Fish room insulation and ventilation

[Jimmy]

Plan on batt insulation in my small fish room, 16 inch on center. Additionally I plan on finishing the inside with 1/2-1 inch foam insulation board for additional r value. Should I tape seams? Any need for poly layer at any point? Will I need to ventilate if every tank has a tight fitted poly lid or will a dehumidifier be sufficient.

my concern with putting in a exhaust fan is wouldn’t it essentially tank my efficiency of keeping it heated or cool? Small room only a couple hundred gallons.

I’m putting a lot of fore thought but this is one concept I’m struggling to understand. The space is a framed in room in a detached shop that itself is drafty.

[lefty o]

with foam board over batt insulation, i would use the batt that has the vapor barrier on it (the brown paper backed stuff). im not sure that any tape would adhere to the foam board long term. to me, instead of venting, a dehumidifier would be my choice to control moisture build up in the space.

[Jimmy]

On 7/12/2021 at 6:22 AM, lefty o said:

with foam board over batt insulation, i would use the batt that has the vapor barrier on it (the brown paper backed stuff). im not sure that any tape would adhere to the foam board long term. to me, instead of venting, a dehumidifier would be my choice to control moisture build up in the space.

The goal I assume isn’t air tight room, right? I’m doing 2x4 r15 then a additional 4 with the board then r38 in the low ceiling (7’). Do the paper need to be faced inwards?

[lefty o]

a little air leakage is okay. insulating is the attempt to maintain temp, so large air leaks are coutner productive, but things dont have to be air tight.  the vapor barrier would be placed towards the inside of the room directly under sheetrock/foam whatever you use.

[Jimmy]

On 7/12/2021 at 6:52 AM, lefty o said:

a little air leakage is okay. insulating is the attempt to maintain temp, so large air leaks are coutner productive, but things dont have to be air tight.  the vapor barrier would be placed towards the inside of the room directly under sheetrock/foam whatever you use.

I appreciate you and armyvets feedback. I will be sure to create a room build thread and document it. My father in law wants me to YouTube it but that’s a whole other thing lol. Hope to start building in a month or two

[lefty o]

make a good plan before you do the first thing. frame it in (use pressure treated lumber on the bottom of the wall where your stud wall meets the floor), wire it, insulate, then put up your foam/drywall etc. good pre planning will help to prevent those oh %$#$ moments, and oh i wish i did that differently.

[Jimmy]

On 7/12/2021 at 6:52 AM, lefty o said:

a little air leakage is okay. insulating is the attempt to maintain temp, so large air leaks are coutner productive, but things dont have to be air tight.  the vapor barrier would be placed towards the inside of the room directly under sheetrock/foam whatever you use.

Lefty this is one of my older threads but back to vapor barrier. I watched a bunch of stuff today on vapor barriers and I’m still confused. Most of what I found is in regards to homes obviously but fish rooms no LOL. Many arguments for and against, especially depending on region. 

I can’t decide if I will put a door sweep or just let that air flow through, I don’t want to tank my efficiency. 
 

I have a little more understanding why you don’t want to make it air tight, that can probably cause problems in itself. The shop has no insulation outside of my room and no real venting but I have no reason to believe moisture making it out of the fish room will cause any problems. The space is rather drafty and I feel I won’t have much to worry about.

[lefty o]

moisture making its way out of the fish room is not the concern. the concern is moisture staying in the insulation and molding. now that ive further seen what you are doing in your other thread, i would go with unfaced. you put 2" poly next to the wall, and that in itself is a moisture barrier. if you were to use faced now, that would make it possible for moisture to be trapped in the insulation. if you had opted to use just batt insulation, then faced would absolutely be needed, but now it is probably not a good choice.

[ARMYVET]

Make sure to leave enough room between the fish rack and the wall for access.  Ask me why I know that is important?!?😒

[Jimmy]

On 8/13/2021 at 11:59 AM, lefty o said:

moisture making its way out of the fish room is not the concern. the concern is moisture staying in the insulation and molding. now that ive further seen what you are doing in your other thread, i would go with unfaced. you put 2" poly next to the wall, and that in itself is a moisture barrier. if you were to use faced now, that would make it possible for moisture to be trapped in the insulation. if you had opted to use just batt insulation, then faced would absolutely be needed, but now it is probably not a good choice.

I need to just keep this now to my build thread LOL. I appreciate everyone’s willingness to help. That 2 inch foam board has about a inch gap between itself and the new wall. Any moisture that gets behind my wall will travel up that and escape. The gap is because of the foundation over pour. I hope to not do too much stuff that will give pros like you a headache lol.

[Jimmy]

On 8/13/2021 at 12:45 PM, ARMYVET said:

Make sure to leave enough room between the fish rack and the wall for access.  Ask me why I know that is important?!?😒

What’s with the need for access behind the rack? I’m putting my outlets super high on the wall next to the rack or in the ceiling. I’m not plumbing the tanks also.

[ARMYVET]

On 8/13/2021 at 7:33 PM, Jimmy said:

What’s with the need for access behind the rack? I’m putting my outlets super high on the wall next to the rack or in the ceiling. I’m not plumbing the tanks also.

Well if you ever decide you want to do an auto water change system you will need enough room for the drains.   I thought I left myself enough and while I did it was just barely enough and I fought it the whole way thru.  I finally finished it but had I left just a few inches more the whole thing would have been so much easier.  
Personally I could not imagine having a lot of tanks and not having the auto water change system.   It has made having 20 plus tanks so much easier. 
 

Just some ideas for you to think about in advance.  Live and learn and I have lived so others can learn…can somebody else do some living please 😂

[lefty o]

On 8/13/2021 at 6:31 PM, Jimmy said:

I need to just keep this now to my build thread LOL. I appreciate everyone’s willingness to help. That 2 inch foam board has about a inch gap between itself and the new wall. Any moisture that gets behind my wall will travel up that and escape. The gap is because of the foundation over pour. I hope to not do too much stuff that will give pros like you a headache lol.

no pro here. just learned a couple of things along the way.😈

[ARMYVET]

We are all here to help and I am gladly avail for any question you may have.  I just finished my first rack with 18 tanks with auto water change and central air for all tanks with a sink and brine shrimp station.  I have made pleanty of mistakes and if I can help you avoid just one I made then it’s all worth it!  
 

Ask Anything you need to sir!

[Jimmy]

On 8/13/2021 at 5:00 PM, ARMYVET said:

We are all here to help and I am gladly avail for any question you may have.  I just finished my first rack with 18 tanks with auto water change and central air for all tanks with a sink and brine shrimp station.  I have made pleanty of mistakes and if I can help you avoid just one I made then it’s all worth it!  
 

Ask Anything you need to sir!

How exciting. No running water in my shop. I’m going to keep a one or two  55 gallon barrels for water storage with a big return pump. I will do manual water changes with a utility pump that drains out in my yard or alley. Not a perfect system but I will streamline it.

I want a sink but I’m not going to have room.  
 

 

[Jimmy]

On 8/13/2021 at 4:54 PM, lefty o said:

no pro here. just learned a couple of things along the way.😈

I’m somewhat handy but this has me going down different paths in ways of electrical and framing that I haven’t done before. Loving being able to use my impact driver and miter saw so damn much.

[ARMYVET]

On 8/13/2021 at 9:18 PM, Jimmy said:

I want a sink but I’m not going to have room.  

They make very small sinks 12-18 inch.  My garage had no running water…but it does now lol. 
please let me know if you want to see how I did it.

[DSH OUTDOORS]

You may have mentioned it but I didn't catch it. Where exactly are you?!?!? 😂 

The reason I ask, and state it province is good, I want to know what weather you are insulating against and the kind of moisture you are protecting against. @ARMYVET and @lefty o have been great guides so far, just want to catch up to be able to add anything I can.

[Jimmy]

On 8/13/2021 at 7:28 PM, DSH OUTDOORS said:

You may have mentioned it but I didn't catch it. Where exactly are you?!?!? 😂 

The reason I ask, and state it province is good, I want to know what weather you are insulating against and the kind of moisture you are protecting against. @ARMYVET and @lefty o have been great guides so far, just want to catch up to be able to add anything I can.

Western Washington pretty mild on all ends. 

[Jimmy]

On 8/13/2021 at 7:11 PM, ARMYVET said:

They make very small sinks 12-18 inch.  My garage had no running water…but it does now lol. 
please let me know if you want to see how I did it.

I know there’s foot pumps for sinks too.

you think I will need an exhaust fan by chance? I’m getting one of those tiny dehumidifiers from Amazon that only use about 20w. It’s such a small space and I have limited wattage.  
Alternatively would just a small vent to either the outside or inside the interior of the shop stop it from being stale?

 

[ARMYVET]

Anything that promotes air flow will help with that.  You would be amazed what a regular little fan will accomplish.  fan that sits in the corner of my room and it keeps the air flowing nicely.