Worth Insulating or waste of $

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user 4883

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Hello everyone,
I am debating the effectiveness of a small project. I have a 2 car attached garage. The common wall is finished. I insulated and plywood sheathed the remaining stud bays on the garage door wall and above the service door in the rear of the garage.
I plan on insulating (R-13/Faced) and sheathing (1/2" ply) the gable wall for now and then come spring, I will insulate the rear wall and sheath with 1/2" drywall.
There is no finished ceiling in the garage and I use the rafters for light storage so I don't know if I'll ever drywall it.
With that being said, am I wasting time and money with the wall insulation and sheathing?
 
Any plans on heating or cooling the garage?
If not then it's a waste of time and money.
If you plan on heating and cooling it would be best to cover that ceiling with 5/8 rock and figure out a different way to store stuff.
 
I disagree, I had a car port and closed it and insulated it. it stayed above freezing even in hard winter. It was heated by the residual heat coming out of the common wall and floor ceiling. In the end my heating bill was less . Now so nice to get into a car that is not frozen stiff.
 
If it were mine, I'd insulate and drywall the ceiling or get the roof deck spray foamed then you could use the ceiling joists as you have been. Just my 2 cents.
 
Without insulating the ceiling you're wasting your time and money. Most of your heat loss will be through the roof since heat rises.

I insulated my unheated, attached garage and find it does help moderate the temperatures a bit. I could throw a small space heater in it if I was working out there to take the edge off. I wouldn't heat and cool it all the time though. I also upgraded to a steel clad insulated garage door when I built.
 
Sometimes it is a good idea to plan for the future. The insulation might not do much now but is also not much cost and if you do sometime want to warm it up with a ceiling or roof insulation then it will be done.
 
You can search the web and find a heat loss calculator. Using that you can find out how much heat is being lost by the uninsulated walls and roof. You will then find out that every piece of insulation helps. The calculator will require you to enter the heating degree days for your location. With that information, you can figure out where the best place is to spend your insulation dollars.

I like the following sites for the information you will need.
Heating degree days: Weather Data Depot: free downloads of heating & cooling degree days
Heat Loss Calculator Home Heat Loss Calculator
 
Garage is not heated nor are there any plans to do so.
I realize the conditions are not ideal and I won't be getting my full money's worth.
However, while not being able to keep the heat from going thru the ceiling, I can reduce the amount of cold coming in from the surrounding walls.
I think I need something like 10 rolls of insulation, 6 sheets of drywall for the backwall (I already have the drywall). I think it will cost around $200.
And the way they framed the corner leaves me with no stud behind a seam, not sure how to proceed on this one (I'll post a pic later).
 
Think of it as going out in the winter with no coat or with a coat or with a coat and hat.



Putting a blanket on a snow pile is not going to melt it.



But in your case there will be some heat loss from the house and insulating the walls will help a little with keeping it in.



I have a neighbor that just stapled up white plastic for a ceiling and has drywall for the walls. He lights a torpedo heater in there and it is warm pretty quick. He said before the plastic it would take forever to warm up.

I personally would just put it in for a 100 bucks and maybe in a few years you may have a reason to want it and it will be done.
 
Think of it as going out in the winter with no coat or with a coat or with a coat and hat.



Putting a blanket on a snow pile is not going to melt it.



But in your case there will be some heat loss from the house and insulating the walls will help a little with keeping it in.



I have a neighbor that just stapled up white plastic for a ceiling and has drywall for the walls. He lights a torpedo heater in there and it is warm pretty quick. He said before the plastic it would take forever to warm up.

I personally would just put it in for a 100 bucks and maybe in a few years you may have a reason to want it and it will be done.
its Amazing how much heat is lost due to leakage. I build the shop in Alberta and when calculating the value of more insulation I learned that the windows and leakage were now the major factor in heating costs. I really worked on the vapor barrier and minimized the size of the windows. The 1,000 square foot building ended up adding about $300.00 to my natural gas bill.
 
Think of it as going out in the winter with no coat or with a coat or with a coat and hat.



Putting a blanket on a snow pile is not going to melt it.



But in your case there will be some heat loss from the house and insulating the walls will help a little with keeping it in.



I have a neighbor that just stapled up white plastic for a ceiling and has drywall for the walls. He lights a torpedo heater in there and it is warm pretty quick. He said before the plastic it would take forever to warm up.

I personally would just put it in for a 100 bucks and maybe in a few years you may have a reason to want it and it will be done.

LOL, I strapped a large blue tarp to the ceiling to trap the heat. Only 1/2 the ceiling is done and it is by no means air-tight. Didn't want to mention that and take the heat for creating a fire hazard. I'm thinking for $200, I'll take what I can get. Currently, in the winter, a snow covered car will be bare by morning, so the space is getting heat from the common wall for sure.
 
its Amazing how much heat is lost due to leakage. I build the shop in Alberta and when calculating the value of more insulation I learned that the windows and leakage were now the major factor in heating costs. I really worked on the vapor barrier and minimized the size of the windows. The 1,000 square foot building ended up adding about $300.00 to my natural gas bill.

On a new build, once your weather/air tight, pressurize the home and look for air leaks. Most common are the windows, doors, top plate and corners. You'd be surprised at how much leakage is present regardless of best efforts.
 
Hello everyone,
I am debating the effectiveness of a small project. I have a 2 car attached garage. The common wall is finished. I insulated and plywood sheathed the remaining stud bays on the garage door wall and above the service door in the rear of the garage.
I plan on insulating (R-13/Faced) and sheathing (1/2" ply) the gable wall for now and then come spring, I will insulate the rear wall and sheath with 1/2" drywall.
There is no finished ceiling in the garage and I use the rafters for light storage so I don't know if I'll ever drywall it.
With that being said, am I wasting time and money with the wall insulation and sheathing?

I am a big believer in insulation. I am also a big believer in insulating garages. I've seen lots of bonus rooms over unheated garages that can't keep a constant temperature. With that being said, I always recommend that you insulate all walls and all ceilings in the garage. This would include the ceiling with an attic over it that you are using for storage. Insulation is cheap and it will pay you back over and over in lower energy bills. You will also be able to work in the garage during colder weather and you will be able to easily heat the garage with small heater if the garage is insulated. If the garage is not insulated, you will never be able to heat it in cold weather.

In addition, many people forget about having an insulated garage door. If your doors are already installed and are not insulated, you might try using some flat Foamular and cut it to fit the garage door panels. Just cut it to the size of the panel and use some adhesive or double faced tape to keep it attached to the inside panels.
 
If it were mine, I'd insulate the walls, add a pull down stair to the attic to improve access. Then I'd insulate and drywall the ceiling. I might do it in stages, so if you're going to drywall the walls, I'd go ahead and insulate it now. It really won't make a difference in the keeping it warm in winter or cooler in summer with the ceiling open to the roof but it is cheap and easy to do before you sheetrock the walls.

I build a screened in porch for a friend a number of years ago. We insulated the ceiling and knee walls on it on the chance that he might install windows later on to make it a four season room. It was cheap to do at the time, but a major pain to do later.
 
Ok, I'm going to insulate the walls to start with and who knows from there.
Out of curiosity, I was wondering how the industry instructs you to install insulation and to my surprise, I guess I've been doing it wrong all these years.
On "Faced" insulation, I always place the staple flange of the vapor barrier over the face of the wall studs versus stapling them to the inside of the studs in the wall cavity.
Anyone else been doing it wrong?
 
Ok, I'm going to insulate the walls to start with and who knows from there.
Out of curiosity, I was wondering how the industry instructs you to install insulation and to my surprise, I guess I've been doing it wrong all these years.
On "Faced" insulation, I always place the staple flange of the vapor barrier over the face of the wall studs versus stapling them to the inside of the studs in the wall cavity.
Anyone else been doing it wrong?
I have seen it done both ways. I go to the inside.
 
I just figured I was closing up the break in the vapor barrier shield with overlapped seams. :(
Sounds logical. I have often wondered how much the paper really does.
 
Sounds logical. I have often wondered how much the paper really does.
The paper is coated with tar, that is what makes it a vapor barrier. The paper itself isn't much of a barrier. The tar also adheres the fiberglass to the paper.
 
Kept digging a little and am hearing pro's for stapling to the inside as it creates a 1" air gap between the wallboard and the insulation face. More importantly, do it this way if you plane to use adhesive on the wall studs.
 

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