Pole barn/garage insulation

[Steve K]

I'm thinking about building a garage, roughly 40 x 28. I am tossing around the idea of doing it as a pole barn and putting the concrete pad in after it's up.

How could I insulate the walls? Would I have to frame up the inside? If so it would seem to be sensible to build the garage the regular way.

Or is there something you can spray on the walls?

And, is a pole barn type garage cheaper than a framed up one?

Thanks Steve

[Philip Lewis]

Well... That probably depends on local codes.

[...]

I've been looking at using foam. I've only found one place that sells to general public in "DIY" that's fomofoam.com (IIRC). I've been looking at the retrofit foam for my house, but in new construction, you can use the less expensive (not by much though) version. I imagine you'll have to finish the interior with something once you spray. (again, local codes and common sense apply.)

can't help you here.. i'm not an expert in construction. If i have a grasp of the differences correctly, i would say it would be cheaper.

[Dan Hartung]

The main reason for a pole barn approach is for outbuildings that do not

*need* a paved floor, e.g. for storage of utility vehicles.

I'm not sure why you'd want to do it this way, if you intend to put in a pad anyway. Much better to have the pad part of the foundation and the barn properly seated. Pole barns are like fences with roofs.

If you're looking at an insulated outbuilding pole barn is definitely

*not* the way to go. There's no seal at the ground level, basically. (You don't even have to get tremendously close.)

Go buy Taunton's _Building a Shed_, which is a superlative book about all aspects of outbuilding construction. You'll be able to make those design decisions with much better foreknowledge.

For insulation, given this will be new construction, I'd think in terms of best practices for house construction. A foam deal is a hack for existing, uninsulated construction, IMHO (not to mention it's harder to deal with if you're adding/moving electric or something else later on, which is more likely in an outbuilding). If the walls are framed up you can use any variety of blown insulation, of course, but it's probably best to staple in battens the old-fashioned way *before* you close up the wall. (This also allows you to properly install a moisture barrier.)