break the facing). Other thing to consider is if you are doing 3", you can double layer 1.5" foam board and stagger your seams. This helps air seal