Insulate a garage in AZ


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Old 06-27-15, 03:39 PM
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Insulate a garage in AZ

I made a previous post but need to do it again and ask for advice on how to properly insulate my garage.

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I have a shop in this garage attached to my house, the front of the garage faces East, South and West with un-insulated walls currently. The walls are dry wall and in the South wall there is 3 windows, one 3' by 5' and two 1' by 2' and are double pane windows. The house was built in 2001 and in the attic over the garage is no insulation at all either. The garage measures 19' by 11' and there is a large tree in my front yard that shades the South side most of the day and some of the West side in the later part of the day. There never is full direct sun on the walls currently. The roof gets pounded with direct sunlight.

I can get to the top of the walls in 70% of the area in the attic, the South side has an adobe mock up where it extends an additional 18" out so I can sit atop the portion I want to put insulation in as well as getting to nearly almost all of the West wall inside the attic until the eaves drop down it he corner. East side above and surrounding the garage door I can't get to at all with the roof structure making it a mess of 2x4s for support.

In the garage door I have put Foil-Faced Bubble Wrap against the metal then put 1/2" foam sheets I cut and secured with aluminum tape.

I have a 14k btu AC that I would like to cool this space with, but I'm tempted to return it and go with a split system as they are way more efficient.

What are the best methods to insulate this space and keep it cool in the summer? Any additional information needed please let me know and I shall provide it.
 
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Old 06-27-15, 04:29 PM
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You had a $646 quote from a contractor, so we felt you were stepping out of the realm of DIY. That would have been a grab and go quote for me if it were my garage. Do you have soffit venting and a ridge vent to carry the hot air up and out of the attic space? If not it needs to happen. Roxul insulation is a very good insulator, but I am not sure what R factor you can get it in. Blown insulation in the garage up to R38 would make a decided difference in the room. You can rent the blowers, or they are free at most box stores if you buy the insulation from them. Total PITA to use, but definitely DIY.
 
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Old 06-27-15, 04:56 PM
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Thanks for the response, yeah I had the guy lined up to do the deed and he just disappeared into thin air. Stopped taking calls and responding to emails, I never paid him money so I took that as a sign from the DIY Gods this should be a job I do myself. I hope the guy is okay and didn't get hurt on a job. Now that it's 110 and God knows what in the attic I need a plan of attack for when it cools off and I can get to work and knock it out.

There is one gable vent, rather small but it is there at the top of the garage on the end of the house. There are eve vents that i'll cover with baffles before I put in any insulation in the attic. There are also roof vents in the tile but not sure how many over the garage portion of the roof.

I'll have to move all of my equipment out an a ton of tools, etc before blowing insulation in, I expect it to be a total spectacular mess.

Would it be better to roll out insulation in the attic to get r60 instead of blowing cellulose in the attic?
 
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Old 06-27-15, 05:37 PM
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Rolling insulation would be less messy, quicker, and cross layering it would give a more solid insulative blanket. I itch thinking of it, but proper precautions could keep it from being so bad.
 
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Old 06-28-15, 08:52 AM
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Rolling out itch in an attic is not worth it IMO. Batts do not fill voids like blown in would and trying to roll around framing members sucks big time. Also, with a helper to fill the machine it will go faster then batts. I'm not sure why you would need to move a bunch of tools to insulate the attic. You should only need one access hole.
 
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Old 06-28-15, 02:01 PM
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I don't know of any other way, why I wanted to post 'what is the best way' and see what the DIY experts had to say. The walls have nothing in them so I was going to drill 2-3" holes in the walls and blow insulation into them.

The two methods I've seen are drilling low med and high holes and using a funnel type attachment on the end of the hose and keeping the gate on the machine down to 2" and filling up the wall. You will get some settling over time but a quick run to the hardware store in a year or two, etc and you blast more insulation in there and you're good to go again. Even if you get settling of the cellulose over time, it's still better then what I have in there now which is nothing at all.

The other way I've seen videos on is to get a long 2" plastic hose and feed it into the wall and pack it that way, listen to the machine to tell you when to pull the hose back as it starts to whine which means pull your hose back. Only trouble with this method is having never done it before you can quickly clog your hose, if not done quick enough, which can take a long time to clean out.

Again this is me checking out YouTube videos and if there is a better tried and true method folks know about on this forum for insulating existing wall spaces, I'm all ears.
 
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Old 06-29-15, 06:45 AM
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It was 38 years ago this month that I insulated my previous home with blown-in cellulose. The blower hose was clear and the nozzle was a tapered rubber cone that fit into about a one inch hole drilled through the siding. I simply blew it until the material stopped flowing and then moved on to the next hole. I DID have a control switch that allowed me to start and stop the blower from the nozzle.

Some ten-twelve years later I did some major remodeling where I had to open up some of these walls. The insulation had not sagged even an inch and was compressed evenly throughout the stud space.

I would suggest blowing cellulose as the easiest and probably least expensive option. You can also blow the same material in the attic. You absolutely need two people, one to keep filling the hopper on the machine and one to manipulate the nozzle. Having the remote switch is definitely a plus.
 
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Old 06-29-15, 10:54 AM
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Awesome, appreciate all of the responses I think my path is clear now.
 
 

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