Keeping a garage warm: What would you do next?

[Augusto Orosco]

I was able to finish the attic yesterday night. Overall, the whole project took me about 4 hours due to some areas that had additional divisions and forced me to do more cutting than expected. I ended up using about 560sf of R30 insulation.

I also used one of those spray foams (I think they are caled 'good stuff') to cover gaps I found around the door jams and around the garage door frames. I will do some additional caulking later. I also noticed that the weather stripping in one side of one of the garage doors is leaving a 1/4" gap that runs for about one foot. This happened because the garage door is a little bowed towards the inside (bumped the car against it a long time ago ).

Yesterday was probably one of the coldest days of the season; the temperature outside was about 11F with strong wind (sub zero wind chills). My garage had gone down to 34F, which I guess says something about the partial insulation it had before. The concrete floor was also very cold. After finishing with the insulation, I fired up the heater and it raised the temp aprox. 5F. every 30 min. It got to 50F after 90 minutes. I wanted to wait and see how long before it reached 60F, but it was already past midnight, so I went to bed. I'll try again this afternoon and see how it performs. I am particularly interested on see how frequently it has to cycle to keep at 55F-60F.

I am sure the gap I found in the garage door is making things harder: I could feel the air coming from it. I have to decide how to best address that problem.

[Bryan Hosford]

I have a one car garage and have the same issue with heating. My walls and ceiling are all insulated and sheetrocked, but my floors get really cold. so I'm going to try the floating floor that was in a FW issue. Basically 2x4s, 4x8 plywood and 2x4x8 insulation sheets. looks quick and easy and should help the space heat faster.

[brian watson]

Can you post the particular issue # this was in?

[Bob Winkler]

Not sure if this is the same issue Bryan was talking about, but Issue #160 of FWW Tools&Shops had a wooden floor article. PT 2x4 sleepers with foam insulation in the bays, covered by plywood.

I am considering this also, but am worried about moisture entrapment under the foam, with eventual mold possibilities. I am now leaning towards a vented floor such as dricore or Delta-FL that has an airspace. Maybe I'm being overly anal, but I want to get it right.

Bob

[Augusto Orosco]

I was able to finish the attic yesterday night. Overall, the whole project took me about 4 hours due to some areas that had additional divisions and forced me to do more cutting than expected. I ended up using about 560sf of R30 insulation.

I also used one of those spray foams (I think they are caled 'good stuff') to cover gaps I found around the door jams and around the garage door frames. I will do some additional caulking later. I also noticed that the weather stripping in one side of one of the garage doors is leaving a 1/4" gap that runs for about one foot. This happened because the garage door is a little bowed towards the inside (bumped the car against it a long time ago ).

Yesterday was probably one of the coldest days of the season; the temperature outside was about 11F with strong wind (sub zero wind chills). My garage had gone down to 34F, which I guess says something about the partial insulation it had before. The concrete floor was also very cold. After finishing with the insulation, I fired up the heater and it raised the temp aprox. 5F. every 30 min. It got to 50F after 90 minutes. I wanted to wait and see how long before it reached 60F, but it was already past midnight, so I went to bed. I'll try again this afternoon and see how it performs. I am particularly interested on see how frequently it has to cycle to keep at 55F-60F.

I am sure the gap I found in the garage door is making things harder: I could feel the air coming from it. I have to decide how to best address that problem.

Yesterday I fired up the heater as soon as I got home. The garage was at 40F (outside temps were on the high 20s and not nearly as windy as yesterday). I got inside for dinner and spent some time with my wife and daughter. After my daughter was in bed, I got into the garage (probably about 90 minutes had elapsed) and the garage was at a very comfy 60F . The heater was cycling probably about 50% of the time, so armed with a caulking gun I started inspecting the garage looking for drafts.

I found out that there were still some leaks around door frames, windows and the garage doors, so I started sealing those. Then I noticed that along the full length of two walls there are two pieces of wood butted together supporting the sheetrock on top of the concrete base (about 1 foot above ground level). The two pieces are not straight, so there is a small gap in between them which allows for air filtration all through the length of the two walls. The gap is not big (probably 1/4 inch at its widest), but it spans the full length of the two walls, about 40 feet !

I have a lot of stuff against the walls that needs to be moved so I can seal the gaps. It was getting late, so I called it a night and will tackle it this weekend.

The cold concrete floor certainly makes warming the garage harder, but I don't have the time or budget to install a subfloor right now. I think finish sealing all these gaps will make a difference, though!

[Bryan Hosford]

I was worried about the moisture as well, so I'm laying down 5 mil plastic under everything. And yep thanks the article in FW

[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

[Dan Burstyn]

Hi Augusto,

The ceiling is first. I insulated mine last year. It stays around 50 degrees, even when it is very cold outside.

My next problem is that the top of my garage door does not get close enought to the header to actually seal correctly and I lose a fair amount of heat that way. I can run a small electric heater for hours and not make much of a difference. So make sure that you are sealed up as well.

If you shop around, you can find insulation on your local craigslist (assuming houses are still being built in your area). Generally there is always someone that over buys, and then sells the extras for cheap.

Also, in my area there are a couple of discount/overstocked home stores.
They sell things cheaply.

Also Habitiat for Humanity has a store (where they sell stuff that they can't use on their local project that was donated to raise $ for stuff they need). I have found an ocassional item that I needed there cheap.

Also, in theory insulation will be cheaper in the spring time, as it will be out of season (maybe).

Also, while the R factor is not great, you could use the syrofoam (blue) 2" insulation as well (assuming you can get that cheap). Rremeber something in better than nothing.

Also - a Caution. The sheet rock, on the garage wall that butts up against the house, may not be generic sheetrock.

Mine, according to my local code is fire resistant grade sheet rock.
When I checked with my local zoning folks (I wanted to run additional wiring in the garage for some of my machines), I had to make sure that there were no holes in the fire sheetrock, and all holes in studs had to be filled with special fire resistant caulking, etc. The idea is to keep the garage and house "seperate" from a fire prospective.

Good luck. Also, if you can get a little here and there, put in some rafter by rafter (when you can get it cheap). You don't have to do it all in a weekend.

Good Luck,
Dan B.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

It's probably too late for paper faced bats. The paper is a vapor barrier and must face the heated side. Your heated side is already covered with sheet rock. I believe bats with no paper are called for.
fmr