Insulating Your Commercial Building for Hot, Humid Climates
Different climates put different demands on insulation in commercial buildings. In cold climates, commercial buildings come with the added benefit that there are more people than in a residential moving about in it — something that accumulates heat. However, in a hotter climate, you'd want to keep the building as cool as possible. The simplest solution to doing this is to make sure the insulation in your building is sufficient. Before contacting a commercial insulation service, however, there are a few things you should know regarding roof and ceiling insulation to keep the temperature down in a building for hot and humid climates.
Air pocket under the roof
The roof is an area that is extra important to consider when insulating any building in a hot climate, as this is where a lot of the heat is accumulated. The first thing you should consider is to opt for a roof in a light colour, as this doesn't get as hot as a black ceiling when the sun is shining on it. Also, you should make sure that your building has an air pocket between the roof and the roof insulation. This forms an additional layer of insulation as the direct heat created by the sun spreads in the air pocket before going through the insulation.
Avoid gaps in the insulation
What you need to consider is the material for the insulation itself. It's important that the roof and all walls are insulated without gaps between them. If you were to insulate everywhere but leave gaps in the corners, this wouldn't only make the insulation less effective, but moisture would also be created on your walls, where the cool air from inside meets the hot air from the outside. To completely avoid this issue, you should talk to your service provider about having your building insulated with spray foam, as this fills up all places where even a little bit of hot air could seep in. Even small gaps in the insulation under window sills, for example, could create a problem with moisture.
Air conditioning inside the insulation
One final thing to make sure your building remains as cool as possible, unaffected by the climate, is to see to that all pieces belonging to the air conditioning are inside the insulation. If you have an attic on your building and this area isn't insulated for some reason, then it's not a very good idea to have an air conditioning pipe running through it. This will cause the cooling effect to decrease significantly and will also cost more money as the air conditioning needs to work harder than it really needs to.