Hey MRRDER"S I have a question that I would love to have answered, I’m currently insulating my garage that I’m turning into a trainroom, the garage is detached from the house it was built (along with the house) in 1941, it has a loft with a A-frame,the loft is used for storage and I will have a hatch with a chain ladder, now I’m thinking about adding a tile ceiling, should I insulate the ENTIRE frame, or just leave it as is, the trainroom walls will be drywalled along with insulating the garage door. I live in Portland Oregon where the summers can be quite hot and dry and the late fall and winter quite rainy windy but mild or bitter cold and snowy for a good portion of the time. I hope this info help’s in getting the answers I need. Take Care and Happy Modelrailroading!!!
IMO only I would, I think it would be more comfortable all year long. I also think it will help in heating and cooling. As for ceiling tile it may help with keeping the dust down, I know they recommend that in the basement train rooms
I agree wholeheartedly. No only for the reasons listed above, but the more stable the environment, the less troubles you’ll have with expansion and contraction with temperature changes.
Are you going to put your car in there also?
There could be building code issues with a tile ceiling if that’s the case - might not matter to you now, but it could be an issue if/when you sell the house
Drywall would probably be ok, and if you’re doing the walls, keep going across the ceiling.
The tile won’t do much as far as insulation, so whatever you put on the ceiling, you’ll want something in your attic.
Houses usually have about R-30 insulation above the top floor and R-19 in the walls.
Hope that helps!
Eric
Unless you like “warpage” and “rust” insulate the crap out of it!!! It’s a lot cheaper to insulate it now than to “retro” it after you have it all drywalled.
Have some of that good quality “foam” insulation installed in both the walls and the ceiling, you’ll never regret it.
I live in Central Missouri and the summers are hot and humid and the winters are “mostly” mild but usually dry and insulation is a must if you plan to keep anything in there that you value. Obviously you would value you’re trains and unless you want to see them rust in front of your eyes, insulate!!
There’s no such thing as too much insulation…
Mark
I would insulate all of it including the walls. Assuming you’re planning to heat and cool it, it’ll save you money. I’d also take out the garage door and wall in the opening.
Enjoy
Paul
If you want to heat or even cool the room, I would insulate. Our climate is changing. And you will have to expect rising prices.
Wolfgang
Well, one thing is for sure certain - energy prices won´t drop. Insulating your garage therefore is a cool investment in summer, and a hot one in winter. It also protects your work!
You might want to check with local building codes in any case. Whether or not you actually put a car in the garage, it’s still a garage to the code enforcement people. I would call them on the phone and ask. If you don’t give your name or address, you can avoid a visit from the tax assessor, but it’s a good idea to know if there’s something you’re really not supposed to do.
But, by all means, insulate. A comfortable, year-round trainroom does wonders for your enjoyment of the hobby.
I insulated my two car garage and replaced the weather stripping around the two wooden garage doors. The resulting change was dramatic.
I, too, would insulate everything, walls and ceiling and then sheetrock it all (forget about ceiling tiles). Build a false wall in front of the garage doors, insulate and vapor barrier and seal everything. What are you going to use for heat? Oh, and don’t forget to seal the floor with some epoxy coating or if you can afford it, build up the floor and insulate it too, (much better on your feet).
Without question if you can afford it I would insulate the outside with extruded foam you know the stuff model railroaders use for scenery it’s intended purpose is for insulation but that would mean residing your garage. On the inside first put up a vapor barrier usually heavy gage plastic. On a garage that old it wouldn’t be uncommon for it to be lets say less then tight construction so the vapor barrier is a good idea. Then insulate the garage fully with either extruded foam between the rafter, roll insulation or even sprayed on foam In some cases it’s very cost effective. I would then sheet rock the walls and ceiling and throw bats of insulation in between the ceiling joists. The tighter (well insulated) you make it the better off you and your trains will be.If done correctly you’ll spend less money on hvac bills not to mention your comfort all year round will be much better then in a none insulated garage. As far as permits go if you want to give the township your hard earned money then go ahead being as your not changing anything structurally or doing any kind of electrical work I don’t suspect you would even need a permit.at least around here you don’t. I am convinced it’s just another way of them squeezing more money out of you.
I did just that when I built my first layout in my garage, and that was in Phoenix. When I framed in the wall where the garage door was, I installed a window in the center of it. I put in a long bridge in front of it; the neighborhood kids LOVED to watch the trains go over it.
I have a basement for my railroad, in a tri level house. basement is under kitchen/living room/hallways. When we moved in the basement was bare. I sheetrocked all the walls, and included insulation. I put in a suspended ceiling and carpeting on the floor over the concrete. The furnace /air condioner are located against one back wall, ducts have vents into the basement. Then I built the railroad. It is always nice down there, humidity control on the furnace, it is just a nice place winter or summer. I even built a full bath with shower in one corner and that is where I head for during the warmer weather to get wet.
Before this house, we had one that I didn’t bother to finish the basement area, and we were always sorry.
Bob
Vapor barrier should face the interior. so insulation first, then the plastic vapor barrier, seal all seams with Tyvek tape.
I’d put in another vote for using sheetrock for the ceiling.
Lucky fellow to have such a nice area available.
You say that the overhead area is storage. What demention are the joists that will hold the floor for the storage area? Is a perminant floor already in place for the storage area? Ideally you would have 6" joists, so you could use 6" insulation overhead, where heat heads for. Since you are not in an extremely cold area, 4" will probably suffice. If your attic floor is not in place yet, you could use pour in insulation instead of batts, it’s cheaper. We put some in an area where we could not reach under a low roof. It was not too dusty and we pushed it around with some homemade tools to level it. In your case, just pour it on the sheetrock, before putting the floor down. If the floor is there already, batts from below would be the easiest.
A chain ladder? The only ones I have seen are fire escape ladders that rest against the side of the house when thrown out the window. Does it rest against the wall? They do make stair units that fold, then retract into the ceiling. Since you will be coming down into your layout area, you want a stable path, so that you do not drop things on the layout or worse fall (on the layout or not)…
Good luck,
There will not be a car in the garage, the whole area will be the trainroom
Yes you are correct thats the way it should normally be but. I should have been a little clearer in my explanation. What we did when we finished off my friends extra large old four car garage was place the vapor barrier along the entire wall but did not tightly secure it, When the bats were placed in between the studs it pushed the loose vapor barrier in tight and then the bats were stapled i then put a second vapor barrier and taped it then rocked it. Normally we would have just insulated and wrapped the outside but he had just had the house and garage sided with pvc and didn’t want to take it all down and put it back up. In hindsight it may have been a little overkill but prior to starting this project his garage was a drafty as a wind tunnel. No one wanted to listen to yours truly an just have the thing sprayed. A common trick a lot of people around here do is not remove the garage door(s) but build a wall in front of them sealing off the room from the weather, noise etc.leaving curtains or blacking out the windows give the impression that it’s still a garage and not a finished room that they can charge you more taxes on.
Thanks for the info, I will insulate the ENTIRE garage, and use sheetrock for the cieling, as for the garage door, the one I have on it now is old used and beaten up,so I think for looks outside I will get a better looking door, BUT I will build a false wall for the inside, Thanks again for all the help I got with this subject. Trainsrme1 PS, If anybody has any more ideas PLEASE feel free to let me know.
If I am reading correctly what you are saying,…
The first vapor barrier was put up on the inside of the building and essentially is on the outside of the insulation following along the outside sheathing, wraping around each stud, essentially sealing the outside wall from air infiltration? And you used Poly for this? If so, this is why building codes and inspections exist. If this is the way this was done, and by reading your post it was, the 2nd vapor barier along with the first one is now trapping moisture in the insulation. The proper way to have done this is to have used a proper air infiltration barrier on the outside. The modern air infiltration barriers allow for moisture to breath out while not letting air movement into the cavity. Insulation only works when there is no air movement in the insulation. The vapor barier is to prevent moisture from the heated space from entering the insulation. The insulation does two jobs…The first is the most obvious one…It helps the building retain heat. The second is it prevents the cold (in a heating application) outside air from comming in contact with the inside wall surfaces which will cause for condensation to form.
I am currently redoing a house addition for a customer who had a bad mold problem. The problem was traced to the fact that the original builder wrapped the house in plastic sheeting before putting up the exterior siding. when we pulled down the drywall inside, the insulation was soaked as if there was a leak into each cavity. At the time we were not sure where the problem was coming from. The roof looked good and there were no signs of water infiltration. We finaly figured out what was happening when the neighbor came over to see what was going on. He then told us about the plastic on the outside. The rest is, as they say, history.
to the original poster…As has been said, Yes, insulate. I don’t recall where you are located, but there are recom