OUR GARAGE IS TOO COLD!
Do you have an unfinished garage? This particular client had a small storage garage with a rollup door and no other way to keep the cold out. All you need is a little insulation, 1/2” OSB, and a 9’ ladder. Let’s get started!
It’s December, and Christmas is around the corner. It doesn’t look it, but the inside temperature of the garage is about 20 degrees. The wind is rushing in through the soffit vents. Let’s get this thing sealed up! First, I got soffit baffles installed for proper airflow to the ridge vent, then installed the 23” R-19 insulation. “Jordan,” you may ask, “why didn’t you go with a much higher R value insulation? You’re putting this on the ceiling, where R-32 or higher should go!” Fellows, recall that this is a storage shed, not a church. R-19 is fine. Anyhow, I needed to get insulation batting 9’ in the air and suspended so the OSB could go on later. I typically work solo, so this was a job for my trusty Little Giant Ladder. Adjustable to a 9’ A-frame, and I can hold one side of the batt in place as I staple the other. Pop, pop, pop, and I’m off to the races.
From here, it’s just a matter of praying the staples hold long enough to get the chipboard in place. With the soffit baffles doing their job, the whipping wind should be directed up to the ridge vent and out the top of the roof, not into the garage. So far so good. Now, we do the walls.
OSB time! Working solo is neat for a lot of reasons, but solo hanging 4x8 sheets above your head is not one of those reasons. Regardless, it needed to get done. So, I employed the ladder once again to prop the one side as I used my second ladder to tack fasten the other. In short-ish order, the ceiling was up. I had to cut holes for the light fixtures, which did take a minute, and only once did I bonk the insulation and had it come crashing down. I didn’t curse…much.
Home stretch. Get the wall boards up, get the seams in order, and get this project to the finish line. Fine, until you get to the doors. The rollup door has a substantial opening above it that allows the rolling up of the door, and the wind was A-WHIPPIN’ through that opening. I couldn’t get a tool between the door roller and the wall, so the OSB had to be cut in a way to allow me to fasten it up high enough and then have it flop down. Not perfect, but you’ll never see it from a galloping horse.
Walls are up, and the doors and windows get trimmed out with OSB. Measure, measure, cut and that’s a wrap. One final detail was installing a brush door sweep at the door opening to keep the wind from rushing in. That seemed to help tremendously. The homeowner was thrilled, and Christmas was a little merrier for all!