Repairing / Covering Old, Torn Wall Insulation in Metal Buildings - In

If your building has old, torn, falling down or dirty insulation, our Insulation Wall Repair System is a great option to easily cover up the old insulation and create a new, bright white, durable interior finish. This system features our 50" BlueTex™ Pro 2mm insulation.

The BlueTex™ Pro is super-durable, tear proof, puncture resistant and easy to clean, making it BETTER than the original vinyl facing on the metal building insulation. In fact, it's 10 TIMES MORE DURABLE than the original insulation your building came with. The biggest benefit with this insulation method, regardless of how you install it, is you can leave the existing old insulation up and install BlueTex™ insulation right over it!

If you’d like to evaluate the product before making a larger purchase, we recommend ordering a Cover/Repair Insulation Sample Box.

This is a sample box of larger materials to test and try out for use in a Cover/Repair Install where the girts are still visible.

A main benefit of the sample box is that you can show tenants/owners/management/etc. how this system works, and preview it on their building before committing to a large order.

The full price of the sample kit is redeemable toward any future order over $500, so it's basically free to try!

There are basically two ways to cover your old warehouse wall insulation, but the preferred way is to install from the inside of the building, inside the wall girts. This page covers how to install a new layer inside the building, with speed and ease. If you prefer to install new BlueTex™ insulation over your wall girts (covering them), the install page can be found here.

If you have questions about this installation method, email us some pictures and your goals, will help us suggest a solution to fixing your old, torn, or dirty metal building wall insulation.

Supplies Needed for Installation

BlueTex™ Pro 2mm 50" wide insulation
BlueTex™ 3" wide white vapor barrier seam tape
BlueTex™ 48" wide aluminum term bars (screws included) or some other bar to hold the insulation against the girts (wood is a good alternative)

Installing Your Insulation Cover Inside the Wall Girts

This installation is done between the girts (horizontal wall supports), from the inside of the building, without removing the exterior wall screws on the outside of the building.

You will use multiple vertical pieces of BlueTex™ to fit inside the girts, versus a single piece for the entire height of the wall.
Most building have what are called "Z-girts" (or Z-bars) where the front flange of the Z points up and the back flange points down.
Our install system utilizes the flanges on the girt supports to secure the insulation up close to the exterior sheet metal.
BlueTex™ will hang down like a curtain during installation, so you can attach it to the top and bottom of the Z-girts.
You can install one column from roof to floor at a time, or install a full horizontal cavity from brace to brace before moving up to the next row. The direction you install this method will have no impact on how well it's going to work.

Step 1: Start across the bottom section of the wall, from the first girt to the ground

Start by measuring the height from the floor to your first wall girt.
Cut a piece of BlueTex™ off your roll to the height measured, plus an extra 6".
Hold your BlueTex™ up to column edge and the bottom flange of the girt and have your helper press your aluminum term bar against the BlueTex™, leaving a tab protruding above the term bar of about 2", as seen in the image below.
Secure the BlueTex™ to the girt by screwing the term bar into the metal girt, leaving a 2" overlap of the BlueTex™ uncovered, as shown in the image below.
Your BlueTex™ piece will hang down like a curtain, so now you can pull it down toward the ground and prepare to secure it tightly.

Step 2: Secure your bottom piece near the floor

There are a couple of ways to secure your BlueTex™ at the floor. Choose one of the options below that works best for your building.

Option #1 - Tuck BlueTex™ insulation between the old insulation and L bracket.
You might have to cut the facing if your original insulation was taped to the L-bracket.

Cut BlueTex™ straight for bottom edge.
Use drywall taping knife or 6” putty knife to push BlueTex™ in between the old insulation and your L-bracket.
Re-use screws from outside to purlins to secure; the screws should line up.
OPTIONAL: Use a thin piece of metal or something like a coat hanger to line up the screw holes if needed. Push from outside and get help putting through original holes. Once one is in, the rest should line up easily.

Option #2 - Push BlueTex™ insulation ON TO existing screws through the floor L-bracket.

If you have screws coming through the L-brackets you should be able to use our insulation washers and push on to secure.
A ½" deep socket works great and use either a hammer to tap on or if you have a hammer drill with hammer only or chisel mode works great to push it on.

Option #3 - Screw BlueTex™ insulation into metal panel rib cavities.

This is similar to the push on screw method except you use our ¾" self-drilling screws and insulation washers to secure the BlueTex™ to the bottom L-bracket.
The KEY here is you can only put the screws where the ribs are in your panel. Otherwise, the screws will penetrate the exterior metal.
Depending on your metal panel type the ribs are usually 9-12 inches apart. The good thing is they are very consistent, so double check the center to center rib distance on the outside of building.
Cut into the old insulation to find a rib, or use a screwdriver to poke through the insulation and find the center of a rib. Then, you can precisely make marks on the L-bracket (or ground) for where the screws will go.

Step 3: The Second Row of Wall Space

Repeat the process from Steps 1 and 2 again, for each wall section in between two girts.
Always start at the top, so the BlueTex™ hangs down like a curtain.
Line up your next piece of BlueTex™, so it's overlapping the first one by an inch and secure the top piece into the bottom of the top wall girt using the term bar. The term bars should touch one another, creating a continuous line of metal across the entirety of the girts, with no gaps.
Then pull the BlueTex™ down and use the term bar to sandwich the BlueTex™ between the bar and the girt. You should have a little "lip" of BlueTex™ coming out under the term bar. Use this lip to pull the BlueTex™ tight so it stays smooth and flat down the wall.

Step 4: Seal Your Seams

Continue moving across the width of the walls until all rows are covered and sealed on top and bottom with term bars or your strips of wood.
Once the wall has been covered up, it's time to seal your vertical seams with the 3" wide white vapor barrier seam tape. It's important to press the tape firmly so that it can bond well to the BlueTex™ to permanently seal the seam.
Cover all your seams with tape and feel free to use tape on the outer edges of each cavity if you have vertical seams.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

Some optional finishing touches you can do include:

Trimming. It's not necessary, but if you want to trim off the excess BlueTex™ that protrudes from under your term bars on the lower wall sections, you can.

Painting. You can paint the BlueTex™ if you'd like or your can just spray white over the term bars/wood bars to help them blend in to the BlueTex™.

If you'd like to see how to cover up old insulation on the ceiling/roofline of a red iron building, check out our install pages here:

Using the EasyClip™ System to Repair Old Insulation on the Ceiling of a Red Iron Style Building

The Roof Cover System to Repair Old, Torn Ceiling Insulation Leaving the Purlins Exposed

You can shop all the items needed for installation right here on our website: Browse All BlueTex™ Products