Insulated panels, freezer doors and temperature-controlled flooring
Insulated panel systems, cooler, freezer and blast freezer doors, and insulated freezer floors, for space that has to hold a temperature: cold storage, beverage distribution, clean rooms, robotics facilities and other controlled environments.
Panel setting, 2026A telehandler lifts a full-height insulated panel into the frame; the crew guides it home.
Where does the temperature have to hold?
Choose the room and we will get to the panel and the door. Every configuration below is specified against the project, not read off a chart.
How a panel gets specified.
Six decisions, in the order we work through them with the architect and the contractor. Open one to see what it decides.
Panel width sets the module, the reveal and how the wall reads. We work the width to the building, not the other way round.
An interior partition panel and an exterior wall panel are different products, with different edges and different fastening.
Exterior configurations where the fastener does not show. A different joint, and a different install sequence.
The facing on each side, chosen for the room it faces: washdown, food contact, traffic, or plain durability.
How one panel meets the next. It is where an envelope holds temperature or stops holding it.
Thickness and core type together decide thermal performance and fire behavior. Specified against the room's design temperature.
Thickness, R-value and skins.
Standard insulated panels run from 2 to 8 inches thick. Insulating value is roughly R-8 per inch, so choosing the thickness is choosing the R-value.
Architectural metal building
Typically R-16, a 2" panel
Cooler or freezer down to -20°F
R-32 minimum, about 4" at R-8 per inch
Fire-rated wall
Mineral fiber core, 4" to 8" by rating
The standard core is polyisocyanurate. Continuous-line panels are foamed in place: the polyisocyanurate is chemically bonded between two roll-formed steel skins.
Polyisocyanurate over G90 galvanized steel is the construction the FM Approvals standards FM 4880 and FM 4881 test. The listing belongs to the manufacturer's tested panel. Ask us which one covers your wall.
On a tall wall, a shadow-line face is preferred over flat smooth. Flat steel at height tends to oil-can, the visible ripple in a flat sheet, and the profile prevents it. Flat smooth on a tall exterior wall needs a signed waiver.
A freezer addition, panel by panel.
Insulated panel walls set against the structural steel, 2026. D.W. Ross coordinated the panel and door specifications with the architect and structural engineer of record, then set the walls and the doors that go in them.
The seam is the whole job.
A panel holds temperature across its face without being asked. Where a room gains or loses one is the line where two panels meet, and how that line is made depends on which side of the building it is on and what the room does for a living.
Exterior concealed-fastener joint
One panel's edge closes into the next, and the fastener that holds the wall to the steel is inside the joint rather than through the face. Nothing to see on the outside, and nothing on the outside to work loose.
Enlarged at the edge where two panels meet
- 1Exterior skin
- 2Foam core
- 3Male and female edges lock together
- 4Concealed clip
- 5The next panel laps over the clip, so nothing goes through the face
- 6Structural fastener into the steel
- 7Warm-side seal
- 8Second seal, where the room calls for it
Interior wall and ceiling joint
The same interlock, on the standard shadow line face, for interior walls and suspended ceilings. It is fastened through the face rather than through a concealed clip. The reveal stiffens the skin and takes the waviness out of a long run. A dead flat face is available for clean rooms, on a limited basis and in a heavier gauge.
Enlarged at the edge where two panels meet
- 1Shadow line profile — standard, on one face or both
- 2Foam core
- 3Male and female edges lock together
- 4Square joint, flush on both faces — no chase to trap washdown water
- 5Seal, captured in the joint
- 6Second seal where the room calls for it
High-rib roof and wall panel
A ribbed outer face, where the rib carries the span and the clip sits over it. Used as a roof panel, or run vertically as an industrial wall. The inside face stays flat, so the room below is still a clean surface.
- 1Ribbed exterior skin
- 2Saddle clip over the rib
- 3Structural fastener into the support
- 4Foam core
- 5Sealant, on the warm side
- 6Flat interior skin
Drawn to show the principle. The panel, the clip and the fastener that suit a given wall come out of the operating temperature, the span and the structure behind it.
Fire-rated wall panels.
Mineral fiber core, in three ratings. The core thickness carries the rating, so the wall gets thicker as the requirement goes up.
They are a viable alternative to tilt-up pre-cast concrete, or to 8" and 12" block, on a wall that has to carry a rating.
The panel face is also a washable surface as it arrives. Block is porous, so getting a cleanable wall out of it usually means a coating or epoxy system applied over it.
One hour
4" mineral fiber core
Two hour
6" mineral fiber core
Three hour
8" mineral fiber core
A rating belongs to the tested assembly: the panel with its skins, joints and supports as listed. Not to the core on its own. Tell us the wall and we will confirm the listing that covers it.
These are wall assemblies. We are not currently offering or representing rated ceilings.
Where the column meets the floor.
High-density urethane isolation blocks, set under the steel column base plates.
They break the thermal path at the column, which is where a freezer floor otherwise drives frost into the ground beneath it and heaves the foundation.
An internal steel column runs through the floor slab and its insulation at the base, so it carries cold straight past the envelope. A structural block takes the column load and interrupts that path, keeping the insulation continuous across the ground slab.
The blocks sit at the same elevation as the subfloor insulation. The column bears on the block, the insulation comes up around it to the top of the block — six inches, on a floor we built recently — and the concrete is poured over the rest. The insulation stays continuous across the ground slab, and the column isolation block is the only thing that goes through the floor insulation.
That thickness is the one on that floor, not a number to specify from. What the assembly under a given slab wants is worked out against the slab, the load and the operating temperature.
Denser blocks carry more and insulate less. Going from 30 to 40 pounds per cubic foot nearly doubles the load the block will take and costs about a fifth of its R value. Compressive strength is to ASTM D1621, at two percent deflection.
The cell structure is closed and inert, so the block does not take up moisture, does not rot or dissolve below grade, and does not set up corrosion in the steel it sits under.
One material, wherever the structure would otherwise carry cold straight through the envelope.
Cooler, freezer, and blast freezer doors, custom fit to each opening.
For openings that cycle constantly and cannot afford to stand open. Freezer-rated systems are part of this family.
High-speed freezer doorsTwo leaves from the center, for wide openings and traffic that has to keep moving.
Bi-parting and single-slide doorsThe leaf lifts rather than swinging aside, for openings where there is no room beside the door for a leaf to travel.
The workhorse cooler and freezer door.
For people rather than pallets, and for the egress route out of a rated envelope.
Heated and unheated configurationsWhen the temperature has to be on the record.
Some rooms have to prove they held temperature, not just hold it. A beverage distributor needed documented hourly records for a keg cooler, so the room was fitted with modem-connected monitoring that logged temperature continuously and produced reporting on a schedule.
What a given room needs on paper depends on who is asking for it. Tell us what you have to be able to show, and we will tell you what the room needs to be able to produce it.
What each door actually is.
Three ways to close a cold opening, and the right one is decided by how the opening gets used rather than how wide it is. Traffic, cycle count, what has to fit through, and the room's design temperature. Tell us those four and the door follows.
Open any row for its sizes, build and rough opening.
Steel pans front and back over a foamed-in-place polyurethane core, with the casing frame clad on every exposed surface in the same material. Hinges are self-rising, so the door lifts slightly as it opens and settles closed against its own weight. The latch releases from the inside even when the outside is padlocked — that is a safety fastener, not a convenience.
- Panel
- #26 gauge pre-painted stucco-embossed steel pans, front and back, reinforced where hardware lands
- Core
- 4 in. foamed-in-place non-CFC polyurethane; 6 in. available on freezer doors
- Insulation value
- R-28 at 40°F cooler · R-32 at 40°F freezer · R-48 on the 6 in. freezer door
- Gasket
- Grease-resistant synthetic skin over a resilient sponge core at sides and head; sweep-type gasket at the sill
- Freezer heat
- Heater cable in the sides and head of the frame and the bottom of the door, at the gasket contact areas. 120 V, 60 Hz, single phase
- Standard sizes
- Up to and including 5 ft 0 in. width-in-clear by 8 ft 0 in. height-in-clear
- Rough opening, step sill
- Buck opening is height-in-clear plus 4 in.; wall opening with jambs is width-in-clear plus 4 in.
- Rough opening, flush sill
- Buck opening is height-in-clear plus 2 in.; wall opening with jambs is width-in-clear plus 4 in.
Two cases the manufacturer says to bring to them rather than order from a table: a room below -20°F or a temperature difference over 90°F, and a freezer door that has to be mounted inside the freezer room rather than in its wall.
An extruded aluminum structure clad in steel over a polyurethane core — the aluminum frame is what lets the leaf stay flat and true at fourteen feet. On a freezer, heater cable runs the top, the sides, the lead edges and the bottom, because on a slide door the lead edge is a sealing surface as well as an opening one.
- Panel
- Extruded aluminum structure clad with #26 gauge pre-painted stucco-embossed galvanized steel
- Core
- 4 in. non-CFC polyurethane; 6 in. available on freezer doors
- Insulation value
- R-28 at 40°F
- Standard sizes
- Up to and including 14 ft 0 in. width-in-clear by 14 ft 0 in. height-in-clear
- Freezer heat
- Heater cable in the top, the sides, the lead edges and the bottom of the door
- Drive
- All-gear operator on power-operated models. 208, 240 or 480 V AC, 60 Hz, three phase; 120 V single phase available
- Travel speed
- 16 in. per second opening on a single leaf; 32 in. per second bi-parting, which is 16 in. per second per leaf
- Wall required
- Two times the width-in-clear plus 1 ft 7 in. Allow 2 ft 10 in. at the control panel for access and 12 in. of door clearance
- Headroom
- Height-in-clear plus 17½ in. on a standard power unit; plus 24½ in. with a hydraulic power unit
On a freezer door the disconnect switch is not supplied with the door, and the frame is drilled on site rather than at the factory. Both are the installer's scope and both are worth pricing before the door lands.
A reinforced PVC curtain with a soft weighted bottom edge, running in a self-lubricating track on galvanized or stainless side frames. There is no rigid bottom beam and no metal inside the curtain, which is what makes it both safe to be hit by and cheap to recover from: struck hard, the curtain releases from the side guide and resets itself on the next cycle instead of tearing.
- Maximum size
- 26 by 26 ft
- Opening speed
- Up to 100 in. per second, depending on door size
- Closing speed
- 32 in. per second
- Curtain
- Reinforced PVC, lacquered both sides, .035 in. at 35 oz per square yard
- Power
- 208, 230 or 460 V AC, three phase, 60 Hz. Circuit breakers by others
- Drive
- Inverter drive control with encoder limit positioning; 2 HP IP 54 motor with the encoder on the drum shaft
- Detection
- Infrared photocell inside the side guide for a pedestrian or vehicle, plus a bottom-edge detector that reverses the door on an obstruction
- Rated cycles
- 1,000,000 performance cycles to EN 12604
- Wind load
- EN 12424 class 4 at 118 by 118 in., class 3 at 197 by 197 in., class 2 at 276 by 197 in., class 1 at 315 by 315 in.
The specification sheet covers ambient through cooler service. Freezer-rated configurations exist and are specified separately — ask for the room's design temperature first, not the door size.
- Coating
- PVC, lacquered both sides
- Base fabric
- Polyester, 1100 dtex, P2/2 weave
- Total weight
- 35 / 38 oz per sq yd · DIN EN ISO 2286-2
- Tensile strength, warp / weft
- 491 / 457 lb per in. · DIN EN ISO 1421/V1
- Tear strength, warp / weft
- 112 / 112 lb · DIN 53363
- Adhesion
- 11.4 lb per in.
- Cold resistance
- -40°F · DIN EN 1876-1
- High temperature
- 158°F
- Flame spread
- Under 3.94 in. per minute · ISO 3795
- Light fastness
- Greater than 6 · DIN EN ISO 105 B02
- Crack resistance
- No cracks at 100,000 cycles · DIN 53359 A
Colors as the manufacturer currently lists them. Reference numbers are being confirmed before they go on the page — ask for a physical sample against anything that has to match.
Construction and performance figures are the manufacturer's published data for these assemblies. We confirm them against current product data on every job before anything is ordered.
Who these rooms get built for.
Our panel and door work is in plants run by leading food manufacturers. We do not publish customer names without their permission, and most of them prefer it that way.
Cheese and dairy
Process and storage environments where temperature and sanitation are the product.
Meat, poultry and pork
Cold rooms, freezers and the wash-down environments around them.
Food manufacturing
Production space built to hold conditions, with the doors and envelope to match.
Food distribution
Cold storage and freezer space where product has to stay at temperature end to end.
Beverage distribution
Keg coolers, and cold storage through canning and packaging, held at temperature from the line to the truck.
Clean-room manufacturing
Controlled interiors across electronics, glass, packaging and life sciences.
Data centers
Temperature-controlled environments and elevated access floors.
Work we can name.
Fat Head's
Brewery
Great Lakes Brewing
Brewery
Heritage Beverage
Coors distributor
Craig, Alaska
Fishery co-op project
Other cold-storage customers stay unnamed. Referrals on request.
Blast-freezer doors are not colder freezer doors.
The temperature difference across a blast-freezer opening is far more severe than a standard freezer runs, and the door is built for it rather than adapted to it. Sliding and personnel versions both.
We service what we sell.
Product we sold is product we stand behind. That means the conversation does not end when the material ships, and it does not end when a paperwork obligation would have ended it.
We back our own product
If something we supplied is not doing what it was specified to do, that is our problem to work through with you.
Replacement, evaluated
An existing freezer or cold-storage door that has reached the end of its life: we will look at the opening and quote replacing it.
Replacing a freezer or cooler doorConsulting on a system that failed
Temperature-controlled environments and freezer systems that have stopped working, including ones we did not build, are something we have been called into for decades. Working out what went wrong is a real part of what we do.
Consulting on failed freezersWe do not run a general repair crew, install doors bought elsewhere or fix other contractors' work. Where a federal inspection citation puts a food plant's processing at risk, we will review it and may remediate. Repairs are quote-based and scoped to the product lines we sell or service. Call the office and ask for Don Ross.
Rooms already built still have to hold.
Damaged walls, separated panel edges and corroded junctions. We do not run a general repair crew, install doors bought elsewhere or fix other contractors' work. Where a federal inspection citation puts a food plant's processing at risk, we will review it and may remediate. Repairs are quote-based and scoped to the product lines we sell or service. Call the office and ask for Don Ross.
Related figures, projects and articles from D.W. Ross.
Bring the drawings, the room size, and the temperature.
Installed by D.W. Ross, or supplied material-only with our people on the phone while yours install.
Cooler and freezer square footage and room height move the conversation fastest. Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM.