Garage insulation help

[Aam0630]

I moved into a home that was built in the 70s. I live in the upper Midwest so it gets pretty cold in the winter. The walls have Sheetrock up but the ceiling was left open. I would like to insulate to keep it a little warmer this winter. My question is.... as it doesn’t seem to be vented up top what are my options to insulate the ceiling? Do I need to add a vent on top of the garage? On the outside it looks to have soffits but there doesn’t seem to be any opening where the air flow can go through. Is there anything that I can do as an interim solution ? Any help would be appreciated. Also to add I do not plan on putting in a heater until I switch to natural gas.

 

[Raisedonadeere]

I assume you are talking about attached garage with attic space separate from house attic. Soffit vents are easy to install and that part is done if the soffit air is connected to the attic air. The attic air then needs a path out some roof vents or gable end vents. In my experience the attic ventilation is not as critical over a dry garage space as it is in a house, houses have to get rid of moisture. By critical, I mean, If you are a bit under the recommended size of the vents it will still work in you garage unless you have moisture added in there like through wet floor or some sort of water producing activity like cooking or shower or washing cars.

Just saying, It could be pretty simple to have a heated garage, unless you are dealing with some sort of code requirements.

 

[jetnow1]

Walls use blown in insulation, just need a small hole drilled in each stud bay, easy to patch. As a garage I would just put in gable vents and insulate the ceiling, as stated above
it is a little less critical to vent. Use fire rated sheetrock, prime with oil based primer to seal it and you should be good to go.

 

[Mick56]

Does the garage have overhangs? Are there ventilated soffits? If the soffits are ventilated, then ridge vents work well with them.

 

[nadogail]

Any insulation is much better than none.

I am a fan of cellulose insulation because of its low cost and environmental benefits.

 

[Aam0630]

I assume you are talking about attached garage with attic space separate from house attic. Soffit vents are easy to install and that part is done if the soffit air is connected to the attic air. The attic air then needs a path out some roof vents or gable end vents. In my experience the attic ventilation is not as critical over a dry garage space as it is in a house, houses have to get rid of moisture. By critical, I mean, If you are a bit under the recommended size of the vents it will still work in you garage unless you have moisture added in there like through wet floor or some sort of water producing activity like cooking or shower or washing cars.

Just saying, It could be pretty simple to have a heated garage, unless you are dealing with some sort of code requirements.

Yes the garage is attached and the attic space is separate. In one corner of the garage there was a window installed that would give access to the rest of the house attic. That is closed at this time. There is an overhang on the garage with vented soffit vent but I don’t believe there is anywhere for the air to go through. So I assume I would have to drill holes Nd add a Vent on top or gale vent? Or can I open the window that leads to the rest of the house attic? The house is brick as well so I will have to work around that if doing gable vent. The only time the Garage would be wet is in the winter when snow melts.

 

[Raisedonadeere]

I am not understanding enough about your soffit venting. It seems with open ceiling you should be able to get on a ladder and look where roof meets wall and see if there are openings into the soffit. If there are then all you need to do is get some idea of how much cross sectional area is available for air flow from the soffit area into the attic. Adding roof vents is easy if you can get on roof.

BTW the few times I have been to North Dakota it was so windy you would find it hard to build an attic that was not well vented. So I have no idea what the codes for your are would say about how much venting area is needed

 

[Aam0630]

I am not understanding enough about your soffit venting. It seems with open ceiling you should be able to get on a ladder and look where roof meets wall and see if there are openings into the soffit. If there are then all you need to do is get some idea of how much cross sectional area is available for air flow from the soffit area into the attic. Adding roof vents is easy if you can get on roof.



BTW the few times I have been to North Dakota it was so windy you would find it hard to build an attic that was not well vented. So I have no idea what the codes for your are would say about how much venting area is needed

So I looked at the wall goes straight up to the ceiling no holes in there all. And no vent on the garage roof at all. So I’ll have to work on getting it vented before winter. I thought about just putting plastic as an interim idea as we are in the middle of a couple other projects so don’t have a ton of time to get that done. Will that cause issues?