Keeping a garage warm: What would you do next?

[Augusto Orosco]

After getting my Dayton G53 electric heater (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=122266) , I am now looking for further improvements in my garage insulation. I can’t tackle everything this winter due to time and money constraints, so I am looking for the best bang for my time/buck.

It's a 2 car attached garage with 8' ceilings and about 500sf of total area. The garage walls are sheetrocked, but with no insulation (with the exception of the wall that is shared with the house). The ceiling is also sheetrocked, but the attic on top is not insulated. The two garage doors span most of the longest wall and are already insulated with a 1.75” thick rigid foam in between the metal sheets (pre-installed by the manufacturer).

Last weekend, temps went down to the high 20s and the garage was about 40F (without the heater being used). I fired up the heater and had the garage at 50F in about 15 min, but after an hour, it wasn’t getting much warmer than 52. It’s good enough for me to work, but now I am getting ambitious and thinking that 55-60F would be great!

So here is what I have currently in mind:

1) Garage doors: I could add some additional insulation on top of what they already have, but it doesn’t seem like the best first thing to do.

2) I could insulate the attic with some bat insulation. It would be an easy DIY project, and for the 400sf of area, I am probably looking at something in the $300 worth of 30R insulation. I am leaning towards doing this first.

3) I could blow in some insulation through holes in the un-insulated walls (about 400sf of wall area). I have no idea how to do it myself and probably would have to hire someone. Don’t know how much that would cost either.

If you can pick only one of those 3, which one would that be? Any ideas about costs? Any other alternatives I might be missing that would make a bigger impact?

Thanks!

[Baxter Smith]

Ceiling first. Then check the seal on the weatherstripping around the garage doors. They are the biggest draft area on my shop. Maybe they can be adjusted slightly to provide a better seal. If you don't have to open both all the times, you might even consider taping the joints with some magnetic tape where the panels meet. I put some magnetic weatherstripping around mine.

Those extra 5 degrees are nice! Good Luck.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Definitely the ceiling first, no question. Way more bang for your buck there.

Magnetic tape- now that's a fantastic idea! That's the major remaining area I need to address in my shop and I was struggling to come up with a way to take care of it. Thanks!

[paul cottingham]

Just out of curiosity, how much heat loss (or cold ingress) would you get from a floor deain that hooks into the perimeter drains? Would you need to do something about that?

[Bob Borzelleri]

Augusto...

The first thing I would do (and actually did) is spring for this:

http://www.google.com/products/catal...wAQ#ps-sellers

I have used it for diagnosing heat loss throughout the house and the shop. It's the best option I can think of for prioritizing where to focus on heat retention/loss.

You can spend a lot on these things, but the one I refer to in the link is a good combo of fairly inexpensive and accurate.

Once you get over pointing it at the cat, the oven and boiling water, you can really get down to business and know exactly where you need to address heat loss in the garage and anywhere else. too.

...Bob

[Cliff Holmes]

http://www.google.com/products/catal...wAQ#ps-sellers

+1 on the IR thermometer. The thing has so many uses around the house. And my wife uses it to get the griddle to the perfect temperature for pancakes!

Cliff

[Don Jarvie]

Ceiling - if your not going to use the attic for storage, etc use blown in. If you hope to use it then use the batts.

Blow in is messier but also cheaper.

[Rick Moyer]

Definitely ceiling first (heat rises!). I have a similar space. I was fortunate to have the garage walls and ceiling just studs when we moved in last year, so I was able to put in R13 faced on the walls and R19 in the ceiling. My G73 heater runs very little to maintain heat in there and can cook me out if I turn it up.
btw, my doors consume one wall and are also thinly insulated, but don't seem to be a factor. Make sure you seal any air leaks you can find. If you insulate both walls and ceiling, your heater wil heat that space well.

[David Hostetler]

Vapor barrier or not, and direction of kraft facing varies by region, check your local codes, but I agree, fill that attic with kraft faced roll insulation, the thickest you can get in your joists. Mine will take R30, and I am in the middle of doing just that. Remember heat rises, the ceiling will be your greatest heat loss.

AFTER getting the ceiling taken care of, then you can start looking at other areas. I would make sure the doors are insulated, and sealed as well as possible. THEN worry about the walls...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Augusto,

Get some bids from local contractors.

I had the ceiling in my shop blown in by a professional insulation company. It was cheaper than I could do it myself.

The walls I did.

[Augusto Orosco]

Augusto,

Get some bids from local contractors.

I had the ceiling in my shop blown in by a professional insulation company. It was cheaper than I could do it myself.

The walls I did.

I am gathering info on that front too, Ken. I called one yesterday. He mentioned $1,250 for R38 cellulose That's about 7c per square foot of R value (500sf area) and way off my budget!

I will call a couple more; but if they are all in that price range, I think I could do either the bats of the blow in myself for a third of that price!

[David Hostetler]

Assuming price equality between markets, Home Depot lists 58.63 sq ft R30 batts for $44.56 (Kemah Texas). Assuming you need 500 sq /ft and go ahead and grab 10 packages of batts just to be sure you have enough to spare.. You are still under $500.00 for doing the entire attic over the garage.

[Mark Crenshaw]

As I mentioned in an earlier post to this thread, I added blow-in cellulose in my previously uninsulated garage last summer...walls and ceiling...and insulated the door with 2 sided foil roll insulation. Today was the most extreme test of it's effectiveness so far. The outside temp this morning was 8F with windchill of -3F. The temp in the garage, according to my digital weather station, was 50F. Man, that's a worthwhile expenditure! With my portable heatpump, I can get it up to a balmy 60- 65F.

Peace,
Mark

[Lee Schierer]

I would insulate the ceiling first and then the walls. Most importantly you need to get rid of air flow. Any hole to the roof area will dump heat almost as fast as you can make it. Most rental places will rent blowers for blowing in cellulose insulation. It's not my favorite material, but is probably the least cost option for your sheet rock walls. You can also get spray in foam that provides superior insulation, but the cost may be out of your budget.

If you put batts in the ceiling, wear long sleeves and tape on gloves, wear a face mask and wash up with cold water first. Make sure you don't block off the air flow from the soffets through the eaves in the ceiling with the insulation.

[Augusto Orosco]

If you put batts in the ceiling, wear long sleeves and tape on gloves, wear a face mask and wash up with cold water first. Make sure you don't block off the air flow from the soffets through the eaves in the ceiling with the insulation.

One more question regarding the attic: Do I need paper faced or unfaced bats for this? The joists are around 36" on center (IIRC) and the sheetrock panels are attached to 1x2 wodden battens nailed accross the joists