Good Morning Friends,

Many of the woodworkers on these forums use a portion of their garage as a work shop and very few have them insulated.

Do you feel that there would be a noticeable difference in the house if you were to insulate the garage walls and ceiling?

Great question Ralph! Since we are in So Cal, we might be a little different then the rest of ya ll. I'll take a stab at it though. I would imagine that having that extra layer of insulation in your garage walls would provide that much more R value for your home, taking in consideration of course the rest of the garage is sealed up well. But then again, if your garage is unheated, or uncooled, then it might not make that much of a difference.

Now where I live, our garage ceiling is insulated because we live in a two story. So that's a given. And of course the adjoining wall to the garage is also insulated. Years ago when I sheeted one side of my garage, I went ahead and threw some insulation in it just for good measure. If anything, it would dampen the noise for the neighbors.

 

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Yes. Insulation in the garage will add to the efficiency of heating and cooling of the house as well as reducing the noise level, of shop noise, in the house and to the neighbors.

Adding insulation to anything always help with the heating and cooling. Sound deadening is just a by product of adding the insulation. Once the insulation is in place you also need to check the the door seal and plates to minimize the loss around them. If the garage is attached with an open pitched roof adding a vent to the top will also help the heat to escape. You also have to make sure you use the correct style insulation for the application.

 

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Wayne Mahler
God bless and protect our troops that serve so we can be free.

I don't know guys, I am starting to think, the reality of insulating a garage, sure it sounds good. But lets look at the realities of this. Ok, so you have a garage that's insulated right. Fine, but what happens when you open that garage door, that big 2 car garage door, the entire outside comes in. All the coolness, or all the heat, if any that was in the garage, goes right out that big ol door faster then you can walk. Now what do you got, a garage that has equalized with the outside temperatures. How often do you open that garage door, some of us open that door 3, 4, 5 times a day. How about all those lower vents just above the mudsill letting in all that cold/hot air.

Your dividing wall, that separates the garage from the home, is insulated, how much more can your home be insulated by then further insulating the wall of a garage. If your using your garage as sealed, heat-able space, then you might realize some, and I mean just some, difference in the efficiency for the better. I vote no. In the winter, when I walk out into my garage, at 5 in the morning, and it's 26 degrees outside, guess what, it's 26 degrees in the garage. I doubt very much that adding insulation to the walls of the garage are going to change that scenario at all. Because guess what happens to a home that sits in 26 degree weather for days on end without being heated, it eventually equalizes to the outside temperature. How is insulating un-heated space going to help your home out?

My question is more about learning on my part then it is questioning you guys who vote yes for the positive effects on insulating a garage. I'd really like to know, because, if it does help, well then off the market I go to purchase insulation!

 

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Good Morning Fellows,

As many of you know that my shop is separated from my house and on days like yesterday where the heat index indicated the temperature felt like 110º, my shop is so well insulated that the inside temperature read 74º with the double doors, access door and one window open and a 30" box fan running on medium it felt pretty nice while working on a bed headboard.

 

Thanks for your support.

John, not all of the air will escape some of it will but not all. couple this with the fact that the items in the room will hold their temp much longer insulation will have a positive effect keeping the temp swings more stable. Of cousre if you are the type who leaves the door open from sun-up to sun-down then it will not matter.

John Morris said:

I don't know guys, I am starting to think, the reality of insulating a garage, sure it sounds good. But lets look at the realities of this. Ok, so you have a garage that's insulated right. Fine, but what happens when you open that garage door, that big 2 car garage door, the entire outside comes in. All the coolness, or all the heat, if any that was in the garage, goes right out that big ol door faster then you can walk. Now what do you got, a garage that has equalized with the outside temperatures. How often do you open that garage door, some of us open that door 3, 4, 5 times a day. How about all those lower vents just above the mudsill letting in all that cold/hot air.

Your dividing wall, that separates the garage from the home, is insulated, how much more can your home be insulated by then further insulating the wall of a garage. If your using your garage as sealed, heat-able space, then you might realize some, and I mean just some, difference in the efficiency for the better. I vote no. In the winter, when I walk out into my garage, at 5 in the morning, and it's 26 degrees outside, guess what, it's 26 degrees in the garage. I doubt very much that adding insulation to the walls of the garage are going to change that scenario at all. Because guess what happens to a home that sits in 26 degree weather for days on end without being heated, it eventually equalizes to the outside temperature. How is insulating un-heated space going to help your home out?

My question is more about learning on my part then it is questioning you guys who vote yes for the positive effects on insulating a garage. I'd really like to know, because, if it does help, well then off the market I go to purchase insulation!

 

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John Morris

The Patriot Woodworker

But back to my premise John, if the garage is not heated or cooled, it is the same as the outside. Now lets say it does help a little, can realize the savings equal to the cost of insulating your garage? Now I am all for insulating the garage as a workspace, but the question was, does it help your main homes R value. Not challenging you John, I just need to learn more about this. Thanks!


John Hechel said:

John, not all of the air will escape some of it will but not all. couple this with the fact that the items in the room will hold their temp much longer insulation will have a positive effect keeping the temp swings more stable. Of cousre if you are the type who leaves the door open from sun-up to sun-down then it will not matter.

John Morris said:

I don't know guys, I am starting to think, the reality of insulating a garage, sure it sounds good. But lets look at the realities of this. Ok, so you have a garage that's insulated right. Fine, but what happens when you open that garage door, that big 2 car garage door, the entire outside comes in. All the coolness, or all the heat, if any that was in the garage, goes right out that big ol door faster then you can walk. Now what do you got, a garage that has equalized with the outside temperatures. How often do you open that garage door, some of us open that door 3, 4, 5 times a day. How about all those lower vents just above the mudsill letting in all that cold/hot air.

Your dividing wall, that separates the garage from the home, is insulated, how much more can your home be insulated by then further insulating the wall of a garage. If your using your garage as sealed, heat-able space, then you might realize some, and I mean just some, difference in the efficiency for the better. I vote no. In the winter, when I walk out into my garage, at 5 in the morning, and it's 26 degrees outside, guess what, it's 26 degrees in the garage. I doubt very much that adding insulation to the walls of the garage are going to change that scenario at all. Because guess what happens to a home that sits in 26 degree weather for days on end without being heated, it eventually equalizes to the outside temperature. How is insulating un-heated space going to help your home out?

My question is more about learning on my part then it is questioning you guys who vote yes for the positive effects on insulating a garage. I'd really like to know, because, if it does help, well then off the market I go to purchase insulation!

 

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John Morris

The Patriot Woodworker

 

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Good points on the original question John. My garage is detached so I have no experience to support it helping. what I can speak about is my insulated garage stays much warmer in winter almost near freezing when temps are near zero and 10 -15 degrees cooler in the summer months. if this holds true for other areas of the country then it having one wall of your house with a more stable temp should have an impact on the heating or cooling. To your question on it being cost effective as to energy savings in the house I don't know. The true test would be two identical houses with two identical families living next to each other. One would need an insulated garage and one without. a comparisson of energy bills would provide the answer. as this is unrealistic all we can go on is what we think about it. Fortunately there are other factors such as warmer cars in the winter, cooler cars in the summer, less heat stress on the other items in the garage etc that help us in our decision.

My thoughts are that it is indeed beneficial but for more reasons than the original question asked.

Good Morning Fellows,

I have a friend who insulated his garage attached to his house and he swears it does in fact have a reasonable difference with the rest of the house especially in heating and or cooling of the average cost of the over all year. It cut his heating and cooling bill down considerably.