Making Floors Over the Garage Warmer

In this episode of the "On The Job" video series, Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Dr. Energy Saver, helps a homeowner solve a common problem in many homes: cold floors in rooms above the garage.

In most homes, the garage is an unconditioned, unheated space. For that reason, the rooms above it need to be properly insulated and air sealed. In other words, the rooms need to be completely isolated from the garage.

In this particular case, the floor above the garage was formerly insulated with fiberglass bats. Fiberglass bat is a poor choice for insulating this type of cavity because it only works when it is fluff, dry and evenly spread, filling the cavity completely. Yet, as it happened in this case (and in most cases), installers left huge gaps above, below and around the bats which allow the air to flow through.

According to laws of physics, heat tends to move from warm to cold. In this home, the rooms above the garage were constantly losing heat from all the gaps in the insulation blanket.

To solve this problem, the Dr. Energy Saver team dense-packed cellulose insulation between the garage ceiling and floor. We accessed the bays through holes drilled on the external walls and injected dense-packing cellulose in the cavities with especially powerful equipment.

Dense-packed cellulose has a much higher R-value than fiberglass insulation and if properly applied, it also stops the air flow. This homeowner was able to feel the difference almost immediately. The two rooms above the garage weren't just warmer and more comfortable—they were quieter too. The cellulose muffled the sounds of the busy street on which the homeowner lives.

If you have uneven temperatures around the house with rooms that are hard to cool and heat, Dr. Energy Saver can help. Call us today for a free estimate!