Garage is Sheetrocked w/o Insulation - Options?

[olds70supreme]

My 3 car attached garage was sheetrocked before I moved in. Unfortunately, this was done without insulating the walls. Only the wall that is common with the house is insulated. This common wall is only on the two stall part of the garage, so the third stall has no insulation at the front at all. Is blow-in insulation my only option? If so, what should I know before starting? The only way I can see to do it is to cut an access hole (3-4 inches in diam.) at the top of the wall between every stud. Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks for any advice. I am hoping to do this before the end of September (I live in SE MN).

 

[independentrider]

i would rip the rock down and while your at it you can update your wiring. sorry but its probably the best way

 

[olds70supreme]

Okay, I hear what you are saying but the house is ~2 years old, so the wiring is fine. I already have 220v ran for my air compressor. The sheetrock is mudded and taped (per fire code, but not necessarily nicely). I would rather avoid having to remove and reinstall all of that sheetrock, unless batt insulation is head and shoulders better. Basically, is blowing the insulation in more difficult than it would be to remove and replace all of the sheetrock?

 

[His200HerScout]

The previous owner of my home told me that, when he replaced the siding on my home, he had a professional drill holes every 16" on the outside and fill the stud cavities with spray foam insulation. The walls were previously uninsulated.

Maybe you can remove some siding, drill holes, fill with foam, replace the siding. Unless you have stucco or something that can't be taken down.

I Googled "fill wall cavities with spray foam after drywall insulation" and found this article.
http://articles.directorym.com/House_Insulation-a1072309.html

It says "Spray foam can also be injected into wall cavities. However, this is very expensive and quite difficult to do. It's hard to control the expansion of the foam and effectiveness of filling the void completely."

They must've done my house right because my heating bills are cheap in the winter.

 

[independentrider]

well I guess not. I would weigh the costs of both. also if you use blown insulation check to see if you have horizontal fire blocking in the walls that will require twice the holes. Ask and see if blown insulation settles. also inquire about expanding foam. I'm not sure if this right for this application.

 

[vartz04]

no its not more difficult, and you could DIY if you rent the insulation blower, and buy the insulation at HD or Lowes

 

[rsanter]

they have a blown in loose fill insulation that you can buy and they will generally loan you the tool that blows it in.
you will hole saw a 2'' to 3'' hole at the top of the walls drywall and insert the hose to blow the wall full.

drawback:
after a few years it will settle a bit and the top of the wall will have less insulation for a few inches at the top. I figue you can blow in some spray foam at the top of the wall when that happens.

advice:
I think I would not do it on the one section of the wall where the electrical pannel is. if you do, pulling wire in the future will be much more difficult (if you electrical pannel is on the side of the garage.

bob

 

[olds70supreme]

Hmm, I hadn't considered blowing it in from the outside. Than I could remove a section of vinyl siding, cut holes, blow the insulation in, do a rough patch job (doesn't need to look pretty, just seal the hole), and replace the siding.

I also don't have to worry about the electrical panel because it is run out of the basement.

 

[Falcon67]

Hmm, I hadn't considered blowing it in from the outside. Than I could remove a section of vinyl siding, cut holes, blow the insulation in, do a rough patch job (doesn't need to look pretty, just seal the hole), and replace the siding.

I also don't have to worry about the electrical panel because it is run out of the basement.

I considered that for our house - but the lack of any (even minimal) vapor or moisture barrier under the siding made me end up ripping most of the siding off the house. YMMV as they say. I was worried about blowing rain getting past the siding boards and wetting the blown in. With vinyl over the siding, that may be less of an issue.

 

[rieferman]

I would use the blow in and would drill the holes on the inside and conceal them under a piece of molding or simliar. Use screws, so you can check for settling in a year, pack a little more in there, and then either re-conceal, or patch/sand/paint.

edit: oh, and +1 on the checking for horizontal blocking as noted above, that will require two holes

edit 2: and isn't it just annoying that they didn't insulate before putting the sheetrock up? if you ever find that guy, make sure you buy him a piss warm beer

 

[olds70supreme]

"and isn't it just annoying that they didn't insulate before putting the sheetrock up? if you ever find that guy, make sure you buy him a piss warm beer "



No kidding, my thought when I found out was "why would anybody sheetrock beyond the fire code requirements (common wall only) without insulating.

 

[thammel]

I bit the bullet and ripped off the sheetrock on my 2 1 /2 walls that are exterior and were not insulated. Then I insulated and have yet to put drywall back up. My thoughts were: 1) I 'd have confidence in a good insulation job, 2) I could more easily run a few new circuits and 3) I wasn't sure if there were horizontal blocking in the walls so I really wasn't confident in a good blown-in insulation job. This was not all that difficult. The drywall comes down easily.

Tom

 

[tcianci]

I would go the route of peeling off some vinyl, cutting in the holes and then blowing in the insulation with a freebee rental unit that you can often get where you buy the insulation. The settling of the insulation isn't the problem it used to be and even then it was more "pilot error" than a product problem. Taking up the siding is simple and requires no cosmetic finish at all. If you think that you're going to look for settling in a few seasons, just cover the holes with some aluminum flashing tape and you can just poke it out later. If you determine that there is no horizontal blocking in your stud bays there could still be wind bracing in the corners, but it is unlikely since sheet goods used for sheathing generally take the place of wind bracing. Don't get all hyper about whether a cavity is perfectly filled or may settle a little. The insulation you're going to add is going to be miles ahead of where you are now, or the flip side of looking at it may be the difference between what you will be able to easily accomplish vs what would be a "perfect" job is mighty small.

 

[StumpXJ]

I had to do the same thing in my garage. They drilled a 2 inch hole in every cavity and blew the insulation in, then patched up the hole and repainted the area. It was was quite simple really. You do have to look for horizontal blocking though. Around here if the wall is over 8 feet, they code requires blocking. My walls were 9 feet, so it was twice as many holes. One at the top, one at the bottom.

~James

 

[dipper]

It is not hard at all to remove some of the vinyl siding, drill some holes in the stud cavities and blow in some insulation. That will be much easier and cheaper than pulling the drywall down on the inside, or even doing it on the inside and patching the holes.
All you'll need to patch the holes on the outside would be some 1/2" foam board, hvac tape and maybe some tyvek to cover it up the hole before you reattach the siding.

I can remove a 10' piece of vinyl siding in about 1 minute (depending on access to it).
You need the siding removal tool from home depot about 4 bux, but I picked some up this week from their on clearance for $0.30 each.