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Insulating garage

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So house I just bought didn't drywall half the garage. Plan is to put some insulation up and drywall then paint it all white. I have a couple questions for those who may know the info.

 

1. Should I use a certain insulation for the garage or all the same? (Dumb question)

 

2. Should I put up a vapor shield after insulation?

 

3. Is there suppose to be a certain type of drywall for garage?

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When a garage is attached to the house only the walls or ceilings that are common to the living area get fire rated "X" or "C" type sheetrock.  Before continuing to do the whole garage, I would add electrical outlets in the garage, you can never have enough outlets in the garage. Or course they need to be ground fault outlets, you can do that with a GF breaker in the panel or individual outlets.  There a some GF receptacles you can "daisy chain" regular outlets off of in the garage if you wish.  Twenty amp GF single pole breaker with 12/2 wire will do the trick if going from the panel.  Using a 20 amp receptacle, if you run an air compressor or certain high current draw tools in the garage (All tinkerers have something that uses a lot of current or the garage freezer trick).  I would include an outlet to the outside of the garage wall as well by the doors, again convenience.  

 

If the garage walls are standard 2x4 or 2x6 construction, fill in with standard fiberglass insulation with a Kraft paper backing or similar backing (R-13 or R-19).  The paper backing faces in towards the middle of the garage.  Use fire rated 'X' or 'C'; type sheet rock, then tape and spackle.  Couple of coats of drywall primer at least to stop degradation of the paper face and you are good to go.  I do not really see the need for a vapor barrier inside the garage.  Doing this really helps on houses where the bedrooms are over the garage like in bi-levels and split levels.  Add insulated garage doors and it will help.

 

My garage is under the bedrooms and I insulated the walls years ago. Only the ceiling and the wall that faced the downstairs living area was insulated and covered with 'X' sheet rock. I did the three remaining walls, As cold as it gets, it never goes below freezing in there. Traps heat loss from the boiler room.  A little long, hope it helps.

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So house I just bought didn't drywall half the garage. Plan is to put some insulation up and drywall then paint it all white. I have a couple questions for those who may know the info.

 

1. Should I use a certain insulation for the garage or all the same? (Dumb question)

 

2. Should I put up a vapor shield after insulation?

 

3. Is there suppose to be a certain type of drywall for garage?

 

For what it's worth, if you use closed cell spray foam, a vapor barrier is not required.    Mice and rats also don't like to make nests in it.    It's expensive relative to pink but it really works well.

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Most new houses here in the Valley of the Sun have the spray foam insulation. That should tell you something as temps may reach 120 in the summer.

 

Sent from an undisclosed location

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Most new houses here in the Valley of the Sun have the spray foam insulation. That should tell you something as temps may reach 120 in the summer.

 

Sent from an undisclosed location

Spray insulation is great, until you need to do renovations. There is some spray insulation that is so strong that you could take out the framing and the foam would hold up the wall and ceiling.

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..., I would add electrical outlets in the garage, you can never have enough outlets in the garage. Or course they need to be ground fault outlets, you can do that with a GF breaker in the panel or individual outlets.  

 

Is this something "newish".  The outlets in my garage are not GFI and I don't know anyone around me that has GFI for outlets in their garage.

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Is this something "newish". The outlets in my garage are not GFI and I don't know anyone around me that has GFI for outlets in their garage.

It is. All outlets in living spaces have to be GFI protected. I don't think your garage is considered a living space though.

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Been in the code book going back to the early 80's.  Anywhere where dampness/water is a problem/present, so outdoor outlets, garages, within 6 feet water, etc!.  Living areas need to have a grounded outlet, not a GFCI

 

Howard your garage outlets maybe if you have a GFCI in the bathroom.  Old electrician trick was to put one in the main bathroom and daisy chain the second bathroom, outdoor, and garage outlet off of it. Poor way of doing it, but meet code.

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Been in the code book going back to the early 80's. Anywhere where dampness/water is a problem/present, so outdoor outlets, garages, within 6 feet water, etc!. Living areas need to have a grounded outlet, not a GFCI

There is no water within six feet of my garage. GFI requirements suck. Much of house was built in the 70's where they put one freakin GFi breaker for all the bathrooms and outside outlets, such when you have driving rain they trip and you have no power for two days still stuff dries out. Have had to make lots of changes to fix this mess.

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I was taught paper faces the warm side. The garage is the cold side. So I would not want to have paper out.

 

Attics in NJ should not see paper.

Right paper faces warm side. In this case garage is warmer than outside wall.  The ceiling or walls facing living areas are already done, required by code. See OP's 1st post.

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GFCI's are required in new construction/renovated garages and shed type structures and iirc all outlets must be protected. Some concerns were extension cords being dragged outside thru water, cars being washed inside, floodwater getting in etc. There may be a few exceptions like inaccesable ones not sure about the nuances been out of the loop for a while. 

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So house I just bought didn't drywall half the garage. Plan is to put some insulation up and drywall then paint it all white. I have a couple questions for those who may know the info.

 

1. Should I use a certain insulation for the garage or all the same? (Dumb question)

 

2. Should I put up a vapor shield after insulation?

 

3. Is there suppose to be a certain type of drywall for garage?

Are you heating the garage?

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GFI is required in garages . R15 or R21 depending on framing . Now the code is arc fault breakers and they are about $30-40 each

   T-baill got it . lots of outlets, I would go all 20 amps as he said .maybe even a 100 amp sub panel haha just for shits and giggles.  Got to have a beer fridge,  circuit for a  stick

welder and  circuit for the 180 amp mig welder. Small metal lathe and surface grinder, maybe a tiny CNC machine lol

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Been in the code book going back to the early 80's. Anywhere where dampness/water is a problem/present, so outdoor outlets, garages, within 6 feet water, etc!. Living areas need to have a grounded outlet, not a GFCI

Not true. Outlets in all living spaces have to be either GFI protected or on a GFI breaker.

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A couple of three thoughts about this electric stuff

 

Protect the circuit at the breaker. Don't protect it at the first outlet and daisy chain the entire circuit. Chances are when it trips that outlet will be completely buried under a pile of crap.

 

If you are going to install an outlet outside the garage--and you should, romex is cheap--run it on a separate circuit. In case it trips every time it rains -it shouldn't but Murphy-- it will get old quickly.

 

If you have a refrigerator/freezer in the garage where you save your overflow frozen food, you probably should run it a separate circuit and you may not want to have it protected. It would suck if the outlet tripped, you didn't realize for a few days and you end up with a stinky mess. It's not code nobody will tell if you don't.

 

Note that I'm not an electrician and barely can change a lightbulb but on the interwebs everybody's got an opinion.

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Not true. Outlets in all living spaces have to be either GFI protected or on a GFI breaker.

 

 

That must be new(ish).  Do you know when the code changed to require that?  Because I've not heard it before; I knew the code as T Bill described it above.

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Make sure you paint the rock or it will turn yellow over the years. Throw up a few sheets of 1/2" plywood instead of rock for better tool hanging. Spend a little time and money doing it right, you will enjoy it over the years. Ours has natural gas heat and a window AC unit. Great place to work when it's too hot to be outside. You can get the room just right for painting or epoxy curing. Don't forget the Farrah Fawcett poster and sound system. Yes, I spend alot of time out there. I skipped the perfect floor, better for painting/welding/general screwing around.

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I will be adding more electrical outlets to the garage and to the exterior as well. I will probably add some outlets to the walls that already have the drywall up.

 

Garage is a 2 car garage, can't fit my lifted truck in it so it's a parking spot for the lovely lady. Plan to have my tool boxes and maybe a work area in garage. Basement will have the big boy safe and gun room :).

 

I think as of right now I will not heat the garage but that may change in future.

 

Going check out some spray foam installers to get quotes, anyone recommend anyone in the south jersey area?

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That must be new(ish). Do you know when the code changed to require that? Because I've not heard it before; I knew the code as T Bill described it above.

It is recent. 2014 I'm guessing. All outlets in "living" spaces must be on arc fault breakers.

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