Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My laundry room and garage are under two bedrooms of the house, the laundry room and garage are uninsulated and freezing, and the two bedrooms are colder than other rooms.
I suspect insulation between the two will help. The laundry room has no ceiling and the garage does, the two are connected and seperated by drywall and I can just slide the insulation between the rafters over the ceiling in the garage and let it rest on the ceiling and then for the portion over the laundry room support it with nails or whatever (appearances dont matter).
My question is should I get one with a vapor barrier or without, and if so which way would it face? I'm looking at R30, it gets cold here in the winter.
Before addressing those, why don't you insulate the walls first so the garage and laundry room don't freeze? Broken pipes in the laundry room or frozen clothes that were left in the washer is really problematic.
I suspect insulation between the two will help.
My question is should I get one with a vapor barrier or without, and if so which way would it face?
Whenever I think I understand what is right or best... someone throws me a curve.
Insulation (and ventilation) is one of those subjects that must be considered in the whole.
Look at the entire house with some objective help based on your local considerations.
There is no source of heat in the laundry room or garage?
Heat goes to where it is cold, if you have no heat in those rooms you have to remember it's not cold infiltrating the bedrooms but the heat in the bedrooms is making it's way into the basement/ laundry room. Insulating the walls as suggested above will slow down that process since you'll be trapping more heat in the laundry/basement.
If you insulate between the two the bedrooms will be warmer but you're going to have a colder laundry and garage assuming there is no heat in there. One thing you need to consider is freezing pipes.
One of the most important things in insulating is to seal the wall and prevent air intrusion. Foam is the best way to do this. Cellulose is next best. WIth fiberglass batt, I prefer the ninsulation that is completely enclosed on plastic so I do nto have to touch it at all. I find it easy to work with and well worth the extra cost. If I were insulating the whole house, it might be different, but limited areas, I will trade convenience for a tiny cost increase.
On side of the wall should be completely sealed, usually be taping around the insulation. R-Value is less important than sealing. You would not believe the differnece between foam and batt. Both have roughly the same R-value, but foam keeps a room far warmer and far quieter. (Foam also costs three times more and cannot be DIY).
Kraft paper due to its flame spread rating cannot face into occupied areas. FSK (foil faced rated) meets the flamed spread rating and can be exposed to occupied side. Don't mistake silver faced kraft (don't know if they make it anymore) for FSK.
Easiest and best way to handle this is to call an insulation company for an estimate. They're usually free and they can advise you how to do it as well as the best product for your application.
I'll just answer the question at-hand there's still a lot of unknown variables.
Va.- vapor barrier towards the living (conditioned space) area.
Code for exposed batt insulation has changed over the yrs-
currently the IRC says no exposed batt insulation (except for the attic).
Before that it was non-faced. Prior to that there was no code criteria for exposed batt insulation.
If the garage is not heated and its ceiling is not insulated, the rooms above will get cold. The problem for the OP is that the fiberglass insulation is placed between the floor joists, before the sheet-rock or other ceiling material is installed.
Since the floor joists are installed across the house from its front to the back, one could not reach very far into the garage ceiling from another room next to the garage (the floor joists are on the way). But remove the garage ceiling's sheetrock, and the ceiling is wide open for insulating. Measure the distance between the floor joists, and buy the pre-cut fiberglass to fit properly.
The pipes bursting is unlikely; hasnt happened yet and the house is 34 years old. The laundry room is warmer than the garage due to the furnace and water heater being there. The house is cinderblock.
I plan on just sliding the insulation between the ceiling and floor in the case of the garage. So the vapor barrier would face the floor above it then?
Energy is still cheap here so I really don't care about the bills, I just want the two bedrooms warmer.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
