wood cooler & freezers?

[cgne]

I have a customer that insists on having her builder make a combo out of wood.They don't have the money for spray foam and they know not to use fiberglass insulation.My concern is moisture in the walls,floor and ceiling.if anyone has any tips I can relay to the builder it would really help.
thanks

[marvin]

if they cant afford to build it right they gont need it & probably couldnt afford to run it anyway. id pass on this one.

[baub]

The cooler might be passable, but the freezer would be a disaster. RUN AWAY!

[forged alloy]

If they are paying for labor then they wan't save anything over purchasing a prefab unit.

They will end up ripping out what they stick built eventually but who knows, maybe they are masochists.

[itsiceman]

Old woodies were erected with cork

[t527ed]

tell the builder to do what you are doing.......... then run away.


wood cooler will never pass health dept inspection around here and a wooden freezer would probably be trash in 6 months.

[Joe Harper]

Here is some wood in a 2 year old freezer

Attachment 42732

Attachment 42742

[K_Neil]

The best wood freezer that lasted was a bait fish company. Minnows etc. no inspectors 2x6 walls fiberglass in the walls with 2 inch poly foam sheeting on the inside vapor barrier on the warm side. No troubles yet and it's been thru 2 owners and about 15 years. It's approx 40x30 ft with a 2 door set up with the second door about 6 ft inside.

With your customer you would need mullion heaters on the freezer door which means a metal lining. Prefab door kits are an option.

I have a restarant customer with 2 wood walkin coolers 1 reachin cooler and 1 walkin freezer. The carpenter was an artist. Made all the doors, shelves etc.
They all had to be lined with an approved material. No wood could be showing.

Alot of extra work to get something that can last and pass inspection.

I was working in an old family butcher shop in my apprentice days on the big freezer. Can't even remember what the problem was but it took a couple of days to get it going. There was a lake forming inside it. I climbed in the attic tocheck and it was loose rock wool insulation. I shoved my arm in as far as I could and only reached some ice. Talked to the owner and he said that's nothing. They blew in a 4 ft layer on the original 2 ft. of insulation. That means I reached apprx 1/2 way thru and hit the top of a 2.5 ft. layer of ice.
This was a third generation shop and it was all wood and not sagging too much
I figure the only thing that kept me up in that attic was the thickness of the ice.

[gg19]

I have a customer that insists on having her builder make a combo out of wood.They don't have the money for spray foam and they know not to use fiberglass insulation.My concern is moisture in the walls,floor and ceiling.if anyone has any tips I can relay to the builder it would really help.
thanks

cgne I know is hard to say no to a customer, but this is one time you just have to, this is trouble in the making, there is no way they are going to built a walk-in freezer out of wood, disaster will prevail, too many variables to consider. cooler might be visible with the right "ingredients", but not a freezer.

Gus