Vinyl batt to metal frame ware house

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Navin on January 4, 2012 at 7:50am

Your customer's requested method has potential problems. 

1.) Adhesion to the steel siding due to temperature instability. That siding will be very cold in winter and the summer sun will make it too hot to touch. I would make sure the manufacturer of the adhesive covers the full temperature spectrum for adhesion to both steel and the vinyl.

2.) How stable are those old batts? It looks like you have essentially plastic bags filled with f/g insulation. Are they still in good shape? Has the insulation inside settled or been compromised or damaged by rodents, moisture, contact, etc.? I'm not sure you will be able to achieve an effective improvement. Your adhesive would stick to the bag, and I'm not sure that will effectively hold the insulation as well.

3.) The corrugated siding will not act as an air seal, and so you will not have an effective thermal barrier. Considering the way the siding is installed, it is likely that the J-channel and the corners do not have effective air sealing-I have seen many such applications where the foam inserts do not stay in place-they are usually about 3 ft long and lock into each other, but are often not placed well-and they have an adhesive backing that often fails. I have never seen an application where a steel building was caulked around the J-channel, corner pieces, and other trim. Probably for good reason. Plus, you can't seal the drip cap at the bottom without locking in moisture which will condense on the inside face of the steel.

I would talk to someone at the company that fabricated the metal building. If you can't tell who it is (they often have their names on a gable cap.), then call and talk to Morton Buildings, General, or whoever is prevalent in your area to see what methods they use in current projects.

It looks like your customer wants a cheap solution, this may be one to offer a best solution instead and let him go elsewhere if he doesn't like your price.

Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Renz on January 4, 2012 at 1:18pm

Thanks Bruce, all great points and I could not agree with you more as far as being willing to walk away form a job. If i do not feel comfortable standing behind my work and am wiling to guarantee the work, I will not do it.  I have given the full list of options with the job being done correctly and stand by that price. Currently however, the option that the owner if the warehouse has persisted on is for materials to be delivered and  to have his employees complete the work.  

It is not the best option by far but there is little one can do but try to educate the ignorant on how to do the job correctly, and let them use the information as they see fit.

By the way as far as the adhesive goes I made some calls, one directly to Liquid Nails.  They claim to have a product (Liquid Nails for marble and granite) that should work the best.  I can't say I recommend that until I see it but that is what the warehouse owner is planing on using.

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Permalink Reply by Ed Ballard on January 4, 2012 at 2:33pm

Timothy---------I agree with you and Bruce. the adhesive will fail. We have done similar projects with this type of building and insulation. We have drilled holes in the purlins and formed a wire grid to hold the insulation in place

Ed Ballard

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