Insulating my stonebuilt workshop ?

flynnboy

I have a workshop which is an old stone construction. It gets very damp in there and I was thinking of covering the walls with sheets of polystyrene insulation which is 1" thick and has silver foil on one side.

Can anyone say if this will help or if there are any other pitfalls there might be related to that ? Also, if I do this would it be better to face the silver foil side against the wall or facing inwards to the room ?

I am also going to use this to enclose the ceiling void and I'm going to heat it with a fan heater.

I'd appreciate any input.

Thanks

FB

ART6

I had a similar problem with a concrete block building that was originally a boiler house - no cavity wall and an uninsulated roof. I dry lined it by fixing battens to the walls and covering them with HDPE film, then ran power and lighting cables where I wanted them and fixed plasterboard over the walls and ceiling. It completely cured the damp problem and made the place a lot warmer. I sealed the concrete floor with bitumen mastic and covered it with some vinyl floor cover that I had spare.

Later, on building a conservatory, I again went for a single block wall and dry lining, but in that case I covered the walls with 9mm ply, mainly as it was half the price of plasterboard and it allowed me to fit shelves and anything else I wanted where I wanted, by simply screwing things to it.

flynnboy

Hi art6

Thanks.

What is HDPE ? If I used the polystyrene sheet would I still need to use the HDPE - which I guess is against condensation ? I can understand wanting to stop your plasterboard getting damp with condensation but perhaps if I just lined the whole place with the 1" poly' sheet I wouldn't need it - bearing mind this is only an outside workshop?

I'll have to look into it but I'm thinking maybe the poly' sheet is cheaper than plasterboard. The other problem I'll have is battoning because the mortar between the stones is shot and drilling into stones to attach the battens isn't always that easy. If I used the poly' sheet I could simply stick it to the walls using expanding foam.

Thanks again
FB

ART6

flynnboy wrote: »

Hi art6

Thanks.

What is HDPE ? If I used the polystyrene sheet would I still need to use the HDPE - which I guess is against condensation ? I can understand wanting to stop your plasterboard getting damp with condensation but perhaps if I just lined the whole place with the 1" poly' sheet I wouldn't need it - bearing mind this is only an outside workshop?

I'll have to look into it but I'm thinking maybe the poly' sheet is cheaper than plasterboard. The other problem I'll have is battoning because the mortar between the stones is shot and drilling into stones to attach the battens isn't always that easy. If I used the poly' sheet I could simply stick it to the walls using expanding foam.

Thanks again
FB

Sorry for the delayed response flynnboy. I hadn't got round to going on line again since yesterday. Anyway, HDPE is high density polyethylene, and is sold in hardware stores and builders providers as a damp proof liner. In fact any plastic film will do the job for an internal dry lining provided it's strong enough not to tear easily as you are installing it. Once the walls are sealed off with that then I would guess you could put anything you like over the top of it. The main point is to make sure there are no gaps or paths through which damp can travel, and to ensure that I made all overlaps at least a couple of hundred millimeters and used duck tape to seal the joints. Duck tape (or duct tape) is one of the few things that will stick to HDPE like s**t to a blanket;)

flynnboy

Hi art6

Thanks very much for the advice.

Cheers

FB