Thread: Insulating roof of a existing steel shed

Have you considered using styrene foam sheets to insulate the roof area?

Kev

Here's mine.


And here is how I did it.
The area of ceiling I insulated was only 3.5 by 5.2 m but it is very hard to do that all in one go so used a working area of about one quarter as that is about as much as I could handle by myself at one time.
Based on your rafter spacing etc you need to decide what area you will do at any one time. Don't try to do too much, otherwise the wire mesh and insulation will sag down from the ceiling and you will also need much bigger battens to hold the higher mesh tension.

1. Start by cutting to length 2, 50 x 25 mm battens that will cover both ends of the working area you wish to cover in one go.
2. Drill holes in the battens that suit the wire mesh spacing of the mesh you will use to support the insulation.
3. Cut a section of wire mesh to cover the area and leave plenty of dangling wires at each end to pass through the holes in the battens so that you can bend the wire back and easily connect it to the mesh
4. Pass the free wires at one end of the mesh through the holes in one batten (A) and bend the wire back to twist tie it to the mesh.
5. Fix batten A with the mesh attached to the rafters at one end of the area you wish to cover.
6. Fix the other batten (B) to the other end
7. Using 4-5 occy straps loosely hook the free end of the mesh to batten B.
8. Cut insulation to suit and slide it into the space between the wire mesh and the roof.
9. One the insulation is in place thread the free wires at the loose end of the mesh through the holes in batten B and start tensioning up the wires a little at a time and this will tighten the mesh and push the insulation up against the ceiling.
10. Use wire to tie the mesh from adjacent working areas together for some extra side tension.
11. I didn't need to do this but once you have completed one working area batten B could becomes Batten A for the next working area.

The battens to which mesh is connected on both sides don't need to be that firmly held to the rafters but those where the mesh is only connected in one side will need to be well and truly anchored (as I discovered )

Clear as mud - well it works and produces a night taut mesh and insualtion, better than some insulation installations done before putting the roof on first.
Here's a view directly from underneath.

Hi Denn,

I put polystyrene in my 5 x 4m shed about 3 years ago. I am certain that it reduces the heat through the roof, but I sabotage the benefits by leaving the sliding open so that I get the light in.

I glued the poly to the roof - I can give you more info later if you want. I have noticed that there are more spiders and cockroaches in the shed than before, so I guess they are hiding and breeding between the poly and the underside of the roof. Someone told me years that cockroaches don't like the material that pink or yellow batts are made from - it makes them itchy!!

It might be worth putting batts up first and then poly underneath.

The cheapest way would be to temporarily hold up some R1.5 batts with fishing line then screw some kind of board to the purlins/rafters.
And seal it up from the inside as much as possible plus dont forget walls that recieve a lot of sun light insulate them and shade them if possible.

Originally Posted by Harry72

The cheapest way would be to temporarily hold up some R1.5 batts with fishing line then screw some kind of board to the purlins/rafters.
And seal it up from the inside as much as possible plus dont forget walls that recieve a lot of sun light insulate them and shade them if possible.

Basically what we did on ours.