It’s great to have a usable room above your garage, but if the space between the garage and the room is not insulated correctly, the room can end up very cold in winter and very hot in summer. In this article, we discuss how to insulate a garage ceiling with a room above. Read on to learn more.
What You'll Learn Today
How Can You Insulate The Ceiling Of Your Garage?
1. determine whether or not you need insulation
Begin by determining whether or not you need insulation in the ceiling. If there is already plywood or sheetrock installed, insulation may already be in place.
Before you begin planning your insulation project and purchasing materials, inspect your garage to evaluate its current insulation status. You can do this by drilling a few small holes in the sheetrock or plywood that will allow you to take a peek inside.
2. Evaluate the condition of any existing insulation
If you find that there is insulation in place, you should remove a whole panel of sheetrock or plywood and examine the insulation carefully. Just because there is insulation in place doesn’t mean it’s doing its job.
With the passage of time, insulation can become packed, or it may be damaged by moisture if it is installed incorrectly or there have been problems with leaks. If it was installed a long time ago, it may simply not be as good as modern insulation.
3. Look for other factors
If you find that the insulation that is in place is in good condition, evenly applied and seems up to the task of preventing cold or hot air from rising into your bonus room, you’ll need to inspect that room for air leak problems.
It could be that unwanted hot or cold air is getting in through leaks in the walls and/or ceiling of the room, itself.
4. Resolve problems
If you find gaps and cracks that are allowing unwanted passage of air, you’ll need to seal them up. Spray foam is a good product for this purpose. You can buy it by the can at any home improvement center or hardware store.
5. Supplement existing insulation
If you have insulation in place, but you do not think it’s adequate, you can supplement it by using loose, blow-in insulation or by using spray foam on a larger scale.
For both of these applications, you can rent the equipment you need to perform the task; however, you may be better off spending a bit more on a professional job and getting the guarantee (not to mention the safety) that comes with it.
How To Solve Cold Floors Above Your Garage
It’s quick and easy to use the drill and fill method of garage ceiling insulation. This involves drilling out evenly spaced holes in the ceiling and blowing in an insulating product such as cellulose, loose fiberglass or spray foam.
6. Finish the ceiling
After you’ve gotten your insulation situation squared away, finish the ceiling properly to be sure you aren’t leaving any little gaps that might allow hot and cold air to pass through.
Is It Necessary To Insulate Your Whole Garage?
If you are only using your garage to park your cars and store off-season items, you may not need to insulate the whole garage, but the better insulated the garage is, the better temperature control you will have of the room overhead.
Even so, just insulating the ceiling of the garage will help with the problem of cold floors in that room.
Other steps that will help include:
- Line the garage walls with a double layer of greenhouse plastic sheeting. You can simply hang it from ceiling to floor on rods placed very close to the wall and ceiling. In springtime, just take it down and store it until next winter.
- Add double paned Energy Star windows to your garage and the room above, and you’ll go a long way toward blocking unwanted air exchange.
- Insulate the garage door. Ready made kits are easily and affordably available from your local home improvement store or online.
- Be vigilant about keeping your garage windows and doors shut in the wintertime to keep frigid air out.
- Add a layer of protection to the floors of the room above the garage by investing in wall-to-wall carpet pad and carpeting. Add a few cozy rugs to seating areas.
- Use thermal drapes in the windows of your bonus room to help keep unwanted hot or cold air out.
If the floor of the room above the garage is in need of replacement, you may decide to tear it out and insulate under new flooring using fiberglass roll or batts. You would lay this down on the sheetrock or plywood that composes the garage ceiling. See our article here for more details.
I totally agree with you. Spending a bit money on insulation can save you tons of money later on heating and other things.