# Workshop build - Insulated panels ?



## Sean33 (27 Apr 2021)

Evening all, 
Just wondering if any of you have built a workshop using insulated panels, with a wood frame. Am thinking of using 80mm PIR with .7m metal front and .5mm back. Reason is speed of assembly, insulation and noise.
Anyone else gone down this route at all and if so any concerns or plus points ?

Many thanks

Sean.


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## Joshjosh (28 Apr 2021)

Sean33 said:


> Evening all,
> Just wondering if any of you have built a workshop using insulated panels, with a wood frame. Am thinking of using 80mm PIR with .7m metal front and .5mm back. Reason is speed of assembly, insulation and noise.
> Anyone else gone down this route at all and if so any concerns or plus points ?
> 
> ...




Hi Sean,

When I built my workshop I ended up buying a load of 140mm panels second hand from a firm that bought them in surplus from big petrol station builds and used them for summer houses. Buying them used for me was cheaper than buying the needed celotex and roofing materials otherwise needed so I used them for the roof of the workshop. The guy I bought them off was using them for the whole shell of his summer houses though and I thought it was a good idea. When the insulation is so thick and sandwiched it can span massive lengths without support so cuts down the timber needed of doing a timber building.

I think someone on this forum works for one of the composite sheet providers but I can't remember who.

Cheers Josh


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## Cabinetman (28 Apr 2021)

There was a question on here about it before I remember less than a year ago. I think it’s a good idea they use them for building freestanding walk in fridges and freezers near here in Grimsby which is a foodie town, the only company that I know of that constructs them is a company called Panelfab, I’m wondering if they may have some secondhand bits which thinking about it are probably difficult to get rid of. Ian
Edit, as far as I know they don’t use a wooden frame the panels have some method of joining on the edges.


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## Jameshow (28 Apr 2021)

You could make your own using steel roofing sheet and kingspan. However I'm not sure I would want metal sheet in the inside. 

Cheers James


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## Sean33 (28 Apr 2021)

Joshjosh said:


> Hi Sean,
> 
> When I built my workshop I ended up buying a load of 140mm panels second hand from a firm that bought them in surplus from big petrol station builds and used them for summer houses. Buying them used for me was cheaper than buying the needed celotex and roofing materials otherwise needed so I used them for the roof of the workshop. The guy I bought them off was using them for the whole shell of his summer houses though and I thought it was a good idea. When the insulation is so thick and sandwiched it can span massive lengths without support so cuts down the timber needed of doing a timber building.
> 
> ...


Thanks Josh, Thanks for your input, have found a place online that sells seconds etc but will look online for the company you used


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## Sean33 (28 Apr 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> There was a question on here about it before I remember less than a year ago. I think it’s a good idea they use them for building freestanding walk in fridges and freezers near here in Grimsby which is a foodie town, the only company that I know of that constructs them is a company called Panelfab, I’m wondering if they may have some secondhand bits which thinking about it are probably difficult to get rid of. Ian
> Edit, as far as I know they don’t use a wooden frame the panels have some method of joining on the edges.


Hi Ian,
Yes they do join on the edges as they overlap then bolt in. Will give Panelfab a call, thanks for your time and input

Sean.


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## powertools (28 Apr 2021)

Sean33 said:


> Evening all,
> Just wondering if any of you have built a workshop using insulated panels, with a wood frame. Am thinking of using 80mm PIR with .7m metal front and .5mm back. Reason is speed of assembly, insulation and noise.
> Anyone else gone down this route at all and if so any concerns or plus points ?
> 
> ...



There is a channel on you tube called Restoration Couple and the guy has almost finished a workshop build using the same panels it seems like a good solution and would be well worth a watch of his videos showing his progress.


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## Sean33 (28 Apr 2021)

powertools said:


> There is a channel on you tube called Restoration Couple and the guy has almost finished a workshop build using the same panels it seems like a good solution and would be well worth a watch of his videos showing his progress.


Hi There, great thanks for this i will take a look


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## Bristol_Rob (29 Apr 2021)

I used to buy refurbished dairy counters commercially.

I used www.bond-group.com 

If you Google 'dairy counters' you get the commercial world of fridges.

They are in Kent and have a mountain of stuff. I'm sure they'd be able to sort you out.

Their business owns national transport for distribution so should also be able to deliver.

Good luck


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## paulm (29 Apr 2021)

I wanted to insulate my shed based workshop for noise a few years back, was surprised to find after a bit of research that the celotex and similar panels I had planned on using are great for heat insulation but can in some circumstances actually aggravate noise issues by resonating and amplifying noise, as a loudspeaker or drumskin does , and in any event is not good at supressing noise. 

Went instead for dense rockwool type sheets instead that were designed for acoustic suppression and are also very warm too. Made a tremendous difference to comfort in the workshop and noise suppression is excellent both inside and outside the workshop. 

May not help with speed or ease of build but worth researching before you settle on materials perhaps.


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## Hornbeam (29 Apr 2021)

Joshjosh said:


> I think someone on this forum works for one of the composite sheet providers but I can't remember who.


That'll be me.
PIR foam composite panels will provide the best level of thermal performance for their thickness and can be installed really quickly with a fairly good level of air tightness at the joints. However they are relatively poor at sound insulation, particularly low frequencies. This is because they are lightweight so vibrate easily and the inside skin is directly attached to the outside so noise travels straight through. This is true for airborne sound (eg the noise power tools etc) and rain noise drumming on the roof.
Composite panels are also available with a dense mineral wool slab core. These have about half the thermal performance of PIR thickness for thickness and are quite heavy to handle. They give much better sound absorption particularly at lower frequencies because of teh extra mass. They are at least 50% more expensive than PIR panels
Built up cladding systems use a steel sheet for the inner, a separate steel sheet for the outer skin and have a spacer bar and bracket system to hold them apart creating a cavity which is filled with glass wool quilt. These systems have about half the thermal performance of PIR thickness for thickness. They have good sound absorption performance because the inner and outer sheets are only connected at a few points. They work out about 70% of teh cost of PIR but are more time consuming to install
The other aspect of noise is internal sound reverberation. Hard shiny surfaces such as painted steel are very good at reflecting sound and so are not as good as rough surfaces like blockwork. If is far more complex as all the items in teh workshop will contribute to the overall noise reverberation
Any questions please ask or drop me a pm


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## Cabinetman (29 Apr 2021)

After that very informative piece from Hornbeam, how about building a frame from two by fours with the steel clad PIR panels on the outside and Rockwool and plasterboard or similar on the inside – Huge temp insulation with noise reduction as well, and with the stability of the panels on the outside you wouldn’t need so many two by fours at all. Ian


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## Hornbeam (29 Apr 2021)

That would work but one of the factors you have to consider is where the loads go. Although panels can span large spaces, that means that the places they bear on need to be stronger and if that is then all transferred to 4 corner posts then they need to be big and have good foundations. That is the way we do large industrial sheds with 4 large columns on point foundations. Steel panels are not classed as structural.


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## Ollie78 (30 Apr 2021)

I am just building an upstairs workshop above my current one, it is inside a barn so only needs to be warm not rainproof, so its not sealed or clad or anything.

After much deliberation and maths, I decided on using 100mm rockwool cavity batts.
For the 2 outer walls near the metal barn wall I made up cassettes with sawn 4 by 2's and 11mm osb both sides with the insulation in, the inner walls I just built like a normal stud wall but with osb, also insulated.
This was the best price to performance balance. It is 6.6m by 3.6m.
The top is osb with 200mm of loft roll on it.

You could easily wrap the structure in tyvek batten and clad it for an outdoor building.

I looked into reclaimed freezer panels and all that stuff, they are great, I like the nice ready finished surface etc. I would not have been able to get the panels in as large lengths and I basically built it on my own so had to keep it manageable.


Ollie


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