Talk to an insulation company - some of them can inject spray foam in the wall cavities. You end up with around three or four 1/4" holes in the drywall for each cavity, but in a garage it won't matter as much.
IMO it would be easier to blow in cellulose than spray foam in a wall cavity. We had that done in our old house. Was a big improvement and way easier than opening walls.
Injecting spray foam doesn't require opening the walls. They drill a small hole in the drywall and inject through the hole, and use three or four holes vertically to fill the cavity.
agreed - it doesn't require opening the wall but in my experience, as you mention, it requires 3 or 4 holes. cellulose is just one hole at the top. spray is absolutely a superior product. in my experience it's now ~4x more expensive than cellulose.
The exterior is brick. I’m assuming lumber framing behind the drywall. I’ll need to punch some holes in the drywall to see if there is any insulation on the exterior wall. A solid maybe
air seal as much as possible. That will benefit AC in the summer. insulation helps with hot and cold but is more beneficial in winter.
if you only need to shave off the absolute hottest and coldest you could get away with just making sure the space is well sealed up (buy a few cans of caulk and spray foam.) But you'll absolutely benefit from insulation. You'll run the mini way less and maintain temps a lot better. Of course, any insulation is more involved than just knocking a mini split in.
If you're keeping it a shop - rip the drywall, knock in insulation and air seal yourself and then do a quick drywall job or throw OSB up on the walls and paint it. Faster than drywall, a bit uglier, but you can mount anything anywhere without worrying about hitting studs.
gives you a chance to add any additional electrical as well.
You might want to look at [this](https://www.snirtstopper.com) as well. Not a great name, but looks like a good product. I haven't used it yet, but probably will when I insulate my garage.
There's an insulated subfloor product you lay down like tiles. Makes the floor softer and quieter too. You can paint it or leave it bare (looks like OSB). Called Dricore. $2 a square foot. I'm going to do it myself before winter.
Or you can lay down plastic film as a moisture barrier, then PT 2x4s on their side and rigid foam insulation in between, then OSB on top. More trouble, but maybe more insulation and maybe cheaper. Fine Woodworking had an article about it.
You'll want insulation (I used rock wool + 1 inch rigid foam board in mine) but the mini split is the best decision I made in my garage. Also in northeast, in NY.
The garage door is the least important part of your insulation. Make sure you have the walls and ceilings insulated and install a proper vapor barrier. This will provide significantly better returns on your investment and will also help ensure you can keep a reasonable humidity level in the space (important with electronics). Depending on just how bad your garage door is, and how hot or cold your climate is you may or may not need to do much with it.
Once that’s done you can install a high SEER heat pump and you’ll be in great shape BUT DO THE INSULATION FIRST.
Source - I engineer and design heating and cooling systems.
Talk to an insulation company - some of them can inject spray foam in the wall cavities. You end up with around three or four 1/4" holes in the drywall for each cavity, but in a garage it won't matter as much.
IMO it would be easier to blow in cellulose than spray foam in a wall cavity. We had that done in our old house. Was a big improvement and way easier than opening walls.
Injecting spray foam doesn't require opening the walls. They drill a small hole in the drywall and inject through the hole, and use three or four holes vertically to fill the cavity.
agreed - it doesn't require opening the wall but in my experience, as you mention, it requires 3 or 4 holes. cellulose is just one hole at the top. spray is absolutely a superior product. in my experience it's now ~4x more expensive than cellulose.
Good to know! I'm thinking of insulating my garage as well, and I wasn't aware of blown-in cellulose - thanks for posting about it.
[удалено]
This is why i have decided NOT to use spray insulation, im constantly adding or modifying my garage to suit my needs
The garage is drywalled, but what is behind the drywall? What is the garage constructed of? Stick frame, metal building, pole barn?
The exterior is brick. I’m assuming lumber framing behind the drywall. I’ll need to punch some holes in the drywall to see if there is any insulation on the exterior wall. A solid maybe
air seal as much as possible. That will benefit AC in the summer. insulation helps with hot and cold but is more beneficial in winter. if you only need to shave off the absolute hottest and coldest you could get away with just making sure the space is well sealed up (buy a few cans of caulk and spray foam.) But you'll absolutely benefit from insulation. You'll run the mini way less and maintain temps a lot better. Of course, any insulation is more involved than just knocking a mini split in.
Maybe I should just rip out the drywall and fully seal/insulate before I move in all my stuff
If you're keeping it a shop - rip the drywall, knock in insulation and air seal yourself and then do a quick drywall job or throw OSB up on the walls and paint it. Faster than drywall, a bit uglier, but you can mount anything anywhere without worrying about hitting studs. gives you a chance to add any additional electrical as well.
You might want to look at [this](https://www.snirtstopper.com) as well. Not a great name, but looks like a good product. I haven't used it yet, but probably will when I insulate my garage.
There's an insulated subfloor product you lay down like tiles. Makes the floor softer and quieter too. You can paint it or leave it bare (looks like OSB). Called Dricore. $2 a square foot. I'm going to do it myself before winter. Or you can lay down plastic film as a moisture barrier, then PT 2x4s on their side and rigid foam insulation in between, then OSB on top. More trouble, but maybe more insulation and maybe cheaper. Fine Woodworking had an article about it.
You'll want insulation (I used rock wool + 1 inch rigid foam board in mine) but the mini split is the best decision I made in my garage. Also in northeast, in NY.
The garage door is the least important part of your insulation. Make sure you have the walls and ceilings insulated and install a proper vapor barrier. This will provide significantly better returns on your investment and will also help ensure you can keep a reasonable humidity level in the space (important with electronics). Depending on just how bad your garage door is, and how hot or cold your climate is you may or may not need to do much with it. Once that’s done you can install a high SEER heat pump and you’ll be in great shape BUT DO THE INSULATION FIRST. Source - I engineer and design heating and cooling systems.
Is the expense of spray foam generally worth it or is standard high r value fiberglass batten sufficient?
Providing you install it with a proper vapor barrier fiberglass insulation is great.