Finishing garage and maintaining attic space

[Bill Stock]

Not something I'm likely to do any time soon, but I thought I'd explore the options.

I recently had to do a large glue-up and the only place large enough was the garage. Problem was that the glue had to be at least 59° while curing. So I bought a 50K BTU propane heater and 20# tank. It was in the low 40s outside so I imagined firing the heater up for half an hour and bringing the heat into the 80s and then firing up the heater as needed after the glue fumes subsided. I was wrong, the heater could barely bring it up to 70 after 90+ minutes of burn.

The problem is that the garage is not finished and only insulated on one side. But I imagine the biggest heat escape was through the roof, as the ceiling is not finished. I really don't want to finish the ceiling, since I store a lot of crap (8+ feet items) above the garage. But I was wondering if anyone has manged to have their cake and eat it too?

[crokett]

Finish the ceiling (or at least insulate) and install fold-down attic stairs. Insulate the rest of the garage as well. Another option is a knockdown room you use for glue-ups, but then you would have to store it when you are not using it.

[cabinetman]

It doesn't get cold enough for that many days here, but when it does, I use a draped area with a forced air heater. It's set up like a shower curtain on rings. Care has to be taken if using flammables. Some glues emit toxic fumes, so confining the area would call for a good respirator, and allow for ventilation if possible.
.

[Pappy]

Agreee with David. Position the stairs near the front so you can take longer items up and past the opening and be able to mauever them in the attic.

[steve-norrell]

We did what David suggests. Works fine. Only issue would be positioning the stairs and moving the longer pieces around the upright parts of the trusses. If its like ours, code requires that the trusses be placed 24 inches apart.

I have moved doors and long handled dip nets up there, but have had difficulty with 4 x 8ft and 2 x 8ft pieces of flat stock (insulation pads, fiberboard, etc.).

I also have used C'man's idea, but on a smaller scale. That would also double as a "paint room".

Good luck, Steve

[Bill Stock]

Thanks Guys,

I did consider draping a tarp from the ceiling when I had the heater going in an attempt to trap some of the heat.

I'm not sure the stairs would work as the trusses really limit lateral movement. Because it's a high roof, I can shoot items straight up between the trusses and let them flop down where I want. Side to side is pretty much out of the question.

I did have an idea though, put up a vapour barrier and cover it with styrofoam. Put strapping on the back of a few (4x8) sheets of styrofoam and put hinges on these so I could open them up to access my storage.

I could also put up some hangers and store the stuff below the ceiling.

[just started]

You could insulate the roof, like a cathedral ceiling.

[natausch]

Your biggest challenge with insulating cathedral style is even with a lift moving drywall/osb into position would be an outright nightmare. The next challenge is having that insulation around 8' really helps bottle in what heat your're putting into the space. Having lived in an apartment with 14' ceilings in college trust me, no amount of insulation or heat will keep the bottom half of that area comfortable.

What we did was two access ports, front and rear of the ceiling, 5/8 Drywall on ceiling and external walls (wife hates OSB and wanted the rigidity to back mount my DC and shelves) and unfortunantly R-13 insulation because of 2x4 frame construction. The ceiling is likewise R-13, because we have 3/4 ply across the upper deck of the ceiling joists. That's your biggest challenge, deciding between keeping ply down or tearing it out to put in a much higher R factor insulation.

We kept the storage, because the best you can do on your garage door is in the R7 range. Avoid the pre-cut kits, they're almost twice as much as sheets of pink poly and only have R4 rating.

Results; I use a 30k propane heater to bring the initial temperature up then switch to a 15kw ceiling mounted electric heater to maintain.

In your case, even insulating and finishing the ceiling with OSB or another light board material will make a huge difference.

Total cost out of pocket for our finish was $600, but we did everything ourselves. Word for the wise, even if they're having a sale, avoid 4x12 sheets of 5/8 sheetrock at all expenses.

[sscherin]

Wish I had pictures of what we did.

Our Colorado house had a finished and insulated garage with 12+ inches of blow fill in the attic space.. It was nice because you could keep the garage warm with a 1500w oil/radiator heater..

To make storage space in the attic over the garage we built platforms about 12" above the blow fill..
over a 2 car garage we ended up with about 8x16' of decked space..
The upstairs bedrooms overhung the garage a little so we couldn't run the full 25' length.
You could get bed rail length items up in there ok.

For storing the super long items we built 2 levels of shelving on the garage walls.

Started by making these wall brackets and screwing one into every other stud with 3" screws

[Bill Stock]

What we did was two access ports, front and rear of the ceiling,

Sort of what I had in mind.

Results; I use a 30k propane heater to bring the initial temperature up then switch to a 15kw ceiling mounted electric heater to maintain.


In your case, even insulating and finishing the ceiling with OSB or another light board material will make a huge difference.

Yeah I did the math on the Heater site and it said I would need 160K BTUs now vs. 30K with the ceiling dropped and insulated.

[Bill Stock]

For storing the super long items we built 2 levels of shelving on the garage walls.

Started by making these wall brackets and screwing one into every other stud with 3" screws

Thanks, I was considering something like this to store some of my items below the ceiling.