Bonus room under garage

[WNY Tony]

Hi All - I am buying a house that has a 2 car garage with a suspended floor and a full bonus room under the garage. It has I-beams supporting the garage floor, and the ceiling height in the basement bonus room is about 7'2" to the bottom of the I-beams and 8' to the concrete ceiling. This will be my wood shop and I'd like to finish the room nicely.

Here is my main question - it looks like there is spray foam insulation on the ceiling of this lower level, which will complicate me putting a ceiling in between the I-beams. Does this insulation serve a specific purpose? I want to make sure it isn't something like a fireproofing solution or something like that. I plan to occasionally heat the lower space, and I have always thought that spray foam needed to be covered with either steel roofing material or drywall. Again, I am brainstorming ways I could make a decent ceiling look without simply giving up and attaching something to the bottom of the i-beams and losing that ceiling height in between the beams. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Orionrising]

if the spray is a rough texture thing on ibeams it is probabky fireproofing

 

[WNY Tony]

Thanks for the reply. It seems like the top half of the I-beams are coated in the spray foam in additions to the ceiling in the lower level. I will have to wait until we get closer to closing to see the house again, but I think it was a smoother finish on the foam as compared to some of the pictures I see online for fireproofing foam sprays.

 

[Orionrising]

If it's mostly on the slab and doesn't entirely cover beams it is probably insulation especially if it's thick

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[WNY Tony]

I only saw it twice for a quick minute each time, but it seemed to be 2-3" thick if I had to guess.

 

[bastage]

A lot of that foam gets a hard surface to it when it dries.. If thats the case & its relatively uniform I would just paint it. You could also trim the foam until it is relatively flat then paint it & it would look like a textured ceiling.

 

[WNY Tony]

That's a cool idea to trim it uniformly and paint it. Certainly it would cut down on the cost of the ceiling. Do you have any suggestions on methods to trim the foam?

The only other thing is that I want to mount T-8 lights where the foam currently resides. I suppose I could mount some 1x6 material or something like that, screw through the foam and into the concrete and then mount the lights to that.

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

I think these are GREAT!

My former step-daughter and her HB had one of these in their house.

Only downside I saw is that it always seemed damp in there. House was in suburban Minneapolis.

 

[WNY Tony]

Moisture is definitely on my mind in this room, although we have received 6" of rain in a month, and the basement crock is bone dry, so I do think the ground drains really well. I am thinking I will create some type of ventilation strategy to ensure fresh air turnover.

For now, I have to give some more thought to trimming the foam to make the ceiling somewhat presentable, and able to accept/mount lights.

 

[bastage]

That's a cool idea to trim it uniformly and paint it. Certainly it would cut down on the cost of the ceiling. Do you have any suggestions on methods to trim the foam?

The only other thing is that I want to mount T-8 lights where the foam currently resides. I suppose I could mount some 1x6 material or something like that, screw through the foam and into the concrete and then mount the lights to that.

Timing it shouldn't be too hard. Any type of a blade with an edge should do it. Even maybe make one out of some flat stock aluminum and a grinder to get it wide enough to make it easy.

As for lights check out the t5 LED lights on Amazon that Daisy chain together. They weigh almost nothing. Using a plastic red head type sheetrock anchor into the foam would probably be more then sufficient.

 

[K13]

Why would you want lights stuck up between beams? It would think it would cut down on their effectiveness quite a bit and would require a lot more fixtures to have effective lighting.

 

[bastage]

Why would you want lights stuck up between beams? It would think it would cut down on their effectiveness quite a bit and would require a lot more fixtures to have effective lighting.

With only 7'2" to the bottom of the beams I would add more lighting fixtures before I would add below the beams as well.

 

[WNY Tony]

Why would you want lights stuck up between beams? It would think it would cut down on their effectiveness quite a bit and would require a lot more fixtures to have effective lighting.

I was just trying to keep the light fixtures a little higher, and that they would be a little better protected. You bring up a good point to make sure I get enough light. I think if I can grind down the foam smooth and even, and then mount the lights to it, I bet the lights only sit 6" higher than the beams, and there is 54" in between beams so I think I might be OK with shadows but I should double check. My goal was to put (2) 8' light fixtures in each "bay" between the i-beams.

 

[bastage]

I was just trying to keep the light fixtures a little higher, and that they would be a little better protected. You bring up a good point to make sure I get enough light. I think if I can grind down the foam smooth and even, and then mount the lights to it, I bet the lights only sit 6" higher than the beams, and there is 54" in between beams so I think I might be OK with shadows but I should double check. My goal was to put (2) 8' light fixtures in each "bay" between the i-beams.

with 54" between the beams your lights are approx 27" from the beams (a little less in reality, but keeping the math simple) so with 6" vertical jump 27" away the shadow cast by each beam should be limited to about 2" below the beams (since you'll have another light coming from the other side). Use a high gloss white paint on the foam & the beams & you should be more then fine.

With that low of an overhead I would be more worried about how small it would feel. So go overkill on the lighting & the white ceiling it should make things feel much bigger & be more then ample for what your trying to do.


And these are the light weight fixtures I was talking about: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUKSZE3/?tag=atomicindus08-20 - The listed amazon shipping weight is 4.5 lbs for 6 of them & probably at least 1/3rd of that is the electrical cord's that come with. All mine are hung already, but I would guess that they are probably well under a pound each for the 4 foot fixtures. I went overkill with these & I am happy I did. I haven't left a review yet (there was none when I ordered, but the same company had the same thing in 6500k as well with good reviews) but it will be a very good one whenever I get around to it.

 

[WNY Tony]

Wow those are really light-weight fixtures. I put 8' strip T8 fixtures in my current shop but had a drywall lift that I used to help hold them in place while installing. These look intriguing and I definitely understand why you thought plastic drywall anchor screws would hold these into the foam. I totally agree.

Would you be concerned with not having a 'spark prevention' layer of steel or drywall between the workspace and this foam on the ceiling? I'd rather not have to deal with putting sheet steel in the ceiling but always thought that it was protocol to cover spray foam with steel or drywall. Thoughts?

I am not in love with the height to the I-beams, but the house was essentially a perfect match for us and this workshop will take nothing away from the rest of the house so I am going to have to deal with it. I am sure I will adapt. The part I am most excited about is that it is attached to my house but the noise should be contained. No more snow blowing a 300' path to my barn in the winter to do woodworking.