Partial attic space over my 2 car

[lbpd716]

I've opened my attic door in my garage today to see what type of room I have available up there and to figure out some of my lighting projects I'm getting ready to undertake.

Two upstairs bedrooms take up about half of the space and everything is insulated except the portion of the access door to the front of the main house. I would like to insulate that and lay down some plywood or similar to be able to make more use of the space. There is some very thin space between the floors I will be able to shimmy up to in order to grab power to put in my expanded lighting and possibly lugging in a few 8in conduits to move some power over to the panel.

Does anyone have any experience using this type of area or have any suggestions on how H should proceed?

I know its difficult to get your head around it without pictures, and Ill work on getting a few done up soon.

Has anyone tackled something like this and have any suggestions. I'd hate to waste that room and would like a little more insulation towards the front of the garage to help keep the heat up in the winter.

Pics soon and thanks in advance for your help/ideas.

 

[pbon]

Install some fold down attic stairs into the garage. Insulate, put down plywood strips to form a partial floor, run wiring for garage lights below, hang a couple of shop lights in the attic, etc.

 

[lbpd716]

Thanks -

I will try to get some better photos and measurements up by tomorrow. Would like to get the new LED lights in and am wondering if addition of the insulation in that bare area will help a bit in the winter months.

Trying really hard to make sure I use the most of my available space and have enough open area to work on my projects when I retire in a few months.

 

[Stuart in MN]

You need to have a fire barrier between a garage and living space. It's typically done with a layer or two of the appropriate type of drywall, but check the rules in your area for specifics.

 

[lbpd716]

Photos still forthcoming. Moving out old empty boxes from a few owners ago. Not a whole lot of space in there but sill can be somewhat useable I'm thinking.

Fire barrier is there, just an odd set up (to me) due to the rooms over half of the space.

 

[lbpd716]

Here are some picture of what I'm working with. I can't access the area with the garage door open.

 

[lbpd716]

It only let me do the first two due to image sizes (sorry) the attached one shows the wall to the west where the rooms start.

The walls are insulated as are the areas under the rooms. Will I achieve much in the way of thermal performance in the garage upon insulating the remaining attic area and door?

 

[CraigStu]

When you say LED lights are you looking at can lights or the 4 ft units mounted onto the ceiling? Cans are a little more work in that they need to be mounted to the ceiling joists and a hole cut in the ceiling drywall. They stick up into your attic space maybe 6 inches above the joists so any floor would need holes cut also. So you need that decided on before you go any further. The 4 ft units you just need to run your romex and poke it through the drywall ceiling. The pics look like you took them while standing on a ladder w/ just your top half in the attic. Does that mean you already have an access door/ladder? In my previous house I made use of a 10 ft step ladder for my access. It matched my ceiling height fine. I stood the ladder up and positioned it where it was easiest to get though the access panel. Screwed two heavy eye bolts into the joists on either side which made them 24 in apart used a piece of quality woven rope and ited one end to an eye. Ran it though the ladder and put good strong dog leash clip on the other end to attach to the other eye. At the bottom I tied a piece of rope to the lowest step of the ladder, ran it up to the ceiling where I attached a pulley. Through the pulley and down to the wall where I had a tie off cleat. To use the steps(ladder) to access the attic I released the rope at the wall and let it drop to the floor. If it was a quick one or two trips up, I often didn't even open up the ladder. Bottom end on the floor and top held in position by the rope between the eye bolts. For more trips i would open up the normal ladder legs. The beauty of this was 3 fold. 1- less expensive than a set of drop down stairs, 2- I had a ladder for other uses, 3- I discovered this in my next house w/ traditional drop down attic stairs. That one at least had narrow steps (maybe 4 inches), and the top 3-4 steps had the plywood that sealed the opening when up, attached right to the back of those steps. So going up my toes would hang over the rungs until I got to the top 3-4 where my toe hit the plywood and it felt like I didn't have anywhere near a secure step.

 

[lbpd716]

Yes, I'm thinking about the 4 foot fixtures.

I have an access door, however it is obstructed by the garage door opener. The depth of the rooms over the garage prevent me from being able to make access to the area without the garage door being closed.

I don't mind a little extra work getting up there, as I see the area more for long term storage. I would like to put a little effort into making sure the area can be kept a little warmer in the winter months, and possibly a little cooler in the summer months on days the garage does not get opened.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

I think I understand your setup. Is the entire ceiling the same height?
The ceiling in the garage I have seen is lower where the roll up door runs.

 

[lbpd716]

Yes. All the same.

 

[rayra]

I'd put some radiant barrier under the roof roof decking and make sure that space is vented. Watch out for all those way too long roofing nails.

 

[lbpd716]

Fortunately I have vents and no protruding nails. House has a weird tile roof where gravity holds most of it in place. Single nail on the bottom tile keeps the line in place. I've had to replace one tile and it was pretty easy, like fitting in a Lego piece.

Should I roll in some insulation in the "floor" area and cover it in plywood? I've been researching the radiant barrier and getting the impression it may not give a whole lot of benefit for such a small area. I have had it in my shed since construction on the roof.

 

[pbon]

Change to jackshaft door openers. Looks like good storage space to me for stuff you want to keep buy don’t want cluttering the garage. Box in an area and install pull down stairs. But the wider, higher quality stairs. Insulate so you can heat and AC your garage and do year round projects comfortably. Use 4’ led. Parallel to the cars is easiest. One row down the side, one between the cars, and another row down the other side. Add a perpendicular row across the back above work benches. Get surface mount or hanging fixtures around 5000 lumens and 5000k light. I have 20 surface mounted in 750SF with 9.5’ ceilings and it’s just right.