Insulating A Garage

[Garage_Guy]

Hi guys, I haven't been on in a while becuase I have been busy with school and
such but have yet another question. Since I will be off from school the whole
summer and plan on cleaning out our garage, organizing our garage, and building
a workbench I thought about insualting it as well. Part of it is already insulated
with drywall over the insulation. The areas I would need to do would be the back
wall, the left wall, and then somehow insualate the roof. I was wondering if doing
this is a pretty simple job of if it should be left to the pros. Also, if this is something
I could handle, how should it be done? I mean like types of insulation, proper way
to install, etc. Thanks guys !

 

[bmwpower]

You should be able to do it, just take precautions.

Look here for tips:

http://www.owenscorning.com/around/insulation/installitright.asp

 

[Matt Harwood]

Insulation is a super easy but unpleasant job. Just buy the fiberglass rolls at Home Depot or something. Get the proper thickness for the studs and rafters in your garage. For example, my garage uses 2x4s for the walls, so I used R13, and 2x8s for the roof rafters, so I used R19. The package will tell you the installed thickness. You don't want to compress the thicker stuff into a smaller space because it loses effectiveness. Most insulation is wide enough to fit between studs installed 16 inches on-center (which is fairly standard construction practice), so all you have to do is cut it to length with a razor knife, stuff it into the cavity, then use a staple gun to secure the paper facing (which has flaps) to the studs and rafters. Easy. Then install your drywall or surface over it. If your studs are wider than 16" on center, then you'll have to cut additional long strips of insulation and install those, too. Not difficult.

Where you have wires, make sure you pull the insulation apart so that some is behind the wire and some is in front of it--don't just cram it in there all in front of or behind the wire. Also make sure you cut it around electrical boxes instead of just stuffing it into place. These little details make the difference.

The insulation is nasty stuff, but not expensive nor difficult to install. Wear long sleeves and long pants, a mask, gloves and even a hat to keep the fiberglass off your skin and out of your lungs. It isn't particularly dangerous, but it itches like hell for days. I usually tape my gloves to my sleeves to seal them, and wear a sweatshirt with a hood in addition to the mask and goggles. It can only help. And when you're done, take a cold shower to wash the fiberglass off. If you take a hot shower, your pores will open up and trap the fiberglass in your skin, and it'll itch for days. Try to get it done in one shot, because once you do this, you'll have a hard time psyching yourself up for it again after seeing how unpleasant it is.

But insulating your garage yourself, while unpleasant, is cheap. Paying a pro (provided you can even find one willing to work on such a small job as a garage) is crazy because it really is easy to do. All you're paying for is avoiding the itch...

Hope this helps (from a guy who did A LOT of insulation work in the past).

 

[byrdman]

I insulated the walls and ceiling in my garage. One tip I would pass along- if you have a lot of cutting and trimming to do, don't use scissors. I tried both scissors and a regular box cutter utility knife. After I finished most of it, I paid a guy to come in and do the high vaulted part of the ceiling and he was using a sharp fillet knife instead. Looked much much easier!

 

[thomn8r]

Technically easy, but it's a nasty, itchy job