Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - Foam insulation on garage ceiling
Doityourself.com community forum was created to provide answers to all questions related to home improvement and home repair. Doityourself community can help you find information about how-to topics on small fixes to large remodeling projects. With comprehensive how-to content and expertly moderated community forums DoItYourself.com makes it easy to tackle even the most complex home improvement projects.View Full Version : Foam insulation on garage ceiling
darin_i
09-29-07, 11:26 PM
I live in a 65-yr old house in Pittsburgh. For the most part, it is OK in the winter (it was actually insulated with fiberglass on the exterior walls), except for the den on the main floor. This room sits over the single-car garage and its floor (the roof of the garage) is a concrete slab. The room used to be a porch, and was converted to an additional room in '52 (I have the original blueprints plus the modification prints)
In the winter, this room gets quite cold, and I thought (because apparently I have excess time !) the thing to do would be to glue foamboard insulation on the garage ceiling to keep me a bit toastier in the winter.
My questions are:
1) How thick should the board be (what R-factor)
2) Does the uniform buiding code allow me to just Liquid-Nails this stuff to the ceiling?
3) Given that I'm not that crazy about an 'unfinished insulation' style of ceiling in the garage, what alternatives to furring-strips and drywall are available? Can I just paint it?
4) In this case (Since the vapor barrier would be required against the concrete) are there any products that would let me avoid this step? In other words, its a pain to attach the poly vapor barrier, and THEN try and glue on the foamboard.
Much thanks for any suggestions or advice from the wise!
In the winter, this room gets quite cold, and I thought (because apparently I have excess time !) the thing to do would be to glue foamboard insulation on the garage ceiling to keep me a bit toastier in the winter.
My questions are:
1) How thick should the board be (what R-factor)
2) Does the uniform buiding code allow me to just Liquid-Nails this stuff to the ceiling?
3) Given that I'm not that crazy about an 'unfinished insulation' style of ceiling in the garage, what alternatives to furring-strips and drywall are available? Can I just paint it?
4) In this case (Since the vapor barrier would be required against the concrete) are there any products that would let me avoid this step? In other words, its a pain to attach the poly vapor barrier, and THEN try and glue on the foamboard.
Much thanks for any suggestions or advice from the wise!
d00bs
09-29-07, 11:49 PM
If you just attach foamboard to the ceiling and leave it im pretty sure that its a fire hazard and against code. Its got to be covered up. At any rate depending on where you are located the 2 inch R10 foamboard isnt going to be enough anyways. I'd build a new dropped down ceiling and put in R38 batts and attach 1 inch foamboard to the joists to prevent wind from washing over the batts. Then fire rated drywall over all that to give you the new ceiling. Alternatively you could build out the new ceiling again a foot down and leave out a thin strip of drywall at one end of it. Then you could get a hose in each joist bay and fill the whole thing with cellulose and then add in that final strip of drywall.