From the post before last, I received a question about the problems of building in Alaska
Due to the extreme cold, insulation needs to be very thick. In this wall section, you can see the thickness of the roof insulation. I believe it was an average of R-28. The Exterior wall construction is 8” concrete masonry with 6” metal framing and R-19 batt insulation. Plus we had foundation wall insulation, placed on the outside, under the exterior sidewalk..
A good vapor barrier is also necessary. This vapor barrier is placed on the inside of the wall framing, just under the interior gypsum board. The roof barrier is placed on top of the roof deck, just under the rigid insulation. All seams were completely taped closed.
Rather than have normal roof drains or scuppers at the wall, the roof drains were placed in the center of the roof so the drain pipes will flow inside the heated space, preventing icing.
The store also had an additional room added on the exterior which housed a boiler. This boiler heated water that ran thru pipes that were placed under the front sidewalk, front parking spaces and the drive-thru driveway the keep the snow clear.
When this project was under construction, I remember talking to the contractor and he told me that they were having a good year because they had a entire week where the daytime high temperature was above 70 degrees before the summer ended.
