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Archive for December 11th, 2009

Saving Money with Steel Building Insulation

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Steel buildings have a plethora of advantages like strength, efficiency and cost. However, their real advantage comes not only from a lower total building cost but also a lower operating cost. The best way to utilize this is to ensure proper insulation of your steel building so that you can save on your monthly heating bills.

Insulation helps in reducing condensation, convection and radiant heat loss from your steel building and can reduce temperature. An added advantage of most types of insulation today is that they also reduce noise and make your building sound proof to a good extent.

The most commonly used insulation method for steel buildings is fiberglass insulation. It acts as a blanket over your structure, thereby preventing energy loss. The thickness of this insulation layer greatly determines the efficiency of the insulation. A facing material needs to be used with this type of insulation, depending on the temperature conditions of your place.

Reflective insulation is also a preferred method of insulation that especially reduces radiative heat losses. It thus maintains a natural temperature inside your steel building. This type of insulation is made up of an outer layer of aluminum and an inner layer of some inert passive material that is a poor heat conductor. The most commonly used inner material is polyethylene or plastic because they are cheap and efficient. The good thing with reflective insulation is that it works well in both summers and winters, which means it acts like a natural temperature regulator and is simple to maintain.

Finally, spray insulation is a special method for insulation of steel buildings that has a number of other advantages like moisture prevention and additional fire protection. The steel surfaces of your building are sprayed with this special spray that is made up of polyvinyl alcohol or polyurethane in most cases.