Living space above garage


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Old 07-09-17, 01:01 PM
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Living space above garage

So typical living space above a garage. The garage never gets below 45 in winter. The room above is colder than the rest. It's on the north corner of the house. Question - Would spraying closed cell foam from the basement ceiling side make a huge difference in winter time temps for the living space. I currently have insulation board against the subfloor. Not sealed tight to the floor joists. I was wondering if this would be worth the time and effort.

Thanks in advance !!!

Nick
 
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Old 07-09-17, 01:16 PM
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That room is always going to be colder but every little bit helps. Not only does that room probably have heat loss from 3 exterior walls, but also from the floor and ceiling. No way you should expect it to be the same temperature as rooms with only 1 or 2 exterior walls and a heated floor. Beefing up the insulation in the floor above the unheated garage will help with maybe 1/5 of the area where you are experiencing heat loss. So don't expect a dramatic difference as if it will solve the entire problem... but at least your feet might stay warmer.

When you have a room like that that is prone to more heat loss than the others, you usually have to augment the heat source somehow, for example, by adding electric heat with its own thermostat.
 
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Old 07-10-17, 04:06 AM
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XSleeper, Thanks ! That's what I was wondering. It only has two exposed walls but understood. Maybe I'll open the sheetrock just below the main bath and spray foam that area. I would like that floor to be a little more toasty. I also was thinking of heating the space below. Maybe keeping it at 60 instead of 40. I think that would help some.
 
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Old 07-10-17, 12:26 PM
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As a retired energy auditor I love my infrared camera. When a house or an area in a house is experiencing a problem like yours I could usually target specific locations where there was cold air infiltrating or excessive heat loss. but, I live in cold country and testing when it is cold outside and heated inside makes searching easy. Add to that I would use my blower door (large exhaust fan) to exaggerate any leaks. Nice when you can see exactly where to rip open the sheetrock.

I did this on my own home when I first got my camera many years ago and found an unexpected cold area over and to the left of my front door. Had to wait a few years but last fall I opened the ceiling in that area and a section of the rim joist was missing, thus the open soffit was open to that joist cavity. Easy fix but would never have known to look there.

Any local energy auditor will probably have an IR camera but ask to see some pictures to be sure s/he is enthusiastic. And either do the inspection on a cold morning in the fall or wait for real cold weather. Plus, the rest of the energy audit can save the cost of having them come in.

Bud
 
 

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