Hey guys - I'm trying to decide between an insulated pole barn and a polyurethane Structural Insulated Panel (Thermocore of Missouri) R40 wall and ceiling building with R10 or so floors. I had already been sold on the SIP concept, but now I'm not sure if it makes financial sense between the cost of the panels, foundation, etc. Any idea what the cost difference of keeping a 40x70x16 insulated pole barn (Maybe R19 walls and R30 roof with R10 underslab) with another 20x70x8 usable up top in a gambrel section heated and cooled vs an uber-insulated SIP structure in a colder climate like Iowa? Cost per kwh is $0.0349/kwh in the winter (after the first 1,000kwh @ $0.07741/kwh) and $0.08772/kwh or so in the summer. Crazy cheap utilities, I know, but these costs will only go up as time goes by for sure. The shop will be used daily, so climate control would be daily. Very interested in any cost ideas on keeping the entire structure at 73 in the summer and 68 in the winter. Maybe the first step is to perform a heat load calculation, but that will only tell me sizing of HVAC equipment - I think - and not true costs to keep it comfortable in there (again, as far as my limited knowledge of things goes). Then, of course, there's the whole 'true' R-value discussion. Yikes! Call me confused! Also interested in seeing what happens (if the numbers bear out another way) with an option of keeping a smaller upstairs maybe 600 sq ft (4800 cu ft area) 'truly' conditioned at 73 in the summer and 68 in the winter, leaving the remaining 3600 sq ft (51200 cu ft) at 80 degrees or so in the summer and maybe 60 in the winter. Structure will have four R25.8 14H x 16W OH doors, one R11 3'0 service door, and 10 U-factor 0.14 3'x4' casement windows. Heat source will be radiant in the 40x70 slab with an electric boiler along with possibly mini-splits for AC and supplemental heating. This is a ton of info, I know. Not helping is that I cannot figure out how to get paragraph breaks to show up in my message! Truly - any and all help VERY much appreciated.

how is a pole barn insulated?

Posted By ICFfam on 27 Jul 2014 02:09 PM
Hey guys - I'm trying to decide between an insulated pole barn and a polyurethane Structural Insulated Panel (Thermocore of Missouri) R40 wall and ceiling building with R10 or so floors. I had already been sold on the SIP concept, but now I'm not sure if it makes financial sense between the cost of the panels, foundation, etc. Any idea what the cost difference of keeping a 40x70x16 insulated pole barn (Maybe R19 walls and R30 roof with R10 underslab) with another 20x70x8 usable up top in a gambrel section heated and cooled vs an uber-insulated SIP structure in a colder climate like Iowa? Cost per kwh is $0.0349/kwh in the winter (after the first 1,000kwh @ $0.07741/kwh) and $0.08772/kwh or so in the summer. Crazy cheap utilities, I know, but these costs will only go up as time goes by for sure. The shop will be used daily, so climate control would be daily. Very interested in any cost ideas on keeping the entire structure at 73 in the summer and 68 in the winter. Maybe the first step is to perform a heat load calculation, but that will only tell me sizing of HVAC equipment - I think - and not true costs to keep it comfortable in there (again, as far as my limited knowledge of things goes). Then, of course, there's the whole 'true' R-value discussion. Yikes! Call me confused! Also interested in seeing what happens (if the numbers bear out another way) with an option of keeping a smaller upstairs maybe 600 sq ft (4800 cu ft area) 'truly' conditioned at 73 in the summer and 68 in the winter, leaving the remaining 3600 sq ft (51200 cu ft) at 80 degrees or so in the summer and maybe 60 in the winter. Structure will have four R25.8 14H x 16W OH doors, one R11 3'0 service door, and 10 U-factor 0.14 3'x4' casement windows. Heat source will be radiant in the 40x70 slab with an electric boiler along with possibly mini-splits for AC and supplemental heating. This is a ton of info, I know. Not helping is that I cannot figure out how to get paragraph breaks to show up in my message! Truly - any and all help VERY much appreciated.

To get paragraph breaks, take a look at what you see when you reply with quote. You should see the following tag
<.br. /.>. (but without the periods)
Just copy and paste(CTRL-V) that tag where you want a break.

Okay! Here's trying again with paragraph breaks! Thanks for the tip!!

Hey guys -

I'm trying to decide between an insulated pole barn and a polyurethane Structural Insulated Panel (Thermocore of Missouri) R40 wall and ceiling building with R10 or so floors.

I had already been sold on the SIP concept, but now I'm not sure if it makes financial sense between the cost of the panels, foundation, etc. Any idea what the cost difference of keeping a 40x70x16 insulated pole barn (Maybe R19 walls and R30 roof with R10 underslab) with another 20x70x8 usable up top in a gambrel section heated and cooled vs an uber-insulated SIP structure in a colder climate like Iowa?

Cost per kwh is $0.0349/kwh in the winter (after the first 1,000kwh @ $0.07741/kwh) and $0.08772/kwh or so in the summer. Crazy cheap utilities, I know, but these costs will only go up as time goes by for sure.

The shop will be used daily, so climate control would be daily.

Very interested in any cost ideas on keeping the entire structure at 73 in the summer and 68 in the winter. Maybe the first step is to perform a heat load calculation, but that will only tell me sizing of HVAC equipment - I think - and not true costs to keep it comfortable in there (again, as far as my limited knowledge of things goes). Then, of course, there's the whole 'true' R-value discussion. Yikes! Call me confused!

Also interested in seeing what happens (if the numbers bear out another way) with an option of keeping a smaller upstairs maybe 600 sq ft (4800 cu ft area) 'truly' conditioned at 73 in the summer and 68 in the winter, leaving the remaining 3600 sq ft (51200 cu ft) at 80 degrees or so in the summer and maybe 60 in the winter.

Structure will have four R25.8 14H x 16W OH doors, one R11 3'0 service door, and 10 U-factor 0.14 3'x4' casement windows. Heat source will be radiant in the 40x70 slab with an electric boiler along with possibly mini-splits for AC and supplemental heating.

This is a ton of info, I know. Truly - any and all help VERY much appreciated.

To answer the other question...

Insulating pole barn walls is done loads of ways - spraying foam directly against the inside steel, installing a house wrap before spraying the foam, or just putting up bat insulation. These are the common ways.

Insulating pole barn ceilings is typically done by either putting up insulation atop the perlins and then placing steel above that or by using more conventional methods and laying spray foam, blow in, or bat insulation down on top of a finished ceiling.

Thanks!

I used energygauge energy modeling software (http://www.energygauge.com/usares/) to compare the different cost versus energy savings scenarios. There is a 15 day trial period for using the software. The input is very detailed taking into account solar orientation, shading, wall assemblies, windows, etc. Of course the results are only as good as the input.