Garage to woodshop conversion

[Matt Krusen]

My fiancé and I just bought our house and of course the first project on my list is to complete my shop. I'll be converting our oversized 2-stall garage into the shop. The dimensions are 29'x23'. I've got a decent layout planned, although my fiancé's car will remain in the front of one stall...

So my first question for you all is what you suggest for insulation. The shop is standard 2x4 framed. Is the typical R13 going to cut it? I am in South Bend, IN. As far as the ceiling goes, I'm leaning toward simply closing off the small attic space and blowing in insulation up to about R39. Does this all sound sufficient?

As always, thank you for the advice! I'm really excited to get this started and move on to some true woodworking.

Thank you,
Matt

[Rick Potter]

Subscribe to the free WOOD mag weekly shop tip thingie. This week the subject is..........wait for it............garage shop conversions.

Rick Potter

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Matt,

Take a look at Roxul for the insulation. I'm converting a 2 car sized outbuilding at the moment and used Roxul for insulating the walls and ceilings. It has a higher R value than fiberglass -R15 for 2x4 studs, is easy to install - it comes in bats that press between the studs and can be cut with a serrated knife (or in my case a fine toothed pull saw), is fire and rodent resistant and doesn't itch. And as an added bonus it helps with noise control. I'm in Fort Wayne and I've seen a big improvement in the heat retention now that the walls and ceiling are done. Lowes now carries the wall sizes and will order the roof sizes if you need.

Cliff

[Matt Krusen]

Cliff,

Just checked out Roxul and I think I found my answer for the walls at least. Best part is American Electric Power is running a 50% rebate on the stuff so its actually quite a bit cheaper than regular fiberglass. My fiancé and neighbors will love the noise control as well. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Matt,

Yes, I saw that. I believe the rebate is for insulation that is installed by one of Energizin Indiana's contractors. But even without the rebate the small cost difference with fiberglass is more than made up for with the advantages, in my humble opinion.

Cliff

[Scott Driemel]

Okay, having just done this decision making on insulating my shop here in Northwest, I've come to this conclusion based upon advice and being really honest with myself. Mine is a shop that is "new" to me. Same as yours. Although insulating is a good thing, it offers pro's & cons in my case which may be applicable to you. Having just had the shop wired for where I think & presume, the best locations for my various machines are, was what I had to do. Insulating the walls / ceiling is really tempting right now. But ... I wonder if after 6 months of actually using the shop if I'll be deciding to do some considerable re-arranging. For me, not having had a nicely appointed shop before, to finalize the drops, plugs, lighting, work paths, etc was premature. I hope I've done it right. But for the sake of running the shop for a while until I'm sure, outweighs the insulation priority for me. Especially if the insulation means the drywall or plywood then goes on. Yes, we can take it down, only use screws, undo the vapour barrier, pull out the insulation etc. But my 25 cents would be to wait. Run the shop for awhile like Mr.Scrooge (no heat for the worker) and really get a feel & an idea for how you want to have the shop in the end. I admire people who have a lot of woodworking experience and can reflect back and say, "I know exactly how I want to lay this out". I didn't have that expertise. So for me it's going to be trial & error. I figured better to wait to see, than to finalize with a finished wall. (Now if running conduit on the inside of the shop, then this won't apply). I see how being able to move certain lights to eliminate or minimize shadows cast by myself while standing at the machines makes a big difference. I'm glad I left some wiggle room on my wiring runs to do that. ... and I'm really glad I didn't insulate & put up the wall board.
PS: Best to break it to your fiance now, she needs to experience the zeal & fresh air of parking outside.

[Jeff Erbele]

Okay, having just done this decision making on insulating my shop here in Northwest, I've come to this conclusion based upon advice and being really honest with myself. Mine is a shop that is "new" to me. Same as yours. Although insulating is a good thing, it offers pro's & cons in my case which may be applicable to you. Having just had the shop wired for where I think & presume, the best locations for my various machines are, was what I had to do. Insulating the walls / ceiling is really tempting right now. But ... I wonder if after 6 months of actually using the shop if I'll be deciding to do some considerable re-arranging. For me, not having had a nicely appointed shop before, to finalize the drops, plugs, lighting, work paths, etc was premature. I hope I've done it right. But for the sake of running the shop for a while until I'm sure, outweighs the insulation priority for me. Especially if the insulation means the drywall or plywood then goes on. Yes, we can take it down, only use screws, undo the vapour barrier, pull out the insulation etc. But my 25 cents would be to wait. Run the shop for awhile like Mr.Scrooge (no heat for the worker) and really get a feel & an idea for how you want to have the shop in the end. I admire people who have a lot of woodworking experience and can reflect back and say, "I know exactly how I want to lay this out". I didn't have that expertise. So for me it's going to be trial & error. I figured better to wait to see, than to finalize with a finished wall. (Now if running conduit on the inside of the shop, then this won't apply). I see how being able to move certain lights to eliminate or minimize shadows cast by myself while standing at the machines makes a big difference. I'm glad I left some wiggle room on my wiring runs to do that. ... and I'm really glad I didn't insulate & put up the wall board.
PS: Best to break it to your fiance now, she needs to experience the zeal & fresh air of parking outside.

I am aware of your conduit exception making the point of waiting to finish the walls void. That is exactly the route I chose in our garage and work shop of our new house under construction for several reasons.

The builder is fully insulating, drywalling and painting the garage and the workshop. I could have the builder pre-wire the work shop but their prices range from high to outrageous. Further I could spend an infinite number of hours pre-planning my workshop and never get it right. And I doubt even after working in it for a fair amount of time that I would wire it correct for my estimated needs and and unknown future needs. At this point I own very few shop machines compared to what I plan on buying and I don't even know how many and which types I will end up with. That is why I opted for conduit; easy to add, move or expand.

RE: Run the shop for awhile like Mr.Scrooge (no heat for the worker).
Depending on time and timing, climate and season; one could insulate the walls, install the vapor barrier, sheet rock the ceiling and leave the walls unfinished while you test run the shop.

[John Coloccia]

Are there support columns in your garage? If so, spend whatever it takes to get rid of them. That's one regret I have...those support columns have been a thorn in my side from day one.

[Julie Moriarty]

The shop is standard 2x4 framed. Is the typical R13 going to cut it? I am in South Bend, IN. As far as the ceiling goes, I'm leaning toward simply closing off the small attic space and blowing in insulation up to about R39. Does this all sound sufficient?

I'm in the Chicago area. We have R13 in the garage walls and R43 in the ceiling, half batt & half blown. The garage is connected to the house but not heated. During the winter it's about 10-15 degrees warmer in there than outside, unless it's windy. The door is where most of the heat loss is and when it's windy it blows into every nook and cranny it can find. Our door has R17 insulation, but without a good seal, that doesn't mean much. I think you could spend a lot of time and money insulating your garage but if your door(s) aren't insulated and well sealed, all that wall and ceiling insulation won't do you much good. You also might want to consider isolating the space for your wife's car, if you have dual doors. Every time that door opens, you'll lose a lot of heat.

[Jeff Erbele]

Are there support columns in your garage? If so, spend whatever it takes to get rid of them. That's one regret I have...those support columns have been a thorn in my side from day one.

As I read the OP, Matt was concerned about adequate insulation.

[Matt Krusen]

Thanks everyone for the responses. As far as insulation goes, I'm going to go with the R15 Rolux. Cliff, thanks for that suggestion. Blow in R43 in the ceiling and insulate/seal the crap out of the garage door. I'm going to insulate/vapor barrier and spend some time working out there to dictate exactly how I want to run my electrical. Lastly, I'll run a gas line out there for heat and finish up the walls with either OSB or Masonite composite siding. Thanks for the advice everyone!

[Stew Hagerty]

Hey neighbor, Fort Wayne here. I have an attached and oversized 3-car that I converted. I took over about 60% of the space for my shop, with another 10% for typical garage stuff that leaves enough room for my wife to pull in our Grand Cherokee and walk around it. Although I do have most of my machines on mobile bases, They are, for the most part, in the spot where they are typically used. I do, however, take over the space after she pulls the car out for breaking down sheet goods and assembly. As for insulation, I have R38-40 in the ceiling, R13 batts in the walls (with Tyvek over solid plywood exterior sheathing and finished drywall on the inside), and well sealed 2" thick Clopay overhead doors (R18.4). While I do not have any real "heat" in the garage, my furnace and water heaters are out there and do naturally impart some warmth to the space. Prior to putting my shop out there, the temp never dropped below about 50 degrees out there even in sub-zero conditions. One of the things I did while setting up was to add a closeable vent into the humidifier return pipe. When it's going to close to or below zero, I open that up and it adds just enough that I can always maintain at least 60 degrees. My problem is actually cooling, I am disabled and very sensitive to temps above about 75 degrees, so this year I'm planning on adding some air conditioning.