Insulating my detached garage

[Chode2235]

I built a new garage this summer and left the inside unfinished. I decided to save a few bucks and finish the inside myself as I have a bit of time this winter.

The walls are open to the studs right now, except one wall has the double 5/8 sheetrock for fire code and is batt insulated behind it.

I was thinking I would just do batts and finish it off by hanging 1/2 OSB around the rest of it, but I was talking to a friend who suggested that I 'blow' it.

Was he talking about the same stuff I have in my attic, or something else. It sounded a bit like he was talking about a spray foam.

What are my options and what are the pros and cons of each method? Thanks.

[lovebigbluegills]

In my garage, I used batts in the walls and batts in the ceiling. I wish now that I would've blown in about a foot of insulation up there to help with the heating a bit more. But I will admit that the 6" batts up there do pretty well.

I assume he meant blowing insulation into the attic. I would think that spray-foaming the walls would be a pita if you were going to sheet the inside.

[BoxMN]

THe foam being blown into walls would be the best. High R value and vapor barrier built in. The onyl downside is the cost, from what I know.

For the ceiling, you can blow in the cellulose stuff, or other material, but it needs to piled high and not good if you plan to use it for storage up there. But you can get higher r value for going deeper, and it is relatively cheaper than other. You need to rock/finish the ceiling first for this method.

For mine, totally detatched, I put in r-15 batts in walls, and r-15 batts in ceiling (I only have 2x4 trusses and I use the attic for storage, so the heaviest I could go with batts and still fit).

I still need to finish rocking it, but it holds heat well, and leaving the furnace on out there all winter (at about 36 unless I am out there) doesn't affect the heat bill as much as I would think.

Good luck. I am no carpenter, so take contractor/caprpentors word above mine

[Steve Foss]

THe foam being blown into walls would be the best. High R value and vapor barrier built in. The onyl downside is the cost, from what I know.

+1.

Definitely not your average DIY project, but I've sure liked what I've seen with this stuff blown on.

[Erin_Meyer]

I also used r-11 batts in my attic and it has'nt gone below 28 degrees in there yet and it only takes about an hour to heat up with a sunflower. I also put up OSB but it took three coats of paint to cover. Stay away from celluose it is [PoorWordUsage], go to blown fiberglass. Have you ever thought about steel liner panel? Much nicer and no painting. I have done this a number of times on the job, just couldn't afford it for mine.

[Chode2235]

I also used r-11 batts in my attic and it has'nt gone below 28 degrees in there yet and it only takes about an hour to heat up with a sunflower. I also put up OSB but it took three coats of paint to cover. Stay away from celluose it is [PoorWordUsage], go to blown fiberglass. Have you ever thought about steel liner panel? Much nicer and no painting. I have done this a number of times on the job, just couldn't afford it for mine.

Say more about the steel liner panels. I am not sure I know what you are talking about.

Sounds like batts are probably the easiest and best considering my walls aren't finished.

I have 2x4 walls, and have an attic for storage. Will I want to insulate the ceiling as well as the 'roof' of the storage room too?

[pike doctor]

I would use batts on the wall and DIY (prolly r15). Spray foam is awesome, but going to be about 5 times as expensive as if you DIY. Then polly the walls and ceiling. Make sure to tape around electirical boxes and other pentrations through the walls and ceiling. Tyvek tape works good.

Do you have attic trusses? If you do that means you should have at least a 2*8 bottom chord. I would just insulate the ceiling of the garage. Pics of you project would really help. Dont insulate the attic unless you are going to have a room up there.

As far as fishing the garage I would not use OSB. I would save some extra dollars and hang up steel. I did this to my father-in-laws garage and he loves it. We ran the steel horz on the wall to cut down on mat. cost. You can go to a lumber yard and tell them the lengths you need, and they can have them cut for you and ready to install. If the garage gets dirty he can polly the outlets and light and powerwash it and be done in no time. Then there is no painting, mice cant chew through it, and it looks really good.

After you have everything done blow in the ceiling. Hope this helps. I had a lot of fun doing his garage that way.

[randerson]

the steel liners are like pole barn metal looks great extra bright and now extra finishing. You will only want to finish the ceiling the attic area should be a cold storage area / or do the roof and make sure you have good vents

[BoxMN]

Not to hijack thread, but if you put steel (white of course) on ceiling, how do you cut around for electrical/lights? Cause the steel is "ribbed" and prolly have about 1.5" protrusion. I am thinking about doing that in my garage, it is nice and bright. Thanks.

[pike doctor]

Not to hijack thread, but if you put steel (white of course) on ceiling, how do you cut around for electrical/lights? Cause the steel is "ribbed" and prolly have about 1.5" protrusion. I am thinking about doing that in my garage, it is nice and bright. Thanks.

Move the outlets or lights where ever you want to so they dont land on ribs. Then you measure off of one end and do all of your measuring and cutting from the same end on the piece of steel. I would really suggest the one piece option. It can be a pain to handle. We spanned 26 ft with two guys, but it looks SOOOO nice when its done. The ceiling is the hardest part. If I could do it again I would have done the ceiling, and not put any J channel up. Instead I would have ran the J over the top later for the walls to cover everything up.

If the block is wider than the sill plate on the bottom we took some white coil and bent it in a break to finish of the sill.

[11-87]

Move the outlets or lights where ever you want to so they dont land on ribs. Then you measure off of one end and do all of your measuring and cutting from the same end on the piece of steel. I would really suggest the one piece option. It can be a pain to handle.

[quijibo]

I would recommend r-11 - r-15 for the walls and blow in insulation in the ceiling. Make sure to use a good vapor barrier, I suggest 6 mil. You are going to lose most of your heat through your slab and your garage door, so don't bother with the added expense of spray in foam.

I have insulated a detached garage and finished the inside with OSB and it turned out very well. I did put a few coats of white paint on the OSB though. I liked it because I could put up shelves anywhere I wanted. I am a Carpenter and keep a lot of stuff in my garages. When we moved they filled over a third of the 53' trailer with my garage stuff. It was a 24' x 24' garage and I was able to park 2 trucks and a motorcycle in there. I don't think that I would like ribbed steel inside at all, too much of a pain for electrical shelving and remodeling.

Adam

P.S. I would also recommend an electrical subpanel out there too, it makes adding a welder, A/C, heat etc... a lot easier.

[Down Deep]

I have a detached 30 X 36 with 9 foot walls. 2 X 6 construction with one 16 foot one 9 foot door. I used faced batts in the walls and laid in 8 inch unfaced fiberglass in the ceiling and used poly. Then I rocked it and taped it off. Rock is a lot easier to hang than OSB because it can be easily cut to fit. I live up north outside of Duluth and the garage stays well above the ambient temp outside. I have never seen it go below freezing. I have a HotDawg 75000 to heat it up when I need it. It gets to 70 degrees in about 45 minutes.

[Tom7227]

It seems to me that everyone is recommending insulating the garage as if it were going to be fully heated all the time. I don't know if that's your plan or not but if it isn't going to be heated 24/7 you can give some thought to cutting back a bit on what you do and spending the money on a good furnace. I'm all for energy conservation but there's a line where the payback doesn't make sense.

Spend some time at the big box stores and get some numbers and then consider what makes sense for your setup and planned use. If you intend to heat it all the time then I agree with the recommendations to go full bore and put either blown fiberglass or cellulose in the ceiling and batts in the walls. Also consider doing something to seal the floor so it's easier to clean and keep dry. There have been a number of threads about this subject and the advice is all over the place.

As for the walls, again how much are you going to use it? The steel panels make for a very nice clean setup that is easy to maintain. The chipboard isn't as nice looking but again, how much can you afford?