We receive several calls a month from clients wanting to know why their freezer floors are rising in the middle and heaving.
Freezer floor thermal break.
Ice formation will lift columns push foundation walls over and rip open roofs.
Floor insulation is placed between the floor warming system and the building floor slab.
Calculated temperatures in epoxy flooring under thermal shock loading when designing flooring systems it is critical to take into account the specific use of the building and the expected loads on the floor.
The condensation will damage the floor material and space below.
As the earth below a freezer drops below freezing the moisture in the soil will freeze form ice and expand.
Design solutions are shared and misapplied.
The interior freezer concrete floor must be insulated and completely isolated.
While condensation can appear in walk in coolers or freezers in high humidity conditions it is preventable.
The resulting thermal shock can lead to debonding of the epoxy flooring and necessitate its partial or complete replacement.
A thermal break breaker strip is required to separate all freezer interior concrete from the exterior concrete.
61 red flag 8 breaker strips.
The formation of this ice can cause floors to crack break and lift up or heave.
Robert d judson pe.
Here are a few of your options.
Understanding freezer floor heave by.
62 caulk is cheap.
In the case of new construction thermal breaks and slab insulation can be installed when pouring the concrete floor.
The floor of your walk in cooler can be insulated from underneath.
Column base thermal break internal steel columns traditionally extend through the building envelope floor slab and insulation at their base.
Any air leaks will still lead to condensation so this must be done very carefully.
If you need to provide protection you may do so either above or underneath your walk in cooler.
In low temperature buildings such as freezer rooms and cold storage facilities this creates a thermal bridge and point transmittance heat loss at the steel column base.
What is frost heaving in freezers.
For instance at 10 f a minimum of six inches of insulation is recommended.
The insulation thickness is dependent upon the freezer temperature.
59 thermal blocking vapor barrier insulation the freezer floor.
This will keep condensation from forming within and on top of the concrete.
Freezer floor insulated slab required thermal break location is critical wall panel should be centered on thermal break.
For a walk in cooler that is placed above grade like over a basement crawl space or on a second story an insulated floor is required.
Freezer floor slab design is assumed to be simple.
The screed wall is to be centered over the thermal break.
