Would you bother insulating a detached garage if you lived in the Midwest but were planning to live there for only a few years?
Would you bother insulating a detached garage if you lived in the Midwest but were planning to live there for only a few years?
If I can just staple in batts, sure. If I'm making significant changes to do it, depends on how often I'm in there and for what. Or what's being stored.
Or literally any more information than you gave.
>If I can just staple in batts, sure.
Pretty much this, but even with minimal effort, I doubt it'll add enough value to the home to be worth it during the sale. Anything "semi-invisible" is almost always a negative ROI
>Anything "semi-invisible" is almost always a negative ROI
Make it ultra visible then?
I guess I meant "cosmetic"
Yes, add RGB lighting to the insulation. Really will make the whole thing POP!
It’s going to take a real specific buyer to make any ROI if you insulate a detached garage. I think maybe 5% of potential buyers would give a frick, and of those 5%, I highly doubt an insulated garage is a major purchase point for them.
The only reason is to make it more comfortable for me to work in when it's cold outside and easier to heat. It's 25x25 and the roof is 14' high in the middle of the truss. I think it would cost several hundred dollars to do the ceiling and take me a few days.
Then I would, yes. Ceilings that high would see significant energy savings in addition to being more comfortable to work in.
How much time are you going to spend in there? Because you’re going to be better off blasting a propane heater for the 4hrs a week you’re working than insulating it so it’s warm all the time. If you’re running some 1500W electric heater and it’s cold and insulated, it’s going to take some hours before it starts to warm the place up anyway, so you’ll probably have a damn space heater right next to you and you’re going to have to be running it all night before the insulation starts doing anything.
Also from experience running AC in my attached garage, garage doors don’t seal worth a damn and the second you open it up for something, you lose like 4 hours worth of heating or cooling.
Personally, if I were you, I would get an electric space heater for when it’s cold but not frigid and keep it near your work space, and then blast a propane heater when it’s real cold or you want the whole garage warm. And you can take those with you when you move.
If you're going to go through all that trouble to insulate and heat such a large space you might as well throw a bed in the corner and rent it out. 25x25 is bigger than a lot of college dorms, put an ad on craigslist for college students.
Half done jobs are negative on the sale price. Visible insulation will scare off anyone that would pay top dollar
Because you finished it...
Also your "value" doesn't mean much when it's time to sell. It only matters how much people are willing to pay for it... Which is influenced more by the opinion of an appraiser, comparing your house to similar houses, than it does with insulation in the garage. As of right now, saying it's gone up in value is just a guess. For all we know, you crapped up the plumbing and decreased the value by $10k.
>because you finished it
What moron doesn't finish the jobs they start? Of course I finished it. Anybody that does less is a hack moron.
Housing prices have increased drastically over the last few years, and we got our property appraised by the county. From when we bought it, it increased $20,000 on its own, but we mentioned that we updated the garage. We brought him in to show him, and he added $5000 on top of the original appraisal just for that.
This
If you’re barely going to be in there, don’t waste the money. Even when you go in, you can fire up a propane heater or space heater and maybe a window unit or portable AC in the summer if you wanted. If you’re going to be in there daily for at least an hour, maybe then it would be worth it, especially if everything is bare and you could insulate it in an afternoon.
How many women are you storing in there? How close are your neighbors?
just so you know
every high tech new modern home
is pretty much just a insulated space bubble
thats the new high tech energy saving bullshit
its unsulated everywhere
it makes homes even in extreme heat very comfy
I am in the midwest and I did do this.
I did fiberglass batts in the walls, I then got a great deal on "defect" 3/8" OSB for only $5 a sheet and put that on all the walls.
I did batts in the ceiling rafters and drywalled it.
In the end it barely made any difference, it takes 2 kerosene heaters running full blast to keep my 2-1/2 car garage moderately comfortable when it's dead of winter 15 degrees F
Is the loss through the door then?
Op here. Door is insulated but the soffets are wide open and there are some small cracks around the door.
Did you do the roof at all?
I did. It's honestly not a bad choice to insulate. Even if you're only there a few years, you are increasing property value.
I found a used furnace for $150, and it works perfect. I even attached dug a trench and buried my own gas line to connect it to the house. City doesn't even know.
I did cut through an underground phone line, but I spliced it back together. (We don't use the landlines anymore so it doesn't even matter)
In summary:
>Walls and ceiling insulated
>Added nice walls, plywood ceiling
>furnace installed with help of bros
Total cost ~$1100.
Since it is now a heated and climate controlled garage, property value has already gone up $5000 since we finished it.
Insulate yourself, not the space. Sweaters and coats go for chump change at thrift stores if you don't care about the look.
If you will be working or sleeping in it you’ll need a heat source. If you are just storing things in it then who gives a shit
Even a couple hundred watts of solar heat will prevent condensation rusting. You don't need a fancy system just hook up 200 watts of solar at 48 volts to a 220 electric heater and it will never overheat and none of your tools will rust again.
Yes, absoluteky.
Your structure has zero thermal value, you're going to be totally unable to heat or cool the space even monentarily and will end up huddled miserably around some power guzzling split system like a Russian peasant.
Out my way we usually install a vapour barrier material, then pink bats, then this kind of wire stuff that holds the bats in place, then plasterboard.