Metal Building vs Wood, climate zone 4
mattseab
| Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on
Looking at building a shop that will be conditioned. I know metal is quicker to assemble but since it will need to be air sealed and insulated would a wood post frame building be the better route to go? climate zone 4
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Matt,
As soon as you decide to condition the building, and unless you are using a propitiatory system designed for the metal structure, you are much better off with wood construction.
Thanks Malcolm. One reason metal was a consideration was one section of the shop will be used for welding and painting (it will have it's on ventilation system and be completely seperate). I was told that the fumes from welding/ painting would soak into the wood.
If you decide that the goal is a tight energy efficient building understand everything that makes steel OR POST framed building cost less and go up faster becomes a slow and expensive problem when you go to make it be tight and energy efficient building.
2X6 framing is the way to go for energy efficacy at the lowest cost.
Walta
Thanks Walta, very good point.
Ovearll you want wood, everythign is simpler plus insulation works much better.
There a couple of things you need to do differently than a typical pole barn if you want to insulate. Make sure there is sheathing with a WRB over the walls, this is very expensive to add after plus your sheathing makes for a decent critter barrier.
The roof should be purlins across the beams with 2x4 on flat strapping to form a vent space. Over this you want a roof deck with a synthetic underlayment before putting on the metal roof. This lets you create a simple vented roof by putting batt insulation between the purlins and finish the interior with some panel good (drywall,OSB,CDX).
As for the smell, unless you are looking to converter to living space down the road, I would not worry about it. You can also always paint the lumber down the road with one of the stain block primers to seal in any smells.