rangerrob
New member
Hello from Northern Virginia!
Hi everyone, new member here looking for some advice. Main question (Tl;Dr): if I choose not to insulate/drywall the ceiling, is there any point in insulating/drywalling (or drywall alternative) the walls?
My wife and I bought a house in Northern Virginia a couple of years ago. The house came with a spacious 2-car garage with an attached work room. The structure measures 24’ deep, 32’ wide overall. Of that, the work room is 24’ deep, 8’ wide. We had some settling that the previous owners didn't disclose and we ended up having the left side slab excavated and re-poured about a year ago. We’re getting ready to have the floors coated (polyurea base, flake, polyaspartic topcoat), but I’m now considering insulating and drywalling this space before the floor gets done. I am hoping to eventually be able to work out there year-round working on my vehicles, to possibly include welding, wood working (nothing crazy, just stuff for the house mostly). The garage has electricity, and I’ve already got a 100-gal propane tank on the property that I can use to heat the garage during the winter. I’m more interested in heating it than cooling it (aside from fans). The age-old question though – to drywall, or not to drywall? I’ve read a bunch of posts here on Garage Journal, and I realize it (mostly) boils down to personal preference. I’ve already had one drywall contractor ask me why I’d want to close it in. For reference - the work room is already mostly insulated, but the ceiling needs some work.
All that being said, I like having the ability to put stuff in the rafters without having to climb up there, but that means I’d need to leave the ceiling open for that. The wife and I are discussing painting the rafters white to brighten them up if we don’t close the ceiling in. But here’s my main question: If I choose not to insulate/drywall the ceiling, is there any point (aside from aesthetics) in insulating & drywalling the walls? Common sense says if I insulate and drywall the walls, I’d still be sending heat straight out the ridge vent on the roof, so the heat gained in the garage would be negligible. I’ve tried looking for information about this, but it’s a seemingly difficult topic to find a lot of information on.
I’m also looking at options like plywood, T1-11 exterior siding, R-Panel, and Trusscore panels as an alternative to drywall. Some of those, however, get expensive. I also realize there’s a lot of debate in here on plywood vs. drywall and the flammability of each, which is part of the reason I’d consider using something like R-Panel for the first 4’ from the ground, especially if I end up welding stuff. I also realize it’s a code thing, and I’m currently working on finding out the answer to that part.
I’ve attached several photos of the space. A few are before we moved in, and there are more recent pics as well. And it needs organizing, which is another project I'm sure I'll have questions about!!!
Thanks in advance for any help/guidance/advice!
Hi everyone, new member here looking for some advice. Main question (Tl;Dr): if I choose not to insulate/drywall the ceiling, is there any point in insulating/drywalling (or drywall alternative) the walls?
My wife and I bought a house in Northern Virginia a couple of years ago. The house came with a spacious 2-car garage with an attached work room. The structure measures 24’ deep, 32’ wide overall. Of that, the work room is 24’ deep, 8’ wide. We had some settling that the previous owners didn't disclose and we ended up having the left side slab excavated and re-poured about a year ago. We’re getting ready to have the floors coated (polyurea base, flake, polyaspartic topcoat), but I’m now considering insulating and drywalling this space before the floor gets done. I am hoping to eventually be able to work out there year-round working on my vehicles, to possibly include welding, wood working (nothing crazy, just stuff for the house mostly). The garage has electricity, and I’ve already got a 100-gal propane tank on the property that I can use to heat the garage during the winter. I’m more interested in heating it than cooling it (aside from fans). The age-old question though – to drywall, or not to drywall? I’ve read a bunch of posts here on Garage Journal, and I realize it (mostly) boils down to personal preference. I’ve already had one drywall contractor ask me why I’d want to close it in. For reference - the work room is already mostly insulated, but the ceiling needs some work.
All that being said, I like having the ability to put stuff in the rafters without having to climb up there, but that means I’d need to leave the ceiling open for that. The wife and I are discussing painting the rafters white to brighten them up if we don’t close the ceiling in. But here’s my main question: If I choose not to insulate/drywall the ceiling, is there any point (aside from aesthetics) in insulating & drywalling the walls? Common sense says if I insulate and drywall the walls, I’d still be sending heat straight out the ridge vent on the roof, so the heat gained in the garage would be negligible. I’ve tried looking for information about this, but it’s a seemingly difficult topic to find a lot of information on.
I’m also looking at options like plywood, T1-11 exterior siding, R-Panel, and Trusscore panels as an alternative to drywall. Some of those, however, get expensive. I also realize there’s a lot of debate in here on plywood vs. drywall and the flammability of each, which is part of the reason I’d consider using something like R-Panel for the first 4’ from the ground, especially if I end up welding stuff. I also realize it’s a code thing, and I’m currently working on finding out the answer to that part.
I’ve attached several photos of the space. A few are before we moved in, and there are more recent pics as well. And it needs organizing, which is another project I'm sure I'll have questions about!!!
Thanks in advance for any help/guidance/advice!
