Metal Garage Insulation Options
Building a detached garage comes with a lot of benefits. It provides you with your own workspace or convenient storage space, and once you buy one of our affordable custom garages, you’ll often find that it increases your property value, too. But if you’re looking to spend a lot of time in your new garage, you might want to consider adding insulation to keep the interior at a more comfortable temperature year-round. Adding insulation to a metal garage can be a fairly simple weekend project, as long as you take the time to plan out the job.
Why Should You Install Garage Insulation?
Comfort is generally one of the main reasons for insulating a detached garage. Garage insulation helps prevent the space from becoming too humid and hot in the warmer summer months, while also helping to trap the heat in the frigid winter months. It can also help keep moisture off the floor.
Choosing to insulate the garage could lead to big savings on your electric bill, too. The less the temperature of your garage fluctuates, the less whatever heating system you’re using has to make adjustments to compensate. Insulating your garage goes a long way toward helping to keep temperatures consistent and your energy costs down.
Insulation also has some soundproofing benefits. Whether you’re working on your car or a home improvement project, tasks done in a garage are rarely quiet. If you choose to have insulation installed, your family may thank you for it.
Can You Insulate a Metal Garage?
Yes, you can insulate a metal garage, and it’s highly recommended you do so. Metal conducts heat more efficiently than wood does, and because of this, a metal garage can become very uncomfortable very quickly on the hottest summer days.
Also, because the metal walls are so adept at conducting heat, during the winter, you’ll have a hard time keeping an uninsulated metal garage warm, as the heat will naturally want to escape through the walls.
What Insulation for a Metal Garage Works Best?
Fiberglass batt and blanket insulation is the best insulation for a garage, as it’s economical and fairly easy to install. Other materials will also work, like Rockwool, loose-fill cellulose, radiant-barrier insulation, or foam board, but these may be significantly more expensive and often require professional installation.
It’s important to consider the pros and cons of insulating the garage with each type of material before you make your decision. But no matter what type of insulation you choose, you’ll also want to pick up some spray foam. This material can be sprayed into small gaps and will expand to fill the space.
How To Insulate a Metal Garage
First, make sure that you’ve installed all of the electrical wiring, plumbing, and ventilation ductwork that you’ll need; otherwise, you’ll just have to pull the insulation back out to complete this work. From here, how you’ll insulate your garage depends on the type of metal garage insulation you plan to use.
If you plan on using radiant barrier insulation in your metal garage, it’s best to have it installed during construction. It’s placed between the exterior panels and support beams using double-sided adhesive or staples, and this process becomes much trickier once the building is fully constructed. This material can also be spread over the undersides of the roof rafters and stapled in place.
Blown-in insulation made of loose fiberglass or cellulose (commonly recycled cardboard and newsprint) is installed how its name indicates: It’s blown through a large hose and into your wall space. You’ll need to rent a blower to install blown-in insulation, and you’ll need at least one person to help you: One person manages the hose while someone else loads the material into the blower. It often makes more sense to hire a professional to handle this job for you.
Another option is batt and blanket insulation. This form of insulation is made from processed fiberglass or mineral wool and can be extremely effective when installed correctly. Batts are typically sold in stacks of 4- or 8-foot lengths, while blanket insulation comes in a continuous roll. When adding insulation to a garage, measure and cut lengths of insulation to fit the spaces in your walls. If your measurements aren’t precise, however, the batt and blanket method will be measurably less effective.
What’s the Best Way to Insulate a Garage?
The best way to insulate a garage is with batt and blanket insulation. It’s economical, it often includes a radiant barrier, and it’s simple to cut and fit into almost any space. Fiberglass is the most affordable choice, but you might also opt for mineral wool; it’s more expensive and more difficult to cut into pieces, but it’s a bit easier to install and has a higher R-value.
How Much Will it Cost to Insulate a Garage?
When installing insulation in a garage, the cost will vary based upon the size of your garage and the type of insulation you use. In general, you’ll pay between $1.50 and $3 per square foot to insulate your garage.
At Alan’s Factory Outlet we offer insulation in select states with a double bubble insulation and a Woven 17 insulation. The double bubble insulation is $1.50 per square foot and the Woven 17 is $3.00 square foot. Here is a picture of both of them.
