Ideas for insulating metal shed roof?

[AronSearle]

You can have cheap or effective, not both.

Em, afraid I have to disagree there. Effective is simply a word that mean something that has an effect. Any insulation you use would "have an effect" i.e. be effective. Also, insulation is not on or off. it's an analogue scale. I don't expect 100% heat retention. That would be a bit tricky. So somewhere between what I have now and 100% would be good.

Effective----successful in producing a desired or intended result.
Cheap option will not do that.

He is working on the mistaken understanding that heat rises, so thinks insulating the roof will be an 'effective' way to improve insulation.

 

[beanybot]

oh forget it. I forgot what this forum was like. What with people being pendantic about the movement of heat or "hot air". And people telling me to brick up and double insulate my £400 shed when I said I was after a cheap way to improve the heat retention just a bit.. Everyone trying to outdo everyone else by coming up with more and more extreme and unnecessary work.

 

[ladylola]

I've got a smallish metal shed that has insulation purely on the roof and it's done in a similar way to how Aron originally described. Polystyrene sheets with , in my case , corruline sheets on top obviously on the outside. I didn't do the walls but that was purely because it wasn't heated , only used for storage, but to get round the condensation problem. There are plenty of threads on here about condensation in metal sheds and mine suffered but the covering has solved it. That said if I was intending to heat and work in one I'd certainly insulate the walls and have something other than a concrete floor too.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

What about moving it indoors? It would be super toasty then.

 

[scbk]

The thing to watch is they tend to lack in headroom as it is, so if you add a few inches of insulation on to the inside of the roof you might struggle to stand up!

Something you could try for starters is the foil sided bubble wrap stuff. You can get it in B&Q etc but you'll probably get it for a better price off ebay.




Not taking the p*ss but if money's tight I wouldn't be trying to heat a shed!!
Have a look at Dickies lined overalls, they keep you super toasty. And put some old carpet down so you're not stood on a cold floor.
Depending on what type of work you're doing, latex/vinyl gloves will keep your hands warm.

If you must run a heater, a halogen or infrared heater is worth a look, it's more about heating your body than heating the air. You could even have an infrared bulb.

 

[AronSearle]

What with people being pendantic about the movement of heat or "hot air".

It is not being pedantic (pointing out you misspelt pedantic would be pedantic).

It is being accurate, there is a vast difference in the result that you will achieve if you work under the assumption that ‘heat rises’. You literally have a radiator, a bit metal heated box. Try sticking some insulation on the top of a radiator, then tell us how much of the square root of bugger all it does to block the heat output from that radiator.

I told you to insulate it properly from the outside so as to avoid condensation (which could do bugger all, or completely rust away the shed). Frankly if you are already buying some polystyrene insulation (which you can buy really cheaply if you hunt around), it isn’t really that expensive to stick some cheap ply or chipboard and then felt over that. You could even hunt around in skips or reclamation yards for old featheredge timber for the walls.

Not taking the p*ss but if money's tight I wouldn't be trying to heat a shed!!

Bang on!