Thermal paint and stuff...
Also wanted to add a response about thermal paint. Someone here earlier mentioned it and I wanted to offer my opinion. My thought is that if your gonna leave the ISBU exposed to view then it is a viable option to use it. Being that the concept originated and was partially develloped by and for NASA...it has merit. How much is yet to be truly decided. But in a nutshell it is a paint with miniscule ceramic spheres in it that are excellent at managing how heat is conducted and or distributed. here is one example...
http://www.hytechsales.com/index.html
And while this may perform well for a house that is more like a cabin...or a workshop? I don't know that it would be sufficent for a full time dwelling in an area that sees extreme seasons? Nothing to base that on other than my own thoughts.
Having to ocasionally spend several hours at a time inside a Connex here in Iraq I can attest that ANYTHING that will help would be welcome in the summer! It was about 120 last week with a small dose of "humidity". The "feels like" temp was about 136...as in that is what it feels like. INSIDE the connex I would guess the temp to be just north of 170. I don't have a thermometer here that reads past 110 so it is only a guess. I can say that it feels like one is cooking in there...literally! Would thermal paint help? Maybe...Sure couldn't hurt.
But...I wouldn't rely on the thermal paint to do it all. Which leads to the next area of discussion...
Insulation.
If one paints the outside then the normal logic would place the insulation inside...in a more traditional home manner. But we are dealing with rectangular cubes here...and any additional stuff added to the inside means less living area and a smaller home. So what do you do?
Well, I have been thinking of putting the insulation on the outside. Namely...applying two part, DIY, closed cell spray foam. Anyone seen the cans of "Great stuff" or other expanding foam available at the home stores (and many other places)? Basically the same idea. But in a DIY applicator since buying oh...10,000 cans of spray foam seems like it would be very expensive, wasteful, and difficult! But there are "kits" available to purchase your own deal. like this...
http://www.touch-n-seal.com/refillablefoamsystems_residential.htm
And while I can only imagine that it is expensive to start up/buy in...My hope is that after I apply it liberally to my own house that maybe I will have other friends doing something similar and I can offset some of the cost by sharing it with them...?
But this stuff is cool. Works great and does an outstanding job of both temp and noise control. And since I don't really go for the modern styling or industrial look of an ISBU, my home will be sheathed, over this insulation, with hardi-panels or hardi-plank. It will resemble more of an old farm house or cabin...which for me is what I would call home.
