I'm curious if anyone has any ideas to insulate a steel pole barn. Mine is about 5 years old, but during cold weather, condensate forms on the metal surfaces and it "rains" inside the barn. The condensate will run down the metal surfaces to purlins then will drip. There are wet rows on the ground every 2 feet across the width of the barn under each row of purlins in the roof.The barn is 50x60x12, so there is a lot of square area to insulate. Foam would be the ultimate, but not affordable. Urethane sheets with foil surfaces are about $10-15 each would cost $1000+ to do the ceiling only. I've considered stapling Tyvek to the top side of lower cords of the trusses, then try to blow in about 2" of cellulose over it to seal the gaps as it settles over time. Tyvek has about a 30 pound per inch of width tensile strength to support the load of insulation on it, and would act as a vapor barrier. Also, insulating the walls are another issue. Fiberglass bats will cost about $.50/Sq Ft. The walls total up to about 2700 Sq Ft. Thus making bats out of question. Has anyone experimented with wet spraying cellulose on walls? I bought a used yard chipper/blower with a 3 HP Briggs and Stratton to convert for the blower capabiity and then used some "T-Jet" nozzles from a scrapped field sprayer to wet the cellulose as it blows through the hose. I've tested a small patch on the wall and it almost spraying the insulation as I hoped. I placed the "T-Jet" nozzles into a 2" PVC double wye drainage fitting with 2" pipe as a handle/extension. I got the idea from seeing sound deadening rooms and environmental controlled rooms in test labs that appeared to have sprayed cellulose insulation on the surfaces for sound deadening and heat insulation. I found on the internet a company that wet sprays cellulose in new construction out in Arizona very successfully. I'd like to try this, but would like to find out if anyone has any experience with this. The commercial cellulose from Home Depot and Lowes is fire rated class 1 so the chemicals added retard flames in addition to keeping out infestations of critters. Opinions please.
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