It's no secret that the weather in New Zealand can be extreme. It some areas it gets pretty hot, while in others the cold has us reaching for the winter thermals far beyond the winter months and these extremes in weather are the reason why it's important to consider how you'll manage the temperature inside of any building or structure on your property – including your SheShed. Naturally, one of the main considerations here is insulation, so we're taking a deeper look at one of our most popular Optional Upgrades – the SheShed Roof Insulation Kit.
Before we look too closely at the roof insulation kit, it's important that we first understand what insulation is. Insulation refers to a material designed to slow down heat transfer from one area to another. For example, how quickly will heat on the inside of your cabin, escape through the walls, floor and roof, and start “leaking” into the air around the cabin? Or how quickly will the hot summer sun outside of your cabin soak through the roof to overheat the inside of your cabin? Insulation acts as a barrier to heat flow and is essential for keeping your cabin warm in winter and cool in summer.
It is widely accepted that approx. 30% to 35% of heat can be lost through a non-insulated roof. This is why the roof of your cabin plays an important role in maintaining a comfortable temperature and why if you live in area with really hot weather or particularly cold temps, you will want to find ways to stop the leakage of warm air through the roof of your cabin.
Your SheShed roof boards are either 19mm or 20mm thick depending on the model cabin you've got, and these boards combined with the included asphalt shingles have a combined insulation rating of about R 1.84.
For comparison, a tin or metal roof has no R value, meaning it provides no insulation whatsoever.
The SheShed roof insulation kit is a commercial grade product made of 40mm thick high-density foam, laminated with a commercial grade aluminium foil to provide a thermal break and moisture barrier. The roof insulation kit comes supplied in a sheet standard size allowing you to cut them to size to fit your particular cabin perfectly.
This kit is currently available as an optional upgrade to any of our kitset cabins that feature asphalt roof tiles and is priced depending on which size cabin you are building. It is also the only insulation option that we provide ourselves due to its quality, (this is a high quality commercial grade product and is not available in or comparable to products supplied by your local hardware store) and it’s particularly well suited to the construction style of most of our cabins as it is designed to be installed beneath your roofing shingles, but on top of the tongue and groove ceiling boards.
The addition of our Roof Insulation Kit brings the total roof insulation value up to about R 3.6 which is really quite comfortable.
We pride ourselves on making things easy for our customers and the installation of the roof insulation kit is no different. Following our step-by-step instructions, you'll see that this kit is designed to be installed under the asphalt shingles but above the tongue and groove ceiling boards, meaning that the inside of your cabin will be visually unaffected and retain the beautiful look of the timber ceiling boards.
In addition, using this type of insulation rather than common insulation batts style means that you remove the need to line your cabin roof with timber battens and plasterboard. Saving you money and again, retaining the beautiful look of the timber ceiling boards.
We strongly recommend installation of the roof insulation kit during the construction of your SheShed. If you didn't install the kit during the construction of your cabin and wanted to add it on at a later stage you would need to remove all the asphalt shingles, install the insulation and then refit the asphalt shingles. This process poses a high risk of damage to the shingles which could then in turn leave your cabin exposed to the elements.
It is important to note that while we do recommend the roof insulation kit for many of our customers, not every SheShed cabin will require it. It all depends on your location and what the climate is like. If you're unsure if it’s for you feel free to speak with a Shed consultant to discuss further.
"The SheShed team was incredibly supportive throughout the process. The setup was straightforward,
taking just three days to complete, with clear instructions and great ongoing support."
– Justin M
2024
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