Our bedroom is COLD - raised ranch house.

[HotRodKush]

We've got a raised ranch style house - so our master bedroom is directly over the garage. The rest of the house heats up fine, but it stays very cold in the bedroom because there's no living area underneath - the garage is not heated. The garage ceiling is insulated, but I'm wondering if there's anything more I can do to to retain the heat in our bedroom (other than what I bet you're thinking right now ).

Can I get more effective insulation? Should I add more insulation? What's the best way to do this?

 

[PhantomEB]

Thinkin the wife would like one of those natural gas fireplaces if you got the room?

So darn effective I am plannin a few of those in the next house I buy.

 

[Rockaholic555]

I live in the same style house and I've got one vent open in the garage to keep it somewhat warm. Insulation in my ceiling like yours I'm guessing and my room isn't too bad. It is colder than the main living area of the house but I don't mind adding an extra blanket. Like I said it's maybe 2-3 degrees cooler in the bedroom(haven't actually checked). I would get a small space heater in there, and as Phantom said those little gas fireplaces are pretty nice.

 

[Fueler]

Are you sure it's insulated?
Watching the Holmes show and it's surprising how few of those garages like yours are done correctly. The fact that your bedroom is cold kind of confirms that there is a problem.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Sounds like you need to heat the garage.

Charles

 

[rickairmedic]

I just got one of these for SWMBO ( She thought it was cute ) . We have it in the master bedroom . I can turn down the heat in the rest of the house at night and it still keeps it toasty in the master bedroom ( and she says its cute ) .

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053


Rick

 

[larry_g]

Are you sure it's insulated?
Watching the Holmes show and it's surprising how few of those garages like yours are done correctly. The fact that your bedroom is cold kind of confirms that there is a problem.

I've seen that episode also. One thing was that the ceiling of the garage was insulated but the bedroom cantalivered out over the garage/ porch and the cantalivered part was not insulated. So the thing is to check that floor of the BR is insulated fully, not just the ceiling of the garage with an airspace under the BR.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[nehog]

I've the same house (no garage, but the basement is COLD) and it is not a problem: the floor (basement ceiling) is well insulated, and the floor in the MBR is just fine. I'd suspect that your insulation is compromised, can you visually confirm what you have there?

 

[Scotie]

I just sold a house that had the same issue, cold bedroom in the winter and hot in the summer. Right before we moved I purchased an Eden Pure heater for the bedroom. There is nothing special aout the Edne Pure, watts are watts. But we moved before it got cold. I was either going to use the Edne Pure or replace the Furnace with zoned heating and cooling with the bedroom being on it's own zone.

 

[Thirsty]

Our bedroom is not over a garage but it is colder due to being on the north side of the house and only one heater vent. But I like it a little colder for sleeping.

 

[ishiboo]

We've got a raised ranch style house - so our master bedroom is directly over the garage. The rest of the house heats up fine, but it stays very cold in the bedroom because there's no living area underneath - the garage is not heated. The garage ceiling is insulated, but I'm wondering if there's anything more I can do to to retain the heat in our bedroom (other than what I bet you're thinking right now ).

Can I get more effective insulation? Should I add more insulation? What's the best way to do this?

You could go R-25 below the bedroom. I would also use a radiant barrier (foil) to keep the heat inside. While you're insulating, it may not be a bad time to add tubing/heat sinks to the floor so you could add additional heat to the bedroom in the future.

You could also add an in-line booster fan to the ductwork feeding the bedroom so you get more warm air from the furnace.

 

[Kevin54]

Pics of said house and garage for a better look and explanation of how to possibly fix it.

Where are the heat ducts in the bedroom at and where is the furnace located or do you have electric heat?

 

[creativecars]

I really like our natural gas vent free fire place for an addition that was not already heated. It even keeps the adjacent areas warmer. I would heat the garage and make it more useable. Like others have said, spray foam in the rim joist and make sure insulation is as good as possible. I hate to say it, but the way Holmes shows on his show.

 

[RonBou]

This may sound dumb....but... you do keep your garage door(s) closed at all times...right?

 

[chevymadness]

As a Real Estate broker I see a lot of these. Builders of older homes did not max out insulation in finished walls. Even if you have 2X6, 2X8 or 2X10 floor joists, they seldom put more than 3" insulation in there. Real performance would come from pulling the drywall or ceiling material, pull out the insulation and spray foam insulation to completely fill the available cavity. Then refinish it with 5/8" type X fire code drywall to keep it safe. Put it on the Honey-do list

 

[Steevo]

More girlfriends in the bed will help.

 

[burleymike]

My parents old house was the exact same way. When the wind would blow you could feel it coming in around every outlet, baseboard, and the trim around the windows.

When we put new windows in we spray foamed around the windows and just that little bit reduced air infiltration a lot. In the end the best thing would have been to tear the sheetrock off the ceiling in the garage and have it spray foamed.

 

[larry_g]

Another question to be asked, how is this house heated? Is the heat plant providing hot air in sufficient quantities to this room without restrictions of the cold air to return?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Cast Iron Nuts]

Here is some things to consider when trying to evaluate the problem.

1 Has the ceiling in the garage been dropped to create enough airspace between floor
joist and dropped ceiling.

2 Has the dropped ceiling been insulated to code

3 Is there a dedicated supply and return duct from the forced air heating system ducted to the air space.

4 The vapor barrier will need to be installed above the insulation

Over my 30 years of installing heating systems in new residential construction this is the only way to get away from cold air radiating up from the unheated space between the floor joists and dropped ceiling. Thus creating a cold floor

Of course trying to install a dropped ceiling into a garage that hasn't been designed for it elevation wise, can create a lot of issues regarding garage door openers, windows and man doors.

Hope this helps if you have any other concerns shoot me a pm and I can try to help as best as possible.

Just to let you know I live in a country where we have to take are penguins for a walk three times a day

CIN

 

[e-tek]

4 The vapor barrier will need to be installed above the insulation

really? couldn't you insulate, vb, then replace drywall from garage side?

 

[walrus]

4 The vapor barrier will need to be installed above the insulation

really? couldn't you insulate, vb, then replace drywall from garage side?

In cold climates, Vapor barrier on the warm side, the garage is the cold side

 

[HotRodKush]

Guys, thanks so much for the insight. I'll take another read through the thread put some options together.

Thanks!

 

[Jackfre]

Put your first dollar in the envelop of the building. When you want to heat or heat/cool it I'd suggest a Rinnai Energysaver (rinnai.us) for heat and for heat/cool I'd look at a mini-split heat pump.

 

[burleymike]

Spray foam is your best friend, it is a vapor barrier and it stops air infiltration. If you have the head room it is even better to have the foam covering the entire joists including the bottoms of the joists since wood has a fairly low R value. Then install a fire rated drop ceiling or frame and install type X rock.

 

[dreamingmuscle]

Great little heaters. No open flames, won't immediately burn you or kids if it gets touched. All around it's perfect for what you need to do. Weather you stick it in the bedroom or in the garage.

http://www.google.com/search?q=oil+...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Glen

 

[Kevin54]

Great little heaters. No open flames, won't immediately burn you or kids if it gets touched. All around it's perfect for what you need to do. Weather you stick it in the bedroom or in the garage.

http://www.google.com/search?q=oil+...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Glen

We use those heaters quite a bit and I highly recommend them. Some have built in timers on them and the others just cycle on and off by temperature settings. Oil filled, and when the oil gets to temp it will hold that temp for quite a while. My wife has two in her 20'x20' building, only one on at the time on medium setting and it stays a comfortable 60* in there when it is 20-30f outside. If it gets -10 / -15 out she will kick the other on and it stays a constant 70*. I even used two in my garage while I was waiting n getting my furnace hooked up and although I had to have them on high it kept my 28'x36' garage at 60*. BUT and I repeat BUT, if you are trying to heat an uninsulated area ie. a garage with bare stud walls, forget it. You'd have to be right beside it to be warm

 

[Weedwaka]

VB is usually on the warm side depending on location / climate.

2" of spray foam would be all you need. I would spend the money conditioning the garage space so the temp variation between the garage and room is minimal.