Insulating a Tiny Steel Quonset Hut

One creative New York family is still hard at work putting together their tiny q-hut of steel. They’ve completed the next step on their journey – installing the insulation inside of the tiny steel Quonset Hut^TM on wheels.

Artist Jean-Marc and his family have invited SteelMaster to follow them as they build their dream tiny steel home.

After they worked together to put up the steel arches, framed the front and put up the rear endwall, they decided to install insulation inside of the building.

Installing insulation was a major concern for this family. They did their research and discovered that there are several ways to insulate a tiny steel Quonset Hut^TM.

Typically, SteelMaster’s buildings do not actually require installation. The temperature inside of the building is comfortable all year without the insulation.

The corrugated frame of our buildings lends itself to framing most types of insulation including blown-in, foam or rolled insulation.
Jean-Marc decided to use polyurethane spray foam for his building. He purchased a kit online and waited until the weather was warm enough for him to start.

He covered the entire surface of his building’s interior with a 1-inch layer of closed-cell foam initially. The foam adhered to the building and it cured very quickly.

After he covered most of the interior, he went back over several areas. He ended up with 2 inches of foam insulation on the majority of the arches and the steel rear endwall.

He then went around the edges and added additional insulation using a method called cut and cobble.

Jean Marc used 2-inch PolyISO and filled the gaps with spray foam.

He trimmed the excess and sealed the seams between the studs and foam with rubberized window flashing tape.

He is now moving to the next step in the process of completing his tiny house of steel- the front endwall.

Stay tuned for more tiny house of steel adventures!

Click here to read about more about the steel tiny home.