- There's a lot of different roof
and wall systems you can choose from,
and one of those systems is insulated metal panels.
And today, by the end of this video,
you'll learn what they are, where we see them used
in the industry, and where you can get them from
and choose them for your project.
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What's up, guys, welcome to The Metal Roofing Channel
and welcome to Q&A Mondays, I'm Thad Barnette.
Subscribe if you're new, we release metal roofing
and metal construction content every Monday and Wednesday.
Today, we're talking about insulated metal panels,
what they are, where you can get them,
and if you should choose them for your project
and considerations there.
I have Jeff Hock, technical director
from Sheffield Metals, with me.
Jeff, thanks for being here.
We're gonna talk about insulated metal panels,
so why don't you tell me, first of all, you know,
what are they, what are they made of,
and kind of explain that process for me.
- Okay, so a insulated metal panel
is a lot different than what we deal with,
you know, as a single skin panel.
So it's basically two pieces of metal
with a sandwiched foam core.
So you have metal on the exterior side,
you'd have metal on the interior side,
and then you'd have a foam core, varying thicknesses,
basically in the center of that panel.
These are gonna be a lot thicker than
a typical standing seam roof panel is,
and they go on a lot of different ways.
- So tell me a couple of reasons
why someone might wanna consider an insulated metal panel
for their roof or wall.
- Okay, so I guess the biggest thing is,
since it has the foam core already installed
and it is a vapor barrier, it is an air, a water barrier,
you could put up a wall very quick
or you could put on a roof very quick.
There's not a lot of different pieces and components.
You don't have the assemblies that have, again,
multiple things that go into it.
You have your structural supports,
you put this insulated metal panel up, you're done.
So probably the biggest benefit that I see
is how fast you can get the walls
or a roof on a building in one step.
So I mean, it's gonna go up a lot faster
than a typical assembly and, you know, and other times,
people want wanna use it as a,
you know, they are very energy efficient.
You know, they have a very dense closed cell foam core.
And, you know, that usually provides a better R-value
than, say, you know, glass fiber insulation
in a lot smaller package, so highly energy efficient
and very fast and easy to install.
- What types of buildings do you normally see
insulated metal panels on, commercial, residential?
Tell me about that.
- Normally, I'd say typically is commercial projects.
But you can use them on a variety of different types
of commercial projects, they could be used on anything
from airplane hangars to religious facilities to schools.
You know, it's not necessarily just, you know,
what you would think of like an industrial type project,
you know, they're used anywhere that you need something fast
and that's, again, gonna be highly energy efficient.
Those are, you know, two of the huge main benefits
to an insulated metal panel or IMP,
as they're called in the industry.
I don't think there's a limited use for them.
I think they could be used probably more places than not.
- Is there a variety of looks that you can get
from different manufacturers, do they come
in different colors or are they pretty standard?
- Oh, no, there's a lot of different things that they offer.
So you can get a, number one, I mean,
they could be installed horizontally
or vertically on a wall system.
So I mean, right there can really change up the look just
by how they're installed.
You know, another thing is that, you know,
they can either be a smooth surface
where the panel is completely flat.
It can have corrugations in it, deeper, wider
to give it different looks.
Some manufacturers even provide it where it looks like
it has a concrete coating or a stucco coating
if that's the look that you're going for.
So, you know, again, and if it's painted, obviously,
you know, all the different colors of the rainbow
that you can think of.
So there's a ton of options when it comes down to the look
and the style of the IMP that you're trying to get.
- What about performance?
Is there performance limitations?
What about their longevity? Talk to me about that.
- The skins on the outside, the metal on the outside
is made out of steel or aluminum.
So you do, again, have that metal longevity and performance.
As far as the paint, different types of paints are used but,
you know, a popular one that you see a lot of
is the PVDFs that we talked about all the time,
so you get the performance there.
So, and as far as the testing goes, I mean,
it's tested in accordance with all the typical ASTMs
and UL requirements.
They do a lot of different testing on the core as well
as far as humidity, density, things like that,
showing that the core is not gonna break down over time.
You know, it's tested for uplifts, it's tested for air,
it's tested for water, it's tested for fire.
So it goes through all the same rigid testing
that you would typically see in a metal product.
- What's the installation like of those panels,
how are they actually, you know,
installed on a wall or roof?
- They're installed over a framing system,
it's usually 16 gauge purlins
from everything that I've seen.
Again, one of the benefits about it is that,
you know, 16 gauge purlins, you talk about
a single skin panel.
Those purlins typically have to be a lot closer
than they would be with an insulated metal panel.
Usually, that framing system can be anywhere from,
it can span anywhere from 8 to 12 feet.
Where typically, in a single skin system,
you're anywhere from one to five.
So I guess that's another benefit as well,
the cost of your structural framing and things like that.
But it's either installed, most of them that I've seen
either are tongue and groove style or they have a lap,
like a typical mechanically seamed panel would,
and then it's held down the using either a clip
or a concealed fastener system
or an exposed fastener system,
but a lot of the ones I see use some type
of a concealed clip to attach to the framing system.
- If you have an R-value specified by an architect,
is there a variety of options that you could get as far
as thicknesses for the metal panels that you can match that
or make sure you match that specification?
- Yeah, absolutely.
Typically, you'd see the IMPs come in anywhere
from two to six inches thick.
And again, since it's using a, most of the options
that I see are polyurethane or polyiso,
and then I have seen mineral wool as well,
but I see typically the polyurethane more,
and since it's a denser foam type product,
you're gonna get a lot more R-value in a thinner space.
- So if I have a commercial project,
what lengths and widths are available,
how does that work with my building?
- So what I see standard for width wise
is usually 32 to 44 inches.
It's a pretty wide panel considering.
And lengths, since they are factory formed,
I believe they come in standard sizes
around 8 to 50 feet.
You get into that issue with factory formed panels of,
you know, only being able to have a panel
as long as the truck you can carry it on.
So that's typical from what I've seen
that's being offered out there.
- What about cost?
Talk to me about, you know, overall,
what's the cost differences between IMPs
and another like single skin metal system?
- Obviously, actual numbers are gonna depend on, you know,
the manufacturer you're dealing with
and steel prices and whatnot.
But insulated metal panel is gonna be
considerably more expensive than a single skin panel,
and rightly so when you think about it.
Obviously, you have an exterior, an interior, it's finished.
And then you have the insulation core.
And insulation is usually more expensive
than the metal itself when it goes on a project.
So it's gonna be considerably more expensive,
but if it's something that you're interested,
I say you look at your bottom line,
compare to what the initial cost of the IMP is,
compare to the total cost of the whole assembly
of what it is that you would might be using as an alternate.
And then again, your structural framing,
like we said, they could span longer distances,
so you might be able to get away with not using
as many structural members.
And then obviously, labor.
If it goes up faster, obviously,
the jobs are gonna get done faster,
that means that there's gonna be less labor hours
on the project as well.
So initially upfront, that IMP
is gonna be considerably more expensive
than say a typical roof or wall product.
But when you look at it as a whole,
it's probably pretty comparable.
- So if I have a project,
where can I find insulated metal panels?
- You know, a few of the manufacturers,
this definitely isn't a complete list,
but you know, off the top of my head,
MBCI manufactures insulated metal panels,
Metl-Span, Kingspan, Nucor.
Those are all pretty big names
in the insulated metal panel industry.
And then honestly, I mean, a quick Google search,
you'll see every manufacturer out there that's available.
But those are just the ones that off the top of my head.
- Are insulated metal panels tested for fire resistance?
Tell me about that, they do have that insulation sandwiched
in between the metal panels, is there testing for fire?
- Yeah, they absolutely do and, you know,
one of the ones that I've read about
includes a mineral wool insulation.
And as we all know, mineral wool
is a fire-resistant product.
And they have ratings from one hours to three hours.
I think a lot of that comes into play too
when you have internal fire requirements.
So where you don't want the fire spreading
from one portion of the building to another.
So if, say, the fire started inside,
that's not necessarily keeping the fire
from coming from outside.
So yes, but they are all tested
and they all do have a fire rating that I can tell.
Obviously, it's gonna depend on the manufacturer
you're dealing with and the type of product
and the components that they're using to make the IMP,
what type of fire rating they have.
Most all the ones I've looked at have a, you know,
minimum UL 790 fire rating on their products.
- Are there any situations where you might consider
using something other than insulated metal panels,
when are they not good to use?
- So some times that IMPs might not be the route to go
is residential projects.
A lot of personal residences
don't have the budget like that upfront
to afford those additional costs.
Anywhere that you would like a continuous panel
from eave to ridge or from wall to ceiling.
Maybe when energy, those real high
energy performance requirements aren't needed
or you can get away with using a different product
to meet your energy performance requirements
that you don't need in such a tight space.
Those are some examples of when an IMP might not be ideal.
- I have to imagine that a roof that's really cut up,
it would make it difficult to install insulated panels,
would you say that?
- Yeah, no, I will say that most of the time
when I see insulated panels installed,
it's a pretty straightforward project.
You know, pretty flat walls, pretty straight roofs,
not a whole lot of, like you're talking about, being cut up.
Because again, you're gonna have a lot of waste on the job
once you start getting into angles and things like that.
So if you're cutting off a lot of,
part of your insulated metal panel, then that could cause
a lot of extra costs that just aren't needed.
- Well, thanks, Jeff, I hope you learned a little bit
about insulated metal panels.
If you have any more questions, comment down below.
Love to talk with you, subscribe here
to The Metal Roofing Channel.
As always, I'm Thad Barnette.
We'll catch you next time.
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