Some garage owners believe that there is no need to insulate a structure designed to store their car. After all, walls and roof protect the body from corrosion and rust.
However, this opinion is not entirely true. Indeed, sudden changes in weather, as well as low air temperatures have a negative effect not only on the condition of the entire machine, but also on its heart - the engine. According to experts, the thermometer in this building in the cold season should be within 5-10 degrees. To create such conditions without insulating the garage from the inside can not do.
The measures taken to create the necessary heat and humidity regime will extend the life of the machine. In addition, after the garage has been insulated from the inside, the conditions of stay in it will become more comfortable for the person.
Selection of the required work option
Insulation of the garage from the inside is possible using various technologies. The choice of the necessary option will depend on many reasons, including the material from which the structure itself was built. The owner will also have to clarify the price of various insulating materials in order to try them on with their financial capabilities.
Insulation of the garage from the inside is impossible without carrying out a heat engineering calculation that takes into account the climatic conditions of the region, as well as the material and thickness of the enclosing structures. For example, insulating a concrete garage from the inside will require less thorough than metal frame buildings.
There are three options for carrying out such work. Garage insulation can be:
- external;
- internal;
- combined, which is the most effective and at the same time expensive.
Facade insulation is simply necessary for those buildings that tend to accumulate moisture. These include wooden frame garages, as well as those for the construction of which porous concrete blocks were used. It is also desirable to insulate the outside and metal boxes. After all, the dew point of them can always be found on the inner surface. However, the independent implementation of such work is a very difficult task. That is why this option is most often considered as an exception to the general rule.
Concrete and brick structures are also recommended to be protected from the facade. However, internal insulation is much cheaper, and therefore it is usually used by the owners of garages.
Roof insulation
A separate issue is the roof insulation. It is also relevant because of the large heat loss in this part of the structure. When deciding whether to carry out roof insulation, the selection of the best option will depend on its design. The presence or absence of the attic should also be considered. Insulating the roof of the garage from the inside with your own hands with a different configuration of the roof can be performed in various ways:
1. When the roof is flat or with a slight slope, it is allowed to lay the insulation on top. For this, hard plates of
extruded polystyrene foam, as well as polystyrene, are most suitable. In such cases, waterproofing is laid on top using roll materials.
2. With a pitched roof, mineral wool or polystyrene is used, which is laid between the rafters. The first version of the material is preferable due to the lack of the need for its size and the use of additional fasteners.
3. If there is a cold attic in the garage, you can line the ceiling with rolled glass wool. Such thermal insulation will be not only reliable, but also budget. The main thing is to provide good ventilation in the attic to remove accumulated moisture.
There is another option for such work. It provides for the insulation of the ceiling in the garage from the inside. In this case, it is recommended to use mineral wool or polymer hard plates. Such a solution leads to the creation of a solid rigid circuit that does not have gaps, as well as cold bridges. However, this will require laying a layer of additional waterproofing on top and creating a vapor barrier from the side of the room to cut off moist air.
After the technology of insulation of the internal space of the garage is finally selected, it will be necessary to determine the appropriate material for the work. What can it be?
Styrofoam and Styrofoam
These two heaters are considered related. The differences between them are in some of their characteristics, as well as price. At the same time, the technology of production of work with both the one and the other polymer remains unchanged. On the market of building materials there is also such a name for insulation as foam. It is a trademark of a Russian manufacturer of extruded polystyrene foam. But this is one and the same material.
Polyfoam is realized by flat sheets of various thicknesses. That is why, in order to calculate its required amount, it will be necessary to calculate the surface area, adding 10% to waste to the result obtained. It is recommended to insulate the garage with polystyrene foam inside in 2 layers. In this case, the protection of the structure will be more reliable.
The required amount of mounting foam used for sealing joints will directly depend on how tightly insulated panels are and on the number of edges produced. It should also be noted that such a composition is suitable for correcting inaccuracies after laying the insulating layer. That is why you need to buy it a little more than by calculation.
Mineral wool
This category includes both cheap fiberglass and basalt slabs. However, it is worth considering that the density of fiberglass is low. Moreover, under load, it quickly loses its volume. That is why the insulation of the garage with mineral wool from the inside is used only in those cases when it is freely located in a special frame. In a wider assortment, basalt slabs are presented at retail outlets. This material can be used on all surfaces. The main thing is to choose it correctly:
1. If the roof of the garage is insulated from the inside, then lightweight inexpensive rolls with a density of 30 kilograms per cubic meter are used.
2. When covering the internal walls, mats are used, the weight of which is in the range from 45 to 60 kilograms per cubic meter.
It should be borne in mind that mineral wool thermal insulation is not the cheapest option. However, if the garage is adjacent to a residential building, then for greater fire safety it is necessary to use it.
Just as with the use of polystyrene foam, cotton wool must be laid in two layers. With this in mind, material is also calculated. In addition to these plates, you will need to buy a waterproofing film 200 microns thick. A vapor barrier is also needed. Their size should be large of the insulated area, such as the need to perform an overlap of 10-15 cm.
Insulating the garage from the inside with your own hands using mineral wool will not require the use of fasteners. Plates are simply inserted into a frame made of a bar or a metal profile. In this regard, you will need to purchase the right material. The length of the beam or profile will be determined by the height of the walls, as well as the length of the roof slopes.
Narrow materials
Insulation of the garage from the inside can be done not only with mineral wool or polystyrene. In the modern market there are other thermal insulation materials. However, their use is not so wide because of the existing shortcomings. Only in some cases the use of these alternative materials is justified:
1. Expanded clay. Insulating the garage from the inside with your own hands using this material can be done by filling it into the inter-wall spaces, as well as to equip the “warm” floor screed. Expanded clay has high water absorption and good thermal conductivity.
2. Blocks made of foam glass. This heat-insulating material is quite good and at the same time it is resistant to many environmental influences. But it is worth keeping in mind that such blocks are very expensive. In addition, they are afraid of alkaline solutions, which are based on cement (for example, plaster and glue).
3. Arbolite and fibrolite. These materials have good thermal insulation characteristics, but are more related to construction materials. That is why their use is best foreseen at the stage of construction of the garage.
Instruments
How to do garage insulation with your own hands? After purchasing materials, you will need to prepare the necessary set of tools. Their specific list will directly depend on the insulation chosen by the owner. But special attention will have to be paid to cutting tools. For example, it is good to cut mineral wool with a construction knife. But if the garage is insulated from the inside with foam or polystyrene, then to give them the right size it is easiest to use a home-made "hacksaw" made of steel wire fixed to wooden handles. Of course, in this case a jigsaw can be used. However, the sheets will crumble from him, and the work will go much slower.
Insulation of the walls of the garage from the inside should only be done after preliminary preparation of the surfaces. To do this, you will need:
- a synthetic brush with stiff bristles, and in some cases a cord brush for angle grinders or manual tiling;
- a grinder, with the help of which the bulging reinforcement is removed, as well as the large protrusions on the main surface;
- a narrow spatula for filling cracks.
In addition, if work is planned that will allow the walls of the garage to be insulated from the inside, as well as its floor, ceiling or gate, then for attaching the prepared heat-insulating material it will be necessary:
- construction stapler;
- a screwdriver or a drill;
- an assembly gun or a notched trowel for adhesives.
If the insulation layer is provided with laying in the crate, then you will need a tool to perform the frame, namely:
- a jigsaw to give the right size to a wooden beam;
- a hacksaw;
- scissors or angle grinders in case of using a metal profile.
Ceiling insulation
After selecting the appropriate option of thermal insulation material, it will be necessary to solve the issue of the technology of work. The insulation of the garage ceiling from the inside with your own hands should be done in a way that directly depends on what the ceiling is made of.
For example, if the ceiling is concrete, the garage is insulated from the inside with its own foam or extruded polystyrene foam. No preliminary preparation is required. Plates are glued directly to the concrete ceiling.
How is this done? Using a comb, an adhesive composition specially manufactured for these purposes is applied to the insulation surface. After this, the plates are pressed against the ceiling and are thus held for some time. Seams are also closed with the same adhesive composition.
However, the insulation of the garage with polystyrene inside will require additional fixation of the material. For this purpose, plastic dowels-umbrellas with a wide hat are used. Each plate should have at least five such fasteners - one from each edge and in the center. If a more rigid extruded polystyrene foam is selected as a material for insulation, then two dowels per plate will be sufficient. Such warming by plastering ends.
Before the solution is applied to the surface, it should be reinforced with a reinforcing fiberglass mesh fixed to the adhesive.
There is also a second method of installing insulation on the ceiling. It is more time-consuming and costly, and will also require pre-assembly of the frame from a bar or galvanized profile.
How is this work done? They include several stages:
1. Marking the surface for fastening the profile or beam.
2. Drilling holes for fasteners and fixing the base of the crate parts to the ceiling.
3. Laying polystyrene foam or mineral wool between the bars or the profile, maintaining them from below with a jumper.
4. Finishing with plastic panels.
It should be borne in mind that the first of these two methods of insulation is preferable, since it is simpler and able to provide better thermal insulation without violating the integrity of the ceiling by drilling.
Wall insulation
These works are performed in the following order. At the initial stage, surface preparation is performed. To do this, the wall is cleaned and a frame is made using standard guides and profiles.
The last facing layer in this case will be drywall. Asbestos fiber can be used for cladding the walls of the garage. Moreover, this option is preferable to drywall, as it has a higher fire resistance. However, when the walls of the garage are insulated inside with their own hands using asbestos fiber, it should be noted that this material is fragile enough, which will require a step of the frame more often.
For such work, as a rule, cotton insulation is used. Foam work is more time consuming.
Mineral and glass wool are inserted into the middle of the manufactured partitions. Further, the material is attached to the walls with special fasteners. At the next stage, vapor barrier is placed on top of the crate. For the production of such work, it is recommended to use a membrane that is laid end-to-end to the thermal insulation wool.
Warming a metal garage
Such structures have the lowest thermal conductivity. That is why many owners perform the insulation of a metal garage from the inside. The most effective method in this case is the application of foamed polyurethane, which is a liquid thermal insulation. Thermal insulation paints are also used.
Liquid foam is a foamy mass made directly at the place of work. For this, special equipment is used in the form of foam generators. The material applied to the walls of the garage hardens and turns into a solid surface with excellent adhesion.
But the simplest and most inexpensive way by which the walls of a metal garage are insulated is by attaching Styrofoam boards to glue. Before carrying out these works, it is important to thoroughly clean and then degrease the iron surface. This will allow the sheets of thermal insulation material to quickly adhere and then hold firmly. Between the plates of the foam inevitably remain gaps. They must be carefully covered with foam. At the end of the work performed, the surface of the insulation can be painted. It should be borne in mind that the above materials are very combustible, and in case of fire emit a lot of toxic elements.
Gate insulation
It is not enough to cover the walls and ceiling with heat-insulating material in the garage. When planning work, it is worth paying attention to the gate. They are very large, which leads to the loss of a considerable amount of heat through them. Insulation of the garage door from the inside with your own hands is necessary because otherwise it will be difficult to heat the structure.
At the initial stage, a small door is made in one of the gate leaves. This will prevent you from constantly opening the gates, which will also save heat. A curtain made of thick fabric or plastic can be strengthened between the opening wings and the room. Such a device will also allow you to retain heat in the room. In this case, it is recommended to take transparent plastic, which will allow the driver leaving the garage to navigate well. A thick plastic film with a thickness of more than 0.8 millimeters is suitable for this. The material is cut into strips. Their length should be almost equal to the height of the room, not reaching the floor by one centimeter. The width of such strips is 20-30 cm. If the film is cut narrower, it will cling to the exterior mirrors and other protruding parts of the machine. It will be very inconvenient.
To fix the strips to the ceiling, a wooden rail is nailed. And then you need a stapler. With it, the strips are attached to the rail with an overlap of 1.5-2 cm or a little more. Under the weight of its weight, the film should hang evenly, and after deviation, return to its place again.
It is recommended to insulate the garage door panels with foam. For work, you will need to make a crate. At the next stage, all its gaps are filled with insulating material. In order to prevent the penetration of cold air masses into the garage, it is necessary to process with adhesive tape the gaps that form at the junction of the gate.
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Above were considered the nuances of the selection and further self-installation of heaters in the garage. The described technologies are optimal for most owners of such structures, since they do not require significant financial investments and allow us to solve the problem. The main thing that is required at the same time is following the instructions and preventing tears and crevices in the insulating layer. This is the only way to eliminate the penetration of cold air into the garage and ensure a normal temperature regime in it, which will please the owners of the building not only in winter but also in summer.