I have recently moved from a smaller-than-average 1-car garage, to an over-sized 2-car garage. There is a single 15amp 120v circuit in the garage, so I will be installing a 40 or 50amp 240v sub-panel in the spring. In the mean time, I am going to install receptacles and start insulating the walls.
The walls are 8 foot tall 2x4 frames on top of 2-1/2 foot tall concrete foundation. I have R14 rockwool insulation for the frames - is this the typical R-value for insulating walls? It was between this or R12 fiberglass. (I'm in Canada, by the way - +30C in the summer, to -30C in the winter)
My main concern though is the concrete section of the walls - will I need to do anything here, or is it "ok" to leave it exposed? Am I wasting my time insulating the rest of the wall if I don't also insulate the concrete section? If I do insulate the lower section, how do I deal with the transition?
At the front of the garage the concrete is exposed and un-sealed both inside and out. At the back of the garage it is exposed inside (shown below) and partially buried on the outside. As far as I can tell, the outside is not sealed at all where it's buried. I saw a video that talked about how the foundation should be sealed and insulated on the outside rather than the inside. Is this necessary? Should I dig out the foundation and at least seal it with something where it is buried? Obviously people insulate and seal the inside of their basement foundations; I would think this would be basically the same situation.
What would be the ideal way to insulate the concrete - foam board? Since the bottom 2-1/2 feet of the wall would then protrude from the top section, is it normal to just leave a ledge there? Money wise, it would be ideal if I could just leave the concrete section alone but I don't know if if the concrete will suck all my heat out, making all the upper insulation pointless!
Looking for all opinions, comments and suggestions, as this is my first time doing this kind of project.
Thanks!
The walls are 8 foot tall 2x4 frames on top of 2-1/2 foot tall concrete foundation. I have R14 rockwool insulation for the frames - is this the typical R-value for insulating walls? It was between this or R12 fiberglass. (I'm in Canada, by the way - +30C in the summer, to -30C in the winter)
My main concern though is the concrete section of the walls - will I need to do anything here, or is it "ok" to leave it exposed? Am I wasting my time insulating the rest of the wall if I don't also insulate the concrete section? If I do insulate the lower section, how do I deal with the transition?
At the front of the garage the concrete is exposed and un-sealed both inside and out. At the back of the garage it is exposed inside (shown below) and partially buried on the outside. As far as I can tell, the outside is not sealed at all where it's buried. I saw a video that talked about how the foundation should be sealed and insulated on the outside rather than the inside. Is this necessary? Should I dig out the foundation and at least seal it with something where it is buried? Obviously people insulate and seal the inside of their basement foundations; I would think this would be basically the same situation.
What would be the ideal way to insulate the concrete - foam board? Since the bottom 2-1/2 feet of the wall would then protrude from the top section, is it normal to just leave a ledge there? Money wise, it would be ideal if I could just leave the concrete section alone but I don't know if if the concrete will suck all my heat out, making all the upper insulation pointless!
Looking for all opinions, comments and suggestions, as this is my first time doing this kind of project.
Thanks!