Though I would do an update now that I have more or less come up with a plan for my attached garage. With my other build which was intended to get the yard and garden junk out of my garage, I had grandiose visions of using my attached garage to actually park two cars along with extra frig and freeze space and some storage of items that are currently in the house. I was going to insulate and finish the walls, add a few electrical outlets and additional lights, epoxy job on the floor and be done with it. After realizing that my two mid-sized cars were going to be difficult to park on a daily basis, I went on a little rant about builders being cheap.
Not everyone agreed with me. Anyway, I had to rethink my plan. The long term plan is to build a 30x50 auto shop. Since that is a few years off, I decided to try to park one car, (the wife’s) in the garage and use the other half as work space….
We all know that’s BS, in a year or so, when I have an entire frame stripped down in there, neither car is going to fit.
I am going to outline the plan in a few posts covering different topics. I would appreciate any feed back or ideas.
So the first big issue is temp control. Esp. in the summer time. I am honestly not going to work in there if it’s too hot. Right now due to the lack of insulation, in the summer it can get hotter in there than it is on the outside. However, I really don’t think I want to HVAC my garage since eventually it won’t be a shop. So, the plan here is to control the temp as much as possible. The current 2x4 stud walls are sitting on a 2x6 mudsill. The J bolts are located where they will be in the way of any wall covering. So the plan here is to rip 2 inch studs and screw them to the existing studs, flushing them out with the mudsill. This will solve the J bolt problem and let me use R19 insulation instead of R13. Then I will finish the walls with drywall and paint. I am also going to cover over the window. I don’t need to see out and really don’t want anyone looking in. I will put a thin board into the inside of the window and put some insulation between it and the drywall. This will have less insulation but it is on the north side and never in the sun. If I ever re-side the house I will pull it out then.
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The second part of the temp control plan is to keep but remount the two ceiling fans. Originally I had planned to take them out. The redneck who owned the house before me is responsible for the surface mount job you see here. He was plugging it into the outlet with the door lift. They were a good idea because stirring the air up does make it feel cooler, but that installation is just Mickey Mouse.
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The third part of the temp control plan is to replace my garage door. I currently have a Wayne Dalton Door, model 9100. It is an R9 insulated door. However, it has eight windows in the top panel. They are not double pane, no E value or other insulation properties. The garage faces west so all afternoon the sun comes in and turns it into an oven. I am not real sure about the wisdom of having three insulated panels and one that basically isn’t. I think this door is the biggest part of my temp problems. I toyed with the idea of changing the top panel to one without windows but after 12 years in the sun the color wouldn’t match. I did some research and found that Amarr makes a door in the same style that I have now with a 19.4 R-value. Nice fit with the R value of my new walls and it gives me the opportunity to change the lift to a Liftmaster 3800 direct drive. My current lift is pretty loud in the house, esp. in the bonus room above the garage. This solves that problem and also allows me to use a low rise auto lift with the current center mounted screw drive door lift out of the way. This is going to cost me around $1800-$2000, But I have a neighbor with a screwed up garage door. Agreed to sell him mine for $500 and I can still try to sell the current lift on Craigslist.
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And finally if the first three steps don’t work, I can always install a mini split and only run it when I am out there. But I really don’t want to go down that road if I don’t have to.
Something I decided not to do. My current garage door is seven feet high. I have lifted trucks and many of them are just over 7 feet. Since I decided to replace my door, I briefly toyed with the idea of raising the opening to 8 feet. However as you can see in the pic above, there really isn't room. The main chunk of wood over the door is an 3.5 x 18 inch laminated beam. There is only four inches between it and the top plates. I guess I could replace it with steel but that would cost way to much.
