Cold-Storage & Freezer Engineering
Freezers and coolers fail at the envelope — not the structure.
A cold-storage building is a continuous battle against vapour drive, condensation, and frost. Get the envelope wrong and you pay for it in ice, mold, energy, and slab heave for the life of the building. ICG provides stamped envelope, condensation, and structural engineering for freezers, coolers, and refrigerated warehouses — so the box performs from day one.
Why cold storage is a different engineering problem.
In a heated building, vapour drives outward in winter and the barrier goes on the warm interior side. A freezer reverses everything. The warm, humid side is outside, year-round, so vapour drives relentlessly inward toward the cold core. Detail it like an ordinary warehouse and moisture condenses and freezes inside the assembly — degrading insulation, growing ice, and lifting finishes.
This is why cold storage needs an engineer who designs to the physics, not a generic envelope spec.
Vapour-drive & dew-point control
Continuous vapour retarder on the correct (warm) side, sealed and unbroken.
Thermal-bridge elimination
Structural penetrations, dock frames, and panel joints become condensation lines if bridged.
Freezer floor / frost-heave protection
Sub-slab heating (glycol or electric) and insulation to stop the subgrade from freezing and heaving the slab.
Transition zones
Cooler-to-ambient and dock interfaces where dew point is crossed and sweating starts.
From a single panel to the whole box.
Envelope design & review
- ▪New cold-storage envelope design (walls, roof, floor, doors)
- ▪IMP (insulated metal panel) wall and roof analysis, panel selection, R-value and joint detailing
- ▪Condensation / vapour-drive / dew-point analysis
- ▪Thermal-bridging review at penetrations, docks, and transitions
- ▪Building permit envelope packages
Cold-storage box & structural design
- ▪Full freezer/cooler "box" design — structure + envelope as one system
- ▪IMP wall and roof panel load/span analysis (wind, snow, internal pressure)
- ▪Freezer floor design, including sub-slab heating and insulation
- ▪Dock, door, and grade-differential details
Assessment & remediation
- ▪Building Condition Assessments
- ▪Envelope condition assessments and condensation/ice failure diagnosis on existing facilities
- ▪Engineering judgments and remediation specifications
National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) · Ontario Building Code (OBC), SB-10 energy · NECB 2020 / 2025 · ASHRAE. Structural design to CSA S16 (steel), A23.3 (concrete), and S136 (cold-formed) as applicable.
Cold-storage and 3PL operators · food and cold-chain distributors · developers building speculative or build-to-suit refrigerated space · cladding and IMP contractors who need stamped panel engineering · warehouse owners adding freezer/cooler rooms.
ICG designs the seismic steel structure and envelope for freezer, cooler, and POS cold-box build-outs inside national warehouse-club retail and food-processing facilities — sub-zero freezers, tall coolers, and IMP panel systems engineered for spans up to 24'-6" under lateral load, including high-seismic (Site Class E) sites with moment- and braced-frame lateral systems. ICG also performs forensic envelope assessments — including post-collapse investigation of a suspended freezer ceiling, with moisture core sampling (readings to 21.8%), suspension-rod capacity analysis, and remediation design.
Clients anonymized · every figure traces to a sealed ICG document.
Common questions.
Where does the vapour barrier go in a freezer?+
On the warm side — the exterior — because vapour drives inward toward the cold interior year-round. This is the opposite of a normal heated building, and getting it wrong is the most common cause of in-wall ice.
Why do freezer floors need heating?+
A freezer slab can drive the subgrade below freezing. The soil freezes, ice lenses form, and the slab heaves and cracks. Sub-slab heating (glycol loops or electric) plus insulation keeps the subgrade above freezing.
Can you engineer just the IMP panels, or the whole box?+
Both. We do standalone IMP wall/roof panel analysis for cladding contractors, and full freezer/cooler box design (structure + envelope) for owners and developers.
Which provinces can you stamp in?+
Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
Building, converting, or troubleshooting a freezer or cooler?
Send us the drawings or the problem — we'll scope it and come back with a quote.