Detached Garage : Insulate or not
Hi, I’m planning out taking my garage from the 1940’s to 2016/’17 and want to know if I need to insulate or not. My goal is to drywall and than hang cabinets and organize storage. It will not be a living space.
Location : Los Angeles, CA
Size : ~ 400 sqft
Soffit vent : None whatsoever. You’ll get a wave of stale warm / hot air on any day when opening the garage door.
Construction : Slab foundation and three walls erected on top of a concrete block border. Roll up garage door in front. Inside the garage is open, uninsulated walls with exposed framing with studs 24″ on center. The roof/ceiling pitches upward (cathedrael / vaulted). Stucco exterior.
With no venting and being in the winter-mild summer hot southern california area, what preparation, if any, do I need to make before throwing up drywall or other wall surface ? Since my goal is more of a tidy (cosmetic) garage that is well organized for storing stuff, so I get get all the stuff my wife is cramming into the house out of it, will a radiant barrier against the wood underside (insude side) of the ceiling be sufficient to mitigate radiant heat from the sun beating down ?
Also, is Drywall on the vertical walls even necessary or are there other options for a clean look ?
Thanks
Replies
Conditioned?
If the space is not going to be conditioned there is very little reason to insulate in our SoCal climate. On the other hand insulation is cheap, so there's very little reason not to insulate. I've done a couple of projects with plywood on the inside. One client later wanted drywall over the plywood. I'd suggest osb with plywood over it. That way you can put a nail anywhere in the wall to hang stuff on. I wouldn't worry about ventilation, but a radiant barrier is a good idea.
In that climate you want to keep stuff cool, more than anything else. (Cooler temps are not only more comfortable, they make stuff in the garage last longer.)
A "cold roof" with eave to ridge ventillation would be ideal.
For the walls you can use anything you want (that code permits). Drywall is cheap, flakeboard is more durable against bumps, foil-faced foamboard has been used but may not meet code unless covered.
Insulation won't make the garage cool, it'll just heat up marginally more slowly but will cool off in the evening more slowly as well.
Just to be clear, is this a DEtached garage? An Attached garage should have fire-rated drywall covering the entire common wall (no exposed framing), with any cracks sealed with fire caulk.
I'm with Mike. Insulating won't cost you that much and you'll be covered if you ever change your mind about adding AC or heat. I even insulate my sheds where I keep my mowerd just in case.
Insulating it will keep it from warming up as fast in hot weather and cooling off so much in cold weather. I'd sure as heck insulate it if it were mine.