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Insulating over skylight panels??

inthefield

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
279
Messages
96
Loc
Texas
Next Monday the AC man is going to be dropping in a brand new 3 ton in the shop, but with the humidity here I think I'm gonna have condensation issues on the skylights if I cool it below dew point, so I want to have a plan to insulate them.

What should I be using for insulation? I really don't want to deal with exposed glass, so encapsulated bats, foam board?

This stuff seems like it would be the easiest to snake up over the beams, but I know exactly nothing about how it would work...https://www.lowes.com/pd/Reflectix-R...0-ft-L/3775463
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im confused, are you planning on covering/blocking the skylites?

also 90% odds are those are plastic/acrylic not glass
 
im confused, are you planning on covering/blocking the skylites?

also 90% odds are those are plastic/acrylic not glass

You're right they are plastic, when I said I don't want to deal with exposed glass I meant itchy ass fiberglass insulation.


From what I understand if I don't address this, and I have the shop AC @ 74, and the dew point is @ 78 it's gonna start raining inside.

I've got no issues covering them up, I have plenty of lighting.
 
Doesn't the AC pull all the water out of the air? What am I not getting?

Yeah it does, right up until the air inside is cooled past the dew point, and then the moisture in the air condenses on surfaces. The plastic panels will have no barrier so thats the first place I'll see it.

Maybe an AC man can explain it better than me, I just know I've seen it happen in other shops.
 
It looks like you still have open ridge ventilation in place if so you might want to consider blocking those to keep your expensive cool air in the shop.

The a/c is going to dehumidify and should not rain in the shop unless it is oversized for the space. If it is oversized then you will need to add a dehumidifier to your mix. You will have condensation on the outside of the skylights whenever the indoor temp is below the dew point outside.
 
It looks like you still have open ridge ventilation in place if so you might want to consider blocking those to keep your expensive cool air in the shop.

The a/c is going to dehumidify and should not rain in the shop unless it is oversized for the space. If it is oversized then you will need to add a dehumidifier to your mix. You will have condensation on the outside of the skylights whenever the indoor temp is below the dew point outside.

Yeah the ridge vents are open now, but they have pull chain caps that I can close. It's a 30x40 shop, so a 2 ton would have been more size appropriate, but I figured that it would need to capacity to catch back up when the roll up doors are opened.
 
Single pane skylights? Only thing i know would help is to have a couple ceiling fans to keep that stagnant air up there flowing. It would help the ac not cycle as much also.
 
Remember it will be warmer up high ,ac will lower dew dew point so I don’t see it being a problem.
 
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