"Finishing" a garage

[lawdog]

In my garage, of the three walls not attached to my house, one wall has paper faced insulation rolled into it and its not covered. The second wall doesn't even have insulation and of course the third wall has the two garage doors and the walk in door, but no insulation or anything in the wall area. The ceiling is all closed in and insulation blown in (except for the openings to get up there aren't insulated, just covered by 1/2" plywood).

I would like to insulate the rest of this garage and finish it off a bit more. I don't need it to be sheetrocked and textured and everything like an inside room, I was really just thinking 1/4" blandex over the top of the insulation. Is this a good cheap way to do this with Blandex or is there a better not too expensive way? Also, what should I put in there for insulation? I have no idea what the stuff on that north wall is now...

[anyfishwilldo]

The cheapest way to do it would to buy r-13 (I'm assuming 2x4 walls, r-19 with 2x6) unfaced bats, and roll them in. After they are all rolled in, staple poly over it and cover the walls with the covering of your choice.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

anyfishwilldo,

Why the unfinished bats???

Mike

[Nutty Fisherman]

From what I under stand the unfaced bats are used when you put poly over it. Also I think it's cheaper

[B@ssDoctor]

The kraft faced insulation is a way to hit to birds with 1 stone. The poly is probably a little more trustworthy in the long run, +15 years, but he kraft faced insulation is a cinch to hang.

BTW...At the current price of CDX or blandex, you would be better off hanging 7/16 on the wall for durability. It is your choice of course, but 7/16 CDX is going for around 5.50 a sheet.....

[marine_man]

One thing to consider on the wall covering is to put pegboard on one wall / portion of a wall for your covering...

marine_man

[End of the Line]

Maybe another option would be spray 2" of Urethane foam in and not sheet it at all.

[WaveWacker]

Just got done doing the same thing. I believe I used R-11 faced insulation. Just staple the face tabs onto the studs and cover. I used 1/2" plywood on my walls.

[swampman]

I know a couple of people that have used blandex/osb for there garages and it has worked good. I wouldnt use 1/4 inch though I would go to 7/16 the 1/4 inch is pretty flimsy and may bow. also if you paint it the guys I know that did it said put the finished side in or you will use alot of paint.

[Bobby Bass]

I would use the paper faced insulation, for ease in installation. Putting plastic over the whole wall for a vapor barrier if you plan on heating the garage down the road. I would use a combination of material to finish off the inside walls. I would use 1/2 plywood on the lower 4' and the 1/2 Sheetrock on the upper half. The wood will stand up to abuse better and allow you to hang a screw or nail anywhere to hang shelves or secure benches. I to would put in pegboard in your work area. The sheet rock on the upper half gives you a more finish look and allows you to work around lights and outlet boxes. Speaking of before you start closing up your walls make sure you have enough outlets in place. When you are all done go in with a sprayer and paint. Better to do it now because none of those building materials are going to get any cheaper by waiting.

[JohnMickish]

Ask your insurance guy before you put pegboard, blandex or CDX on the inside of an attached garage. The reason that sheetrock is used in houses and garages is that sheetrock dosen't burn and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that 5/8 sheetrock provides a 2 hour fire rating when taped.

[lawdog]

The wall between the house and garage is completely finished already so I don't know that that would matter much will it? That's the fire barrier.

[VMS]

I have sheetrocked the entire garage, but I have considered going over the top of it with some fiberglass or sealed wallboard. It would be waterproof except for the joints which could be covered... If you go white, the garage lights will reflect more and if you go flourescent, it will be really bright.

Steve

[JohnMickish]

Lawdog, I know that is the wall for a fire barrier. I threw that information in there for anyone else that might need it. What I'm getting at is your insurance people might not like the combustable material lining your garage. Better to be safe than sorry. It would really suck to lose a house due to a garage fire and have the insurance company turn down the claim.

Besides that I am not sure that building codes will allow such a thing on an attached structure?? Better to be safe than sorry.

[JustinG]

Here is what I did in my garage. Installed 4" unfaced bats in walls and 6" in the ceiling. Covered all insulation with clear plastic. Sheeted with 15/32 Oxboard on ceilings and walls-no bows after 4 years. Installed outlets every 4' along walls-you can never have enough! First coat of paint I went to all the hardware stores in town and bought all of their light colored latex "oops" paint. That is paint that the clerks in the stores made a mistake on and mixed the wrong color-you can usually get this for about $5 a gallon. Mix them all together in a 5 gallon bucket and start painting-this will save you lots of money because oxboard sucks the paint up BIG TIME. Next, you can buy your finish coat paint and spread that-I used white for maximum light. Finally, I purchased a hot dog gas furnace and installed it myself-The garage heats up fast and doesn't use much gas at all because I insulated the garage door also.

I am personally glad that I didn't use drywall because of moisture when your car melts snow off in the winter, the floor and everything is kinda wet in there. I know I also would have punched a few holes in the walls if I had sheet rock in there also.

Hope this helps!!

Justin

[The_Duckslayer]

If you can afford it you could put 3/4 inch plywood up on the walls. The benifit of that would be you could pretty much hang anything anywhere you wanted to after that. Just a thought././Jimbo

[kaz2611]

i suggest kraft faced insulation 3/8 or 1/2 plywood or sheetrock however if you decide on sheetrock definately poly walls before drywalling if you have noticed in homes that have friction fit insulation over time gravity will draw the insulation down so the top 4 to 8 inches of your wall will no longer be insulated. go with kraft faced.

[soldoncass]

I would go with friction fit, unfaced insulation and cover with poly, then sheetrock. I don't like the paper or kraft faced stuff at all- much too hard to work with. You can't tell if the insulation is tucked into the corners properly- the paper is in the way and tears easily. Paper is supposed to be the vapor barrier also, so you never want 2 vapor barriers - that creates problems- so if you use that NO POLY with it. Most attached garages have 1 course of block above the floor, under the walls so moisture shouldn't be a problem.

Something to think about; Firewalls should be sheetrocked from floor to roof sheeting ,or up to the SHEETROCKED ceiling (including the access), to create a firebreak between the house and garage. You didn't say what was on the ceiling, but the access has plywood, so I assume something similar on the ceiling?