Insulating Garage Walls Vapor Barrier

The most popular vapor retarders are polyethylene plastics or vapor barrier paints such as barrier coat paint on amazon why you don t need a vapor barrier in a garage.

Insulating garage walls vapor barrier.

Writing to ask if i should using a kraft paper barrier plastic vapor barrier or no vapor in my garage insulation project. There is currently not a vapor barrier in the wall at all. Don t insulate your garage walls and ceiling without insulating the big garage door too. Garage door insulation.

The garage currently has unfinished 2x4 walls with plywood siding on the exterior. If they are not insulated they cover the wall sheathing. With no paper backing they are held in place between the studs by friction but they should be covered with an unbroken sheet of 6 mil plastic sheet stapled over top of the entire wall to provide the vapor barrier. Living in seattle we can have a pretty wet climate.

Matt risinger a builder in texas on the cutting edge of building science yes that is a thing has a great video about whether or not you need a vapor barrier. A vapor retarder is a material used to prevent water vapor from diffusing into the wall ceiling or floor during the cold winter. If your walls are insulated a vapor barrier covers the insulation from the inside. Before i close up.

Basically you want to use unfaced insulation when you don t need a vapor barrier or have a separate one. I am starting the process of insulating my detached 23 x 32 garage in buffalo ny cold lots of snow winters with the secondary goal of having constant natural gas overhead heat keeping. Take your square footage figure and divide it by the square footage that each roll or package of insulation will cover. You can buy insulation kits for standard metal garage doors or you can cut pieces of rigid foam insulation to fit each door panel section.

Bats without paper backing can also be used. The classic answer is that the vapor barrier goes on the warm in winter side of the assembly. See insulating walls article and insulating ceilings article. In florida i do not so i opted for unfaced insulation.

I will be insulating and dry walling my detached garage in the near future. Whether or not you need a vapor retarder hinges on three main factors your climate your home and the location of the wall you re insulating. Unfaced means there s no paper barrier on one side of the insulation. To know if you need a vapor retarder ask yourself a few basic questions.

Insulating garage walls already drywalled. If your garage is 45 degrees and you have a bonus room heated to 72 degrees above the garage the vapor retarder faces the upstairs room. Because you do not want to add a vapour barrier over the spray foamed area all you need to do is install one in the area that you did yourself.