# Ceiling Insulation in Warehouse?



## tunaman (Dec 24, 2010)

I live in a warehouse that has an open rafter ceiling. As you can imagine it stays pretty cold in the winter. I have done what I can to seal windows and doors and while the temperature has come up a few degrees it is still pretty cold. I also want to insulate a bit for sound to try and deaden the walls a bit and prevent some sound from escaping. (About 3000 watts worth :whistling2


Can anybody give me any ideas? I am considering just cutting panels of 2-3" closed cell foam and running it between the ceiling joists but not sure if that is the best way to go about it.


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## tunaman (Dec 24, 2010)

To be clear I am not planning to put any drywall on the ceiling or anything like that. I just want to insulate to hold heat in a little bit better in the winter and keep heat out in the summer and of course help deaden some of the sound. Would closed cell foam panels work or should I put in the thick fiberglass insulation? Which would give me even a small temperature improvement but also a sound improvement?


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Need some pictures and more details.

I am guessing the roof is not a ventilated design.

That being the likely reality, you need to tell us more about the construction, where the structure is located, how it will be conditioned, how you plan on managing the moisture, etc, etc, etc.


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## tunaman (Dec 24, 2010)

I can post some pictures tomorrow if it will help. There are two louver vents at the front of the warehouse and at the back of the warehouse there is a large blower fan that sucks air out of the warehouse. That is pretty much the only ventilation. The building is wood construction with a roof of plywood over the ceiling joists and then a rolled roof on top of that. Moisture is not really a problem as the climate is very dry.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Where is the home located?

Moisture in the air may not be an issue but if you heat that space in the winter, you are generating higher than permissible amounts of moisture in most cases and you will wind up with condensation on the underside of the roof deck if you don't control the dew point surface temperature and the moisture's migration to the roof deck.

Air tightness across the ceiling plane is critical regardless of ventilation methodology you take but you need to provide a few more details.

How will you be heating it?


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## tunaman (Dec 24, 2010)

The place is in Southern California. So desertish. There are several rooms inside the warehouse and those we use electric radiant heaters to heat them. The main warehouse we dont really need to heat, but bringing it up a few degrees can make a difference. The only time the warehouse gets warm is when we are having a rager and the dance floor is full. We usually let it warm up in which case there is definitely moisture from people dancing all night. But we turn the exhaust fan on after and exhaust it out. There are no unpainted and exposed wood surfaces inside the building. All of the ceiling beams and underside of the roof was spraypainted with a professional grade paint sprayer and high quality paint.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

What are the rafter dimensions?

Sounds more and more like standard batt insulation would work as long as you vent any additional moisture generated out pretty readily.


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## tunaman (Dec 24, 2010)

Rafters are spaced 16" wide with about 20 ft of space between wall and each supporting beam going across perpendicular to the rafters. There are 3 supporting beams before the rafters reconnect with the wall on the other side. Warehouse is rectangular in shape.


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