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  Discussion on Insulating barn with???
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Member:
mleeb

Posted on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 - 1:41 pm:

We're building a post frame barn this summer, and it will have metal siding and roof. I plan to insulate it eventually, but I'm wondering what materials other people have used, and what they did and didn't like about them. Also, how do I insulate the roof? I want to keep the open ceiling (there won't be a hayloft) and not close it up. I'm also wondering if the sound of rain on a metal roof is going to make us all deaf...
Member:
ajudson1

Posted on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 - 2:27 pm:

Hi Michelle,

We have a metal barn too. No, it's not going make you deaf but it can be loud.

Our barn has the higher in the middle part where we store the hay, (moniter style it's called) and the stalls are on the side then open to the slanted roof which is pretty tall. We did put some thin green sheets of some kind of insulation on the ceiling, but it didn't do much IMO. We also put some white plastic type sky lights to help brighten it up. They are nice for light, but leak as they are what crack all the time. We also put the Clear panels on the North side of the barn, just maybe a 2 foot section running above the sliding doors. Much better for light and no cracking. They'd be nice all around I think.

One of my horses got cut on the metal door frame so that's a pain. We do have wood inside the stalls but not on the outside where they hang out so I am always looking for sharp edges.

I hope you don't mean to insulate the whole barn? Horses don't need insulation. We have an insulated tack room which we run heat into also. The cats get to live there if it's really cold, other wise it's just to keep things above freezing, like the water line in there, horse meds, and my son's "important" truck stuff, whatever that may be!

The tack room is built like any room you'd build in your house with insulation and dry wall. I think there are many thicknesses of hard insulation for the ceiling. Hmmmmm...I might just have to look into that myself!
Member:
mleeb

Posted on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 - 2:56 pm:

I'm not sure yet if I will insulate it or not. More than likely we'll get it built and then just wait and see. I will be doing a tack room and insulating and heating that. Like you, the cats and the water line will be there, and warm leather saddles are better than frozen ones, for sure.

I was wondering if you could do a spray on insulation for the roof, or something like that? I'm still picking colors, but I like the look of a dark roof, and I have to wonder how much more heat that will produce, and if I might want to insulate for that.

I should mention, also, that the horses won't be spending much time in this barn. It will be for my convenience mostly, and the horses might spend a mere handful of nights out of a year inside, and the ocassional few hours here and there. We have a large pasture with trees and a river, so I prefer to leave them out there 24/7.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 - 3:19 pm:

Our barn sounds like it's shaped a lot like Angie's. It's of wood construction, which my husband sided with metal because he got tired of treating the wood so often in our harse climate.
The hay in the loft helps to keep the center of the barn a little warmer. We have doors on the north side of the center part of the barn, and in the stall aisles on either side of the center, there are doors on the north and south ends as well as doors from the stalls into runs. Their are high windows that let in light between the loft and the ceiling. Our roof is wood with some kind of synthetic shingles, like many houses. We have no insulation anywhere. The only place that is insulated is the tack room, which we keep warm enough to keep the water pipes from freezing. I use heated buckets for the stalls, as I dislike automatic waterers (call me crazy!)

When it is very cold, I close each stall aisle off from the center of the barn, and the stalls stay a good 25 to 30 degrees warmer than the outside. We don't use any insulation.

In addition to the main barn, we have three additional stalls in a row barn made of metal (MD Barns) These do make noise, but the horses don't seem to mind it. If you have plenty of doors, in our climate at least, there is always enough breeze and shade that the metal roof, or dark roof on the main barn, don't cause too much heat.
Member:
zarr

Posted on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 - 4:18 pm:

We insulated the roof/ceiling only, in our small metal barn. It was for me to help keep it cooler in our its 105 for days on end weather. Here is what went wrong! The barn people used the same yellow fluffy stuff they use in houses. It was great til we realized the mice were building a kingdom within ! One spot became so weighted with seeds it bulged to the size of a basketball and then exploded! Also starlings and sparrows wormed their way in and nested in the stuff, Grump! Be sure and put a ceiling over the insulation as "someone" here said the ceiling is so high we didn't need any, Oh yes we did!

My vet said not to worry about the chucks of free falling stuff as it would not bother the horses, and it hasn't! Soon it will be gone and won't be replaced UNLESS some sort of ceiling goes over the insulation! Good Luck Cindy ...... ps it did do a great job keeping out the heat.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 - 5:16 pm:

How about using that "foam core" type insulation? All the other types I've seen in barns and arenas with metal roofs seem to get soggy after awhile due to condensation; then they sag and fall down.
Member:
mleeb

Posted on Monday, Mar 3, 2008 - 7:07 pm:

The foam, or stryofoam, whatever you call it, was my first choice. But, never having gone down this road, it certainly seems worthwhile to ask around.

I will be having 2 large doors, 1 small door, and 5 windows, plus a ridge cap vent the length of the building, and vents under the eaves -- soffits, is that the word I'm looking for? I'm hoping I can get sufficient airflow with that. If not, I guess I'll add more vents on the gable ends as well, but that seems easy enough to add later it it's necessary. One thing I did ask the contractor to add to the design was rain gutters! I'm trying to plan ahead for mud control. I guess as long as I'm here, I might as well mention that any hot barn tips that would be good to know prior to building would certainly be welcome.
Member:
paul303

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 4, 2008 - 11:14 pm:

We insulated the roof of our metal barn with hard foam sheet insulation with foil facing. We also have a ridge vent and have no problem with condensation here in humidity ravaged NJ. Our builder put in three sections of clear plastic roofing material, which lets in a huge amount of light. We haven't had any problems with it, but the barn is only 3 years old.

One thing that I am glad I did, was to have two doors on each stall. There is a paddock on the side of my barn, and the stalls have dutch doors that open to it. During horrible weather, if I have to keep the horses in, I can leave the top door open and the horses can hang their heads out....there is an ample overhang that keeps their heads and stalls dry. These outside doors mean, that I have half a chance of getting them out in case of fire. Inside the barn, the stalls have sliding doors that open to a small indoor paddock. Most of the time ( except for mealtimes ), stall doors are all open and the horses (they all get along)have access to the paddock, the stalls, and the indoor paddock. If I have a sick or lame horse, I close their outside dutch door ( leave the top open )and open their inside slider to the indoor paddock. This leaves the other horses with their indoor sliders closed and their dutch doors open with access to the paddock. This way, the horse with a problem is still able to stroll around in the stall and indoor paddock, yet is protected from harassment by the other horses without being cut off completely from them.

I adore my automatic waterers, and I love the area in the front of the inside of the barn that is covered with a dozen rubber mats and my cross tie/hitching post. This area is for the farrier and the vet. It has fluorescent lighting and spotlight lighting. The insulated tack room is nearby with bright clear lighting and hot water heater and cement floor.

The other thing I love is the intercom center that goes to the house. It is over this system that I can announce: Coffee Time to the barn and the work shop.

This leads me to my last comment: have 10 times the electricity that you think you need....Because, you'll need that and more.
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