To insulate a garage or not
I am planning to install drywall in the garage (finish off). I work on my cars once and a while, and the wife insists that the place looks presentable. I live in the Houston area and was wondering whether I should install insullation behind the drywall. I might install a small AC later on for use only when working in the garage during the "summer". I read somewhere that it is not advisable to insulate, but cannot remember why. I would appreciate you views. Regards Chet
In a space that's in a high humidity area and not air conditioned all the time, like your garage, you'd trap moisture between the vapor barrier on the insulation and the back of the drywall, causing the back of the drywall to form mold. Here's a wall treatment you may not have thought of, but for a garage it makes more sense than drywall. Get some OSB. Install it with the smooth side toward the studs--yes, the rough side will face you--then trim the seams with some untreated lattice, screen moulding or other flat, thin moulding. Now paint the wall a light tan. It looks like stucco, and if the kids decide to throw something hard at the wall like a baseball, it won't go through OSB but probably will go through drywall. -- --jmowreader