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new workshop - insulation advice needed

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AdeV:

--- Quote from: picclock on April 27, 2017, 05:43:09 AM ---Initial thoughts are to just paint the floor with garage floor paint then cover with lino - as I currently have. Any other ideas most welcome.

--- End quote ---

How much headroom have you got? If "plenty", and also your bank account is looking fairly robust, you could install under-floor heating... and a false floor. Set the thermostat to 20 degrees (or is it 25 degrees that everything's calibrated to?) and "being cold" will never be a reason to not be in the workshop....

hermetic:
 Hi Picklock, is the exterior of the blocks rendered, and is there any damp patches on the inside of the walls? Check all your gutters and downspouts are clear and not leaking and also the drains they empty in to., and you should be good to go. If the walls are dry on the inside, your spec sounds fine to me. If there is visible damp on the inside, and it is not coming from faulty gutters etc, then use pressure treated timber lath, celotex insulation, then tack building polythene (visqueen( onto the laths, and fit the boards. The floor is unlikely to be insulated under the slab, but will (or at least should have) a dpm under it, and if the floor is totally dry, sounds like there is. Dampness is more often a product of poor ventilation and leaking gutters and roofs than anything else.

vintageandclassicrepairs:
Hi picclock,
To the best of my knowledge a vapour barrier or breathable membrane should be placed against the concrete wall
this will block any damp coming in but let any moisture out
Modern membrane is a great improvement over just plastic that can trap moisture
You can fix the timbers through it, lap it out at the floor
Make the timbers a tight fit so you can wedge the insulation between them
It depends on what weights etc are going to go on the floor as to what might be best?
If no serious weights then a similar battens, insulation and wood will keep the cold at bay

I built a new building with a steel frame and Kingspan insulated cladding a few years ago
It is extremely comfortable and very easily heated if needed :ddb:

John

picclock:
@ hermetic
Hi. The outside walls are rendered but in a slightly odd way. The cement coating is about an inch thick with a ripple pattern, which is overpainted white. There is no apparent dampness in any part of the garage, walls or floor. Although I said it was made of concrete blocks, which most of it is, there are two areas which are made of insulating lightweight blocks. Similar to breeze blocks but with a flat surface finish. Still all dry though.

@ vintageandclassicrepairs
I'm not sure how the membrane allows the damp to go one way and not the other. From what I have seen they just appear to be plastic sheets - pretty impermeable in either direction. Am not sure whether to use one or not, though I guess it wouldn't hurt.

@ Adev
I don't think my bank balance could run to that, though it sounds like a nice idea. While I was at it could get a carpet fitted with TV, bar and beer fridge  -  such is the stuff dreams are made of :beer:

My other half has put the kibosh on me doing the work and insists on me employing builders as she seems to think it will be too much for me and take too long. I will still get the materials though and and insist it is done to a decent standard. On the other hand I have loads to do without this added ..

Thanks for all the helpful advice

Best Regards

picclock

vtsteam:
It's important to think in terms of warmth and cold creating condensation in insulated spaces. Whatever side is warmer and contains some humidity will tend to deposit moisture on the colder face. The difference in temperature can be very slight and it still happens. A vapor barrier is a means of keeping warmer moister air from reaching a cold surface to form condensation.

In a heated basement, a moisture barrier, placed in the right location in the whole sandwich is pretty important if you are going to insulate.

A moisture barrier isn't the same thing as a permeable membrane. They don't do the same thing.

Personally, I'd want the moisture barrier against the concrete wall first to isolate the insulation from the cold face and and prevent condensation.

Styrene foam comes in two forms, the beaded type (usually white) and the extruded type (usually pink or blue in the US). The beaded type is formed by steaming hard beads of polystyrene, and it is quite capable of absorbing moisture over the long term. I have some water logged samples of insulating failures here. If water (or more properly, moisture) is kept away from it, it's a good insulation. And even coffee cups are made of it for short term exposure to hot liquids. Nevertheless with long term exposure to moisture it can become waterlogged and lose  a lot of its insulative value. It is, for example, not good to place underground against an exterior wall.

Extruded polystyrene is much more resistant to moisture, and would be my foam of choice in a basement interior.

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