How to Insulate Your Workshop | An Easy DIY Project | Keep Your Shop Warm or Cooler
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ส.ค. 2019
- Keeping your workshop warm in winter or cool in summer ensures you get the most of the space all year round. In this video I show you how I installed Cellotex insulation to a single skin brick garage here in the UK.
Special thanks to Keith Brown at Rag'n'Bone Brown on youtube who has accomplished a similar project over the summer of 2019 and who kindly gave me a shout-out on Instagram and TH-cam recently.
You can find Keith's Channel at:
/ @ragnbonebrown
The acoustic adhesive and sealant I used in the video was AC50 900ml from Everbuild and purchased from Amazon UK:
amzn.to/2YDdHME
The insulation materials used were:
Celotex PL4000 Insulated Plasterboard 40mm + 12.5mm
Celotex TB4000 Insulation Board 40mm
These materials were purchased from Insulation Express in the UK.
www.insulationexpress.co.uk/
The Masonry Screws, Plastboard Screws, Foil Tape, 100mm Damp Proof Course and Filler were obtained from Screwfix in the UK
www.screwfix.co.uk
All timber screws were Axminster Woodspur screws (Torx and Pozidrive) and can be ordered on-line from:
www.axminster.co.uk/adhesives...
The MDF was purchased from B&Q Milton Keynes.
www.diy.com/
The paint was from Dulux and was really easy to apply. If you want a top-tip from me, don't skimp on the paint or the primer. Correctly applied they'll protect the walls from moisture.
Dulux paints are widely available, including Amazon.
amzn.to/33phiMV
AMZN: * As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through these links.
Wherever possible links are to actual products used, but this is not always possible, for example some products are not available outside the UK in which case I have selected something similar. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I love it when I see English people ( uk men ) when they are building / explaining . They explain the best
Thanks!
Not only have you completed a very nice job, your approach to presenting this in a video was also excellent. Well done to you and thanks!
Thank-you very much for your comment. I really enjoy making videos like this.
Great video Karl, as per. What helps set your videos apart imho is the genuine enthusiasm you have for each project, large or small, almost bordering on youthful exuberance. There’s also a simple honesty and integrity about your videos, which I find refreshing nowadays. Keep up the good work mate - looking forward to the next project. 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻
Thank-you for such a lovely comment. The sequel is coming more insulation only up a ladder this time with lots of fiddly cuts.
Look forward to seeing that Karl 👍🏻
Great video. Very informative. Thank you for sharing the price breakdown too. Your garage looks just like mine as well as many other new build garages these days. I'm sure this video will be helpful to many in the UK.
Thanks. I really couldn't find much out there when I was planning mine - I am glad you found this useful.
Great video, thank you very much! I have the same garage layout and this has been very helpful in understanding the steps necessary to fight off the colder weather!
I'm pleased you liked it.
At last, the video i have been searching for. I have the same aspiration of turning my, new build, garage into a cinema room. I've looked all through youtube for months and could only find American channels which were of absolutely no help. I will be looking to do much the same but with maybe a floating floor and insulated ceiling. So happy you broke the costs down, as that is one of the important parts that many people want to see. Thank you and look forward to seeing further videos. Subbed.
Thanks so much for the comment and good luck with your project.
Doing the Floor and ceiling will improve the insulation by 100%. I have 100mm all around and 200mm in the floor. Can heat my workshop with a candle. Also the ceiling insulation means I don't enter 'oven mode' in the summer. you will need to work on 100mm minimum if you want to make the garage a habitable space and the floor and ceiling/roof become mandatory.
@@Dickie2702 I absolutely agree. I've done the roof-space (see separate video) and that makes such a difference especially (as you say) in the summer months. There's no insulation in my floor as I need to be mindful that putting in a false floor might constitute a 'conversion' which I'm not allowed to do under my deeds.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop I put 50mm insulation over the subfloor, a vapour barrier and 'green' 18mm chipboard over that as a floating floor. As my workshop floor is 300mm above the ground level and there plastic down in the 'crawl space' in seems to work to keep draught and moisture our.
@@nevetsre7001Could you share the exact type of insulation and vapour barrier you used on the floor? Was build control inspection required in your insulation project? Assuming this was England? Thanks
Been looking forward to this one! Great video, great advice. Thanks for the shout out 👍
No worries Keith and thanks for your shout out on Friday from yours.
honestly, ive been looking for something like this to help me with my brick built shed I have the same situation as you had and needed the most amount of space left after insulating so this has saved the day! great video
I'm glad I could help,
Neat job, looks Toasty. Roll on Winter!
Nap Nic cheers. Wait to you see what I’ll be heating the space with! Super toasty,
Thanks for your reply. I have a garage... ex garage...now a workshop....metal cabinets workbench tools.. love D I Y. Present project I have a garden shed 6ft x 8ft in the garden when my family moved into the property in 1975.. wow how many sheds last that long !!!!! So probably early 70's or even 60's. I converted it into a photographic darkroom and now restarting it again after 45 yrs. The previous owner was an amateur radio enthusiast put in electric ,fitted shelves one side and insulated walls and ceiling using loft wool insulation covered in hardboard painted white.. pretty impressive and ahead of his time. Just replaced rotting floorboards.. and squirrel damage. Hazelnut shells.. and will remove wool and hardboard.. replace with celotex and white covered hardboard. Remove concrete sheet roof...reboard and shed felt.. thinking about raising roof 18" - 2ft while roof is off.. happy days 😊
Great video, thanks. First video I’ve seen that actually clearly described the process. Need to watch your ceiling video next :)
Thanks David - I'm planning a follow-up video too as I've had a winter's worth of benefit and people of asked how all this has faired. Plus, I've had the new door put in and completed all teh finishing touches.
Thanx for the sharing about this cost-effective way !
Thank-you Cyril.
Just what I'm planning to do, really useful video thanks.
Thanks for your comment. I'd love to know how you get on.
Excellent video by the way, very inspirational!
Thank-you. I appreciate the comment.
Great video. Explained exactly what I was after in a really easy to understand way. I can’t wait to see the garage door video now!
Thanks
Is there a video on the garage door? Something I’ve been looking to do for a while myself.
Great video. Our new-build house will be finished soon and I was just starting to plan how would insulate it. You have answered all my questions. I’ll be checking out your garage loft video next. Thanks
Thanks for the comment. I've popped the link to the roof video here: th-cam.com/video/fpO6lMwRpCQ/w-d-xo.html
However, do be aware that I made a mistake which I've now corrected. In the video I show and explain how I put two layers of insulation into the roof with a gap inbetween. A comment on the video pointed out that the correct approach should have been two layers without a gap. The fix was simple but very time consuming and I do intend doing a follow-up - especially as there's been a spike in interest on all my videos. If you were trying to achieve the same thing, fix battens to the rafters, insulate between them (layer 1) place the second layer over the top.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Thanks. Both videos contain a lot of useful information that will be a big help when I come to insulate my garage. I don’t make how to videos myself but I have worked on a lot of my own building projects and I also had a large CO2 engraver for a while. I bought a small CNC engraver but I haven’t had a chance to use it yet. Sketchup is a great tool and I have used in the past to plan my projects. Here’s one example and I’ll be checking out more of your videos so keep them coming 😎👍 th-cam.com/video/kUCB-fvfgiQ/w-d-xo.html
Excellent, thank you. Very helpful and clearly explained
Glad it was helpful!
One excellent how to video👍👍👍👍
Many thanks Tim.
Looks great
Thanks. I appreciate you leaving a comment. K.
brill job.. coming on now pal keep vids coming
I'll do my best Nick.
This is ace content!
Thanks!!
My word ! That looks really neat
Thanks Philip. Wait to you see the roof insulation and loft.
Strawbyte Workshop can’t wait 👍. It looks so smooth almost like it has been skimmed with a finish plaster
Great tutorial will be saving for later
Thanks for the comment Greg.
Great video, thanks for sharing
😀
Great job
Thanks!
Great video, Karl.
You can see that you’re getting more comfortable in front of the camera... hope it means more videos 😀. Nice one!
I'm glad I come across as comfortable because in my head I find the whole process somewhat agonising. As for more videos, I hope to be able to put out more. This project took over 6 weeks and had have my complete focus with the editing at the end. Now complete I've a few things in hand which will be out over the next few weeks. But thanks for the comment.
Thanks for sharing this - good video 👌
Thanks Dale.
Very well explained video my friend!
Thanks for the feedback.
Very helpful, thank you.
Yore welcome.
Good job Carl. You need a batten in the centre of each full sheet. You'll find a huge difference when you do the roof both in the winter and summer.
Hey Graham, you're absolutely right and I admitted the mistake made on the first wall in the video. To be honest I was.so focused on getting the batten on the right edge in the right place I didnt refer to the drawing again. All the remaining walls are done correctly as per the drawing. The roof is done already and your spot on about the benefit. Consistently 5 degrees cooler and as quiet as anything.
Good man look forward to your next one.
Interesting solution. I used an air gap to the OSB, 50mm celotex then 40mm rockwool, plastic membrane, then plasterboard as I need my workshop to have good fire resistance.
I needed to minimise the amount of space lost and, to be honest, we're not subject to extremes of cold or heat where I am. Fire resistance has come-up in questions a couple of times and it was something I considered but being quite frank - so long as I can get out safely there's little risk to my home from a blaze in the workshop.
Very nice 👍. You could almost live in it 😀
These last few days I pretty much have. Thanks for the comment.
great job.
Thank-you!
Very interesting video Karl, and the finished workspace looked great. My issue in my garage is the main garage door. Need to get on and sort that.
Once I've got the personel for in mine will stay shut almost all the time afterwards and I insulated the door bast October and that made a big difference sound wise.
Strawbyte Workshop how did you insulate the garage door? I’m thinking of doing the same and would be interested to know what products you used.
Brilliant. I'm getting a new build soon and this is exactly what I was after. Done too many cold nights in a garage!
Thanks again for an excellent, clear video.
Hey there! I'm glad you liked the video - it's been a game changer for me. And cheap to heat. Check-you the roof insulation video if you haven't already.
Will do. That was next on my list of things to look at. Cheers 😊
Absolutely what I was looking for. Having moved into a new build , something i have been looking for a year. Subscribed. Looking for more new videos
Thanks Robert. I'm afraid a few issues relating to the COVID have kept me out of the workshop for a few months. I began filming material again in mid-september and those projects are near completion so you won't have to wait very long. K.
Good video Karl. I'm part way through doing a similar thing in my garage but it's to insulate the house. It's a 1930's house with integral garage and the 2 internal walls (back and side) are only single skin brickwork which made the hall next to it in particular, quite cold. What I did was bond 50mm celotex directly to the wall and foil taping them. Then I used MF7 primary metal support channel used in metal framed ceilings over the top at 600mm vertical spacing with horizontals at floor and ceiling and 1200mm intervals inbetween. I fixed the channel to the wall by drilling 25mm holes with a hole saw into the celotex and using space plugs that are used for fitting kitchens cabinets to the wall with forgefast screws. By adjusting these I could get the channel perfectly perpendicular. This way there was no cold bridging. I then screwed 12mm ply (wallboard) into the metal studs with self drilling plasterboard screws and painted it with a couple of coats of grey floor paint. There's a worcester wireless thermostat on that wall and I had to raise the temperature programme by 1.5 degrees because the boiler didn't come on, that's how effective it is. It's eliminated the perpetual cold draft that came down the stairs.
Great video, what did you use on the garage door?
@@philevans3783 At the moment it's still work in progress and is a standard up and over door but that's being replaced with an SWS roller door. they have insulated slats.
👍
25mm polystyrene and Correx
👍
Great video.... very informative and lovely to see the prices of items and Total cost......most important. 👍
Hi Andrew. I'm glad you enjoyed it. And thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
Nice video. Just had a concrete garage put up and looking to do similar. Good stuff that Celotex plasterboard. We renovated our whole house with 50mm... cost us a small fortune! Not after a skimmed finish so I reckon ply over the foam will do this time.
I've had mixed results with ply in the past. I found MR MDF a better material and (then and now) cheaper.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop What was the issue with ply? I've just started my garage in accordance with your video. I wanted to go ply because I plan to screw quite a bit of stuff to the walls - after some research ply is much better for this. Is there something I'm missing?
Cheers
Dave
@@AutoBeta2T There was no issue with plywood other than its cost comparable to MDF of the same thickness. MDF has its benefits as it has a very good paintable surface which gives a flat finish which is what I was looking for. If I was doing this over again I would use ply on the two walls I've mounted cabinets.
Noticed Northampton Flag, nice! I am in Brixworth and looking at converting my garage into livable space. Be great to get some tips from you!
Thanks for the comment and yes you're pretty close to where I am - we like Market Harborough to visit and pass through (or by) Brixworth regularly. I have a friend exhibiting at Lamport Hall at the moment and visited last week.
I'm happy to offer advice based on a question basis - you can email me at workshop@strawbyte.com. I've had lots of questions about this project which has increased recently as the video has found a new audience so may well revisit converting spaces.
Hi, a good video. a question, why on some walls have you used insulation board and MDF and on others the plasterboard bonded insulation?
It's a good question and you're right I didn't dwell on the reasons for switching from one approach to the other. The video compresses time at little and the first two walls were very much a learning experience and were completed a couple weeks before the remainder of the workshop. The two key factors were that the plasterboard needs to be kept dry at all times and is bulky to store. The 4 sheets I initially ordered just got in the way too much and coupled with the second factor being that it was extremely hard to handle the material on my own due to the weight I decided to switch approach. For the remaining walls I could order all the insulation that I needed and store it outside. MDF was bought daily from my local B&Q. On the plus side the finish on the plasterboard wall is way way better than the MDF and if I were to do it again and I wasn't building a workshop (music studio or home office) I'd probably prefer the insulated plasterboard product and find a better way of storing and organising materials. In terms of cost, they area about the same.
Great video. Just what I needed.
I'm hoping to do this myself this summer as my first big project on a new build
After fixing all of the battens I see you apply sealant along the top and bottom. Do I need to apply sealant again once the boards are in place?
What additional steps must i take once the boards are fixed and any gaps filled?
Hi - thanks for the question.
I used the AC50 sealant on all the battens before the insulation or insulated plasterboard was applied - both horizontal and vertical. Once the insulation+MDF or Insulated pasterboard is installed, I then went round all the edges to seal the gap. Where if the gap was wider than 4mm I used expanding foam first and then decorators caulk on top.
What you're aiming to achieve is to prevent moist warm air sneaking around the back and condensating on the wall. Now you need to do the best you can and I'm the first to admit my sealing wasn't perfect, but a year on there is no evidence of any issues that I can see (aside from one area due to a badly installed DPC by the housebuilder) and so it's all good.
I may do a follow-up video covering all the comments and questions I've had since I completed the project. So do subscribe if you haven't already.
This is an excellent and very detailed video that will help others who plan to insulate their workshop. I have a question, did you insulate the door of the garage? Can you provide a short description of how you did it, what materials you used and whether it stopped noise going out and heat staying in? Many thanks for your help.
Thanks so much for the comment. To answer your question I did a blog post on my website a few years ago. See www.strawbyte.com/blog/2018/11/18/how-to-insulate-a-garage-door
Great video, I'm about to start on my garage and need to board the whole lot up as well.
We have solar coming so I want to hide all the inverter wires and cabling inside some units so I need to baton and mdf that area to support the weight.
I don't really care too much about insulation in there so I was thinking of just using the water menbrane against the wall, then the stud wall and then plasterboard. I guess that would be fine?
Thanks for the comment - I'm continually surprised at how many views this video gets a few years on from completing my project.
Your question has come up once or twice from viewers: I'm thinking of boarding-out the walls of my garage but don't need the insulation, what's the best approach?
In terms of what you see in the video. If you're fixing battens to the wall then you should use DPC membrane on the back (as in the video) because this protects the battens from moisture that will penetrate through the brick when it rains. However without insulation there is a risk to any material you put on the battens (MDF, OSB, Plasterboard) from the moisture so I would suggest that you use building-wrap (Tyvek or similar breather membranes) between the MDF and the battens. This is usually applied to the outside of buildings with the writing site facing out. When using it this way, staple to the battens with the writing facing the wall (outwards). The wrap prevents any liquid water making its way into the wall cladding but allows vapour from inside to make its way to the brickwork and then out through the bricks to the outside. I've used this recently with a wood-store I've build recently with a brick wall serving as one of the 4 walls. An alternative approach would be to look at plasterboard with a foil back. I bit more expensive per sheet but that might similar to using a building wrap sheet under it.
When fixing battens into brick I recommend concrete screws over hammer-fixed style plugs and screws. They have far superior strength - you might say way too much - but their cheap as chips and easy to fit.
I hope that helps.
Karl.
Hi, thanks for uploading this. Have you insulated the garage door also and if so could you say how as I am looking and insulating mine. Thanks 👍
Thanks for the question. I wrote a blog article about my approach a while back. The key is to find an approach that doesn't add too much weight to the door.
www.strawbyte.com/blog/2018/11/18/how-to-insulate-a-garage-door
Enjoy the video Carl
Now that your work shop is insulated how about some CNC Related Projects thanks
The CNC is now installed in its new home in the corner, new monitor installed, dedicated computer sourced - so yes absolutely!
Great step by step. One question, did you plan for sockets and run twin and earth behind and through any of the boards, or have you surfaced mounted all of your sockets?
Good question. There is no power buried in the walls. The mains comes in to the front right of the garage and then there's some steel trunking that takes the power for lights and sockets to the back 2/3ds of the garage. In the rafters I've a ring of cable tray which carry the cables around the perimeter with sockets run down the walls with surface conduit. In the time since I made this video I've re-organised the workshop a couple of times and moved sockets on 2 or 3 occasions so I like the flexibility. I'm having a new supply to the workshop putting in shortly so I may come back to the power side of things when that happens.
Great video!
If you don't mind me asking - How did you approach the corners?
I am trying to insulate my garage, following your method and I am not sure how to join the boards together at the corners of my garage. I am worried about moisture working its way into the edges of my panel. I wondered about putting DPC between the edge of the board and the wall?
Hi James. I used two methods but the principle is the same. As you go into the corner you stop 25mm short of the wall. The thickness of the batten. And then butt the next panel at right angles to the first. When using celotex and MDF you get a very clean corner. For the insulated plasterboard you have to remove a strip of plasterboard to form your corner. There's s good diagram in the Kingspan data sheet that illustrates how much more clearly than I can explain.
New DIY'er. First great video, love the detailed explaination. Second at 6:57 you drilled through the brick fairly effortlessly. I have a hammer sds drill and I bought what I thought were good bits (dewalt), but I still need to use the hammer function to drill holes in concrete (and my accuracy goes with the hammer when I need something level. So question: is it your drill, your bit, your technique or some other variable that you drilled so smoothly through masonry? Thanks
Hi Dave - thanks for the comment and the great question. I was using a Ryobi 18v combi-drill but set to the standard drill function. "No hammer action". The secret-sauce here are the drill bits which are from Bosch. I discovered them at a trade show and they can pretty much go through anything: Brick, concrete, wood, plasterboard/render, glass and tile.
They called Bosch Professional Multi-purpose Drill Bits CLY-9 (link to them on Amazon UK: amzn.to/32LiGNU)
The set I've linked are a bit pricey and you can buy the bits separately. However the set you saw me use in the project are still going strong 3 years later - I may give them a quick pass with a diamond file to hone the edges at the drill tip occasionally.
A tip on accurate hammer drill use (or put another way in situations where you need an accurate hole when you can't afford to cock it up) is to start small. In the video I needed a 6mm hole for those concrete screws; if I wanted a super accurate hole positioned correctly, level and straight, I would have started with a 4.5, or 4mm masonry bit first before drilling out the hole to the right diameter for the fixing. for larger fixings (my wall bolts need 13mm holes, I will drill a 6mm hole first and then widen it with a 10mm bit before drilling with a 13mm. The larger bits will happily follow the hole you drilled before and the drill has less material to, experiences less resisistance and the hammer action isn't arm-joltingly severe.
Anyway I hope that helps.
K..
Really informative video. Thanks for all the detailed information. I have subscribed also. 🙂👍🏻
May I ask; given that the battens will be in the space where the damp accumulates did you use treated wood? Also my garage has a flat roof; will I need to leave any kind of gap above the insulation to make a ‘moisture space’ (it will be in between the rafters)?
Thanks a lot.
Thanks for your question. Yes the battens are treated. I used roofing battens and like you saw put dpc behind them. The inside of a standard brick wall risks getting wet as bricks are porous. The gap is to stop this moisture from bridging to the insulation and reduce its thermal performance. It’s the internal vapour barrier which is key. As far as flat roofs are concerned Ali Dymock has some good videos on gap considerations. For roofs it’s generally accepted that 50mm is the gap between insulation and the underside of the roof. I hope that helps. K
Strawbyte Workshop Thanks a lot for your advice; I’ll definitely use treated wood and will be sure to check out Ali Dymock too. 👍🏻
Great video. Just wondering about the concrete pillars, you mentioned that they had been fully insulated now. Will a video be posted about how this was done?
Yes I hope to put out a video soon.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop I would be keen to know how you did this. I’m in a similar situation and opted to pack the wall out so the battens are level with the concrete block work so far.
Hi, I have a new build detached garage that isn't fit for anything at the moment, too small for cars and too cold and damp to store anything that isn't wrapped in binbags & gaffer tape! So I have been looking into ways to insulate it so I can use it as storage (as we apparently can't use our loft). I came across your video and it is exactly what I was after! The most I've done DIY-wise is put shelves up so I wouldn't say I am an expert but you broke this down and explained it well enough that I honestly believe I could have a real go at this and get some decent results! I did have some questions, though:
1) I've seen your reasoning to as why you moved from plasterboard to MDF and it made sense, I'm likely to use MDF myself because there's nowhere for me to effectively store it unless I bought it all and got it put up in the same day, which probably isn't realistic. I was wondering however if there is any noticeable difference between the plasterboard wall and the MDF beyond how they look? Do you feel you get a better result with one over the other?
2) You also mention being careful not to have this seen as a conversion into a habitable space, my house came with a similar 'covenant' and I was wondering if there are any regulations anywhere that I can figure out how far I can go before it's seen as 'habitable'? All I am looking to do is throw some boxes in there and maybe a tumble dryer. You could hardly live in it.
3) You use DPC on the battens before screwing them into the wall, but I've seen people use a full sheet of DPC and cover their entire batten frame before attaching it. Further to this , I've seen people say that it's better to leave a gap between the battens and the brick. Is there any advantage to either? Did you only add the DPC to the battens because you were screwing it to the wall as opposed to with a gap between?
4) Final question, I promise! I don't plan on staying in this house forever, eventually, I'll be trying to move somewhere closer to my family. Does work like this cause any issues for reselling? Do I have to follow any kind of building regs?
I'm likely going to follow your plan as your garage is basically identical (although possibly just a tiny bit bigger) and if I'm honest, I'm excited for the summer as it'll be great to get some use out of that garage instead of it being a dumping ground for old rotten ikea boxes and a lawnmower. Thanks for the great video!
Thanks so much for your comments about the video and your questions. Answers below:
1. Went to a good deal of effort to prepare the surfaces for decorating. The plasterboard was filled and taped with jointing compound and primed using a primer for new plasterboard. The MDF was primed using a wood primer thinned with 5% water. When decorated with a half decent paint there is no difference in the surface appearance. Importantly there's no difference in temperature to the touch either. I'm happy with both. Over the 18 months since I made the video I've swung back and forth about which method is best. If I were to start again I think it would be insulation and MDF.
2. The building regulations talk about the room contain a place for sleeping. Clearly I have not running water and it is not connected to the house central heating. The comment in the video was largely aimed at avoiding the problem of people looking at the project and then converted their integral garage into a new front room. For that you need to way further than I have to do meet building regs.
I never showed it on video as I was pretty embarressed but my workshop cabinets were ruined by damp in that space before the work. No it's dry as bone. I have frost protection installed now to ensure the temperature doesn't fall below 7 degrees and on a cold week (like now) it costs around £6 per week to heat.
3.The method I used was recommended in the Kingspan data sheets (and others) for situations where you cannot guarantee the outside wall won't get wet. One wall faces my neighbours garden and she's pretty liberal with the hose when watering her plants. The purpose is to stop moisture penetrating into the battens (which are treated as well - belt and braces) and causing them to rot and fail. There is an alternative method which is to use a stud wall set 25mm away from the outside wall and fixed to the floor and ceiling joists. I did consider this and a fellow viewer (and subscriber) is using that approach in a project right now. The downside is you lose a little extra space inside the room. Having thought about i recently I would have lost a further 20mm bringing the total loss to 170mm across the width of the room. When you say full sheet of DPC you could be confusing DPC with vapour control barrier, or maybe not. Some form of vapour control would be needed if you are using mineral wool insulation but with PIR (like mine) between the studs, a vapour control barrier is not required. Just tape over the joints internally.
4. I don't think what I've done will detract from the value if I were to re-sell. To be honest with everything COVID right now there's probably a whole bunch of buyers who will look at conversions like this and think that a) I too can take-up wood working, b) what a lovely place for a Gym, Yoga studio or artists studio, c) my car will love it here, d) I want to work from here. In my case as I've stayed well with the concrete block piers there would be no problem getting a large car into the garage. (I have a large SUV and it fits) If I leave I will remove the parts of the installation leaving a more basic space. All of the power and lighting will be stripped back to basics.
And good luck with your project. The whole point of making the view was to show what you can easily achieve with a few hundred pounds and a decent drill/driver. And you don't even need a posh saw either. All the cuts were made by hand with a sharp carpentry saw (for wood) and (blunt saw for the insulation).
Helpful video! What is the black rolled stuff that you put under the blue boards that are screwed to the stone walls?
Hi Sean. It's Damp Proof Course or DPC. It provides a barrier for any.moisture from the outside wall making its way into the wooden battens.
Lovely video and just what I need. But this ‘vapour barrier’ section is a little confusing are you saying that the insulation you used has its own vapour barrier? And if so what needs sealing? The insulation or the boarding? I am looking to do the same to my intern grates garage and will be ply boarding over the insulation? Does it still need insulation? Kind Regards
Hi Chris - thanks for the comment. With regards your question the PIR insulation has a foil surface on both sides of the closed cell insulation in the middle. The insulation is itself impermeable to moisture as a liquid, but the foil ensures its impermeable to moisture as water vapour. Of course when you install the insulation you screw through the material and pierce this layer. Additionally water vapour could pass through the gaps between the insulation panels and around the edges adjacent to the floor, ceiling and any walls (as in my case). So, you will need to tape all the gaps between panels, tape over the screwheads, tape any damaged areas. For the gaps around the edges I used AC50 accoustic sealant (largely for the sound absorbtion) but you can also use any paintable sealant too.
Now of course the second you layer over the top your plywood (or MDF in my case) you poke now holes through the insulation but so long as you pull the panel tight against the insulation underneath the barrier is still good enough.
In your question i think you were referring to an internal garage (I think). In which case then my answer would be yes absolutely. In particularly the exterior wall to the front and/or side. There is some advantage to insulating the walls facing the house where the benefit will be to assist in keeping the heat in the house. In my experience of a few houses with internal garages there's little insulation in the wall between the house and the garage - just blockwork. One thing I would say though is that the battening technique I used my not be necessary on internal walls (saving you 25mm) since the single biggest advantage of the battens is to protect the insulation from water penetrating from an outside wall.
I hope this helps. Do ask more questions if you want. And good luck with your project.
I am trying to find out the MDF step. I would love to get this kind of finish without bringing a plasterer in!
From around 9:10 you see me installing the MDF on top of the celotex insulation. Missing from the video any footage of the finishing of the plasterboard walls. I didn't use a plasterer to skim coat the wall to get the finish. Using tapered boards I was able to tape and use jointing compound. Then sanded flush and primed the wall with plasterboard primer. The finish with paint on is flawless.
I used a mix of standard and moisture resistant MDF with the MR MDF giving a better finish overall..
Oh that's amazing!! Thank you so much for letting me know!!
@@StrawbyteWorkshop is there a reason you used mdf and plasterboard? Why not use mdf everywhere?
If I did the project again then I probably would have used MDF throughout. The project was conceived with insulated plasterboard and I ordered the first batch on that basis. What I learned is that 1) it's very heavy and I was working mostly on my own 2) it has to be stored flat and in the dry and I had limited room. The switch allowed the insulation to remain outside and the MDF bought in each morning for that days installation. I hope that helps.
Great video, I’m looking to this exact thing on my new build single skin garage. Just a few questions if I can.
Why did you not use the insulated plasterboard all the way around?
Did you do anything with the thin strips of brickwork either side of the garage door?
How’s it been since doing the work?
Thanks 🤩
Hi Chris - sounds you've a very similar situation to me. Let's deall with those questions.
The switch from insulated plasterboard was a practical one. Namely if you bulk order then you need somewhere in the dry to store it before installation. With the second approach, the celotex is fine in the rain for a short while and 9 or 12mm MDF can be picked up on a daily basis as I needed it. In-fact, I bought all the materials I needed to finish the job at once and my builders merchant stored it for me and dropped it of every day.
The video was filmed over almost 5 weeks with 2 week gap between approaches, so it looks a little odd there was a switch.
Yes, the blockwork was later covered with insulation and boxed in. I did shoot video in 2020 covering that but haven't revisted the project on the channel. The video remains popular and I get many questions from new viewers so I may soon do a follow-up.
The work was completed in 2019. As said, I completed covered the blockwork, Installed a personnel door and finished the final 2 'bays', installed skirting board, replaced the up and over garage door and re-installed the insulation again on that wall, and dealt with some patching due to a faulty damp-proof membrane installed by my builder.
I touched on it in the video when I spoke of the workshop staying cool in the heat. The reverse is true - in winter time 20 minutes with a fan-heater and it's approaching too warm and stays warm all day. The only thing I wish I had done is install the flooring first and then tie that into the wall at DPC level. There's been no issues in terms of performance but it would have been a tidier result.
I hope that helps.
Karl.
hi Karl. Nicely done, informative video. I'm hoping you still read the comments as I have a question if you don't mind? I have a detached single skin block garage. I am converting it to a garden room - not to be used all year but will probably use it now and again in Winter as well, so will use a small heater if needed. So far, I have a stud wall placed 50mm from the wall. Stapled to the back of that is a breathable membrane. In the stud I have 50mm acoustic rockwool (I am on the neighbours boundary so want to sound proof it a bit). I plan to finish it with soundbloc plasterboard and skim. My question, as it's such a grey area is, would you staple a vapour barrier to the stud before boarding? thanks. The only other option, if a barrier is needed is to use insulated plasterboard and not the soundbloc. (I think :-))
Hi Ian - Thanks for the question. I didn't research to much the stud-wall option as it would have reduced interior space too much. But I did have conflicting advice as to whether to use a vapour barrier under the plasterboard/mdf skin. Some I spoke to insisted on the vapour barrier a few suggested that building regs had changed because vapour barriers were found to exacerbate rot and damp inside the wall. If I were in your situation I would probably go without. The room isn't in continual use and is not likely to be occupied during the colder months so the risk is minimal. Certainly using insulated plasterboard might be a little overkill and a lot more expensive.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop thanks for getting back to me Karl. Appreciate your thoughts.
Great video. Have you done anything about extracting saw dust and ventilation for the dust extraction or has the latter not been required? I'm thinking of making a workshop too and concerned about an efficient way of running a shop vac
Hey. That's a great question and I've got a video where I talk about dust extraction in-mind. Keeping my workshop as dust free as possible has been a priority lately. I've tackled it in stages:
Stage 1. Assess all of my tools and think about if better tools can improve dust collection. To that end I've ditched my cheap Ryobi sander and bought the very expensive Mirka DEROS; ditched my DeWalt mitre saw and replaced it with a Festool Kapex. Expensive changes but I do value my time in the workshop and spend way less time cleaning up.
Stage 2. Dust collectors. I've a second shop vac now. It avoids the need to move the one I had every time I change tools. I've bought a dedicated HVLP extractor for my planer thicknesser. I'm still figuring out this stage. I bought a second-hand CAMVAC which might be the extractor for a workshop-wide extraction system like Rag'n;Bone Browns.
Stage 3. Shop wide solution. My tools don't travel to site and are now largely in the locations I need them. Some sort of system, with a cyclone perhaps, would make sense now. I'm still thinking about how best to do it. I didn't board-over my ceiling which allows me some flexibility in any installation, but even a few meters of ducting is fairly expensive and I could by 2 more Nilfisk shop vacs for the price of the materials.
In terms of ventilation I've fixed my workshop door so I can open the top leaf in the summer. I've installed an extractor in the roof to vent warm, moist, stale air out of the workshop. And in the winter run a de-humidifier which really does help with the quality of the air. And finally, talking about air quality, I have a record power AC400 air cleaner which is fantastic in keeping airborne dust at bay.
Plenty there for a video I think.. But thanks for asking. Karl.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop wow, you've definitely had to think about this a lot, do that in itself is a tip I'll take heed of. Good luck and I look forward to the video. Charlie DIYte did a decent video on cyclone and extraction. I think my first priority is buying the house with a garage 😛 Thanks for the detailed answer
Great video! Im looking to do something very similar however I just wanted to know if I have to use DPC when putting up the battens? Would just securing the battens to the brickwork with celotex in between and a layer of plasterboard suffice?
I followed the instructions from Kingspan and chose between battening first with DPC (their recommendation) or directly applying the insulation to the wall. Battening out is recommended when you cannot guarantee that the wall will not get wet from the outside.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop what size battens were used? Is it possible to get a link to it?
Great video, and answered a lot of questions for me! Hoping to do the same one day! Quick questions... Why did you decide to use plasterboard for one of the walls? And MDF for the others? Thanks!
Hi - thanks for the question. It's been asked a fair bit which I don't mind as looking back at the video I could have made things clearer. The intention was to have the whole project completed with insulated plasterboard but when I started on the first two walls I quickly realised 2 things.
1. it's a very heavy material and struggled on my own to fit it without damaging edges and corners.
2. It's really not weatherproof and I had nowhere to store all the material needed for the remaining walls of the workshop.
Switching to Celotex and MDF proved better as I could store the celotex outside where a little summer rain wouldn't ruin it and the MDF could be fetched as I needed it. The two-step process was slower but more managable and MDF weighs 1/2 the weight of the same sized plasterboard panel.
I'm looking at doing this with my garage. How's yours doing, especially with all the damp weather we've had of late?
Very informative video. Thanks 👍
Thanks for the comment. So, we're probably through the worst of the weather this year and, in general, the insulation has held-up really well. It takes practically no time to warm up when I put the heating on and stays warm for quite a while. I've since had the door installed and finished the insulation on the remaining two walls and Ive fixed the drafts around the up-and-over garage door. I've checked all the panels recently and theres just one small area where damp has come through. I discovered that this is due to the builder forgetting to put DPC in that part of the wall rather than any mistake on my part.and I'll be tackling the repair in the next few weeks.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Thanks for the reply. I have definitely picked up some tips here.
Subbed
That was really interesting Karl!
Thanks John.
Ok, great video... I have a concrete Marley Type garage, I was using it as workshop so only added Sterling board on the internal panels, I am now going to use it as an external office and wondered if I can just leave the Sterling boards in place and add a vapor barrier and then insulated Plasterboard, will this work?
There's a couple of things to keep in mind. If the walls of the garage have no moisture penetration from outside, insulated plasterboard can normally be bonded with construction adhesive straight to the wall. You've said that you have sterling board on the walls already and in your situation I would remove it and add the thickness gained to the insulated plasterboard. The existing surface is not going to make the wll any more.thermally efficient and could be the source of hidden rot in the future if moisture does penetrate from either outside or inside. In.found kingspan particularly helpful when I had installation questions. I hope that helps.
very good video Karl, and thanks for sharing. as this was completed a while ago could you advise how much difference in heat/cold the changes made please? when my workshop is installed it will mean I can start work on changing our single skinned internal garage into a utility room. many thanks
It has made a big difference. But bear in mind I’ve completed the last two walls and the block piers off camera. Generally in the summer it’s about 5 degrees cooler than outside, in the winter a 2kw heater gets the space up to 15 degrees in about 30 mins and the space retains heat well. I didn’t insulate the floor due to floor standing tools, but that’s a consistent 9 degrees all winter long.
I am preparing an update on the project and will talk to some of the other gains.
You may need to do some additional research when insulating a room integral to the house. Building Regulations will guide you on the thickness of insulation needed. Typically 75mm plus 25mm overlayed as a minimum. A call to the technical department of a supplier will give you an idea of what you need. As the work was in an outbuilding and the room is not for sleeping, cooking or a bathroom, I was fairly free to choose the level of insulation.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop thanks so much for your response, i really appreciate the info and look forward to the update, cheers
This is a brilliant video - thank you. I'm happy to have found your feed. I have a couple of questions I'd be grateful if you could answer - 1) I assume the roof was already insulated? (I couldn't find a video on this), and 2) what was the decision to not insulate the blockwork piers? Was it purely to minimise loss of space? I guess there's some heat loss through them but you took a decision that in the context of the overall wall area it was insignificant. Thank you!
Thanks for your comment. I would suggest that you take a look through the comments for lots of information not included in the video about the work. Specifically:
1) I did post a video about that (th-cam.com/video/fpO6lMwRpCQ/w-d-xo.html) but I made a mistake in the construction of the insulation in the roof. The video shows a gap between two layers of insulation which shouldn't be there and it's taken 2 years of work to slowly go around the roof space and correct the mistake. I do plan to put another video out.
2) So there were a number of options I considered when planning the build which were discounted and led to the approach seen on camera. You are right to assume that minimising the space lost in building the walls out was one and those methods that would have covered the pilars removed the most space. With regards to the pillars themselves, I chose to wait before insulating them as I wanted to work-out first what I wanted to mount on the walls as they are strong-points in the building. They have now been covered and fully insulated. I get asked a lot about this and I'm considering revisiting this project given a renewed interest in this project recently.
Great video! Must have watched it 5 times already in preparation for doing a similar job. Quick question - wasn't there a video on the installation of your roof insulation..? I could have sworn there was but now I look for it I cannot find it! Maybe I'm just going mad.
You're not going mad - there was and I took it down a couple of weeks ago. A roofer kindly pointed out a mistake I made in my approach which I'm busy correcting at the moment. The original videe is on this link: th-cam.com/video/fpO6lMwRpCQ/w-d-xo.html
In the video I explained that I battened out the roof and placed a second layer across those battens. This creates a gap which doesn't give you any extra U value and creates an opportunity for moist air to collect inside the void. What I should have done when I decided to put the second layer in was to pull the first row of insulation out flush with the battens and then applied the second layer. Anyway, when I've corrected the problem I'll re-edit the video and post it up. It's worth saying that having inspected the installation and had a buidler friend take a look, there were no issues identified in the roof space. Ventilation from the eaves to the ridge seemed fine. I'm helped in poor and cold weather that my estate is on top of a hill and my garden is very windy.
I hope that helps and I've been looking through the comments and I might do a follow-up in a week or two, if time allows.
Great video, similarly I’ve got brick pillars (not breeze block) how did you work around insulating those? (Mentioned in another comment)
Hi. I made some insulated panels and bolted them to the pillars. I keep meaning to do a follow-up about the finishing touches.
Hi there I’m in need of some advice. I think I have the same garage as you. I’m looking to make a recording studio in mine and as such will only be insulation the back half of the garage. I plan to split the garage into 2 with a stud wall. My question is my stud will go about 12 inches past the brick pillars on either side as that’s where the next rafter is to fix against. Would you suggest leaving the pillars bare and insulating the 12 inch gaps on the other side? Or go over and around them? Any advice would be great!
Hi Mathew - I've now covered the brick piers with an insulated wall panel bolted into the block work. If you go to my instagram @strawbyteworkshop you'll see a recent picture. I would suggest not leaving them bare. In my case the piers have been covered by 25mm of insulation (less than the walls) and 18mm of softwood plywood. Then the AC50 sealant in the gap between the new panel and the installed wall panels. Keeping the noise in the workshop is a major consideration as the workshop is nearer my neighbours living room than my own, and even though I've only installed two panels over the piers before lockdown, it's made a big difference. And good luck with your plans for your recording studio.
This was such a well made video, thanks for this. Quick question. I'm looking at doing this to my garage this summer. I have a classic car which sits in the garage over the winter months. Do you think your design would suit me?
I think the approach will help in situations where you want to keep the effects of cold and condensation at bay. Over the winter the temperature inside the garage has stayed above 5 degrees and with a dehumidifier running. My biggest concern was losing space to the insulation as the width before the work was around 3 meters and my method lost 150mm across the width. If you have more room you might want to consider increase the thickness of the insulation by 10mm to 20mm (to 50 or 60mm). These were the recommended thicknesses for a single skin garage wall from the manufacturers - I went with the minimum.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop OK thanks. I could definitely go thicker. My garage is a lot wider than a standard size garage. I was thinking of putting a dehumidifier in, but I was talking to someon who also stores cars, and he said if you get the insulation right, I shouldn't need one. Thanks again mate 👍
Great video and explanation. Thanks for sharjng. I want to do my internal garage but its has brick on outside wall and also breeze block on all internal walls. Would i need to do a vapor layer and dampproof course?
Internal Garage conversions do require special attention and it sounds like your existing walls are constructed in a particular way. It’s not clear if the wall is cavity or solid. But a call to the technical department of any PIR manufacturer will guide you on the install including how much insulation, vapour control measures and if any separation is required between the new materials and existing walls. The new room will be considered part of your home and may require building control approval. Something I avoided by being detached and not creating a space that was for sleeping, cooking or washing.
These are just a few pointers to help you look for the right advice as I can’t advise you on your specific situation. K.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop thanks so much for your help. Great advice.
Great Video!!! Its given me the inspiration I need to put an order in from Travis Perkins! Do you know enough to help me with this question? My garage is attached to the side of the house, how would you/would you insulate the common wall? Im afraid to cause condensation inside of the house since it will be insulated from both sides. Thanks
Hey George. Thanks for a great question. I've been in this situation before and decided to focus only on insulating for sound where I used rockwool sound slab. I considered any heat I put into the garage that leaked away through that wall would be leaking into the house. That was some time ago.
Note however, you may need to check with building control regarding any conversion of garage connected to the house. There were way fewer considerations in my project as the detached garage is an outbuilding and the so long as the room wasn't used for sleeping I didn''t need building control.
A good video and very helpful, couple of questions.... I am looking to insulate my garage and also wish to minimise the thickness of the wall, I see Celotec comes in 25mm also. Why did you use 40mm? Also how did you seal the wall and ceiling? Normal silicone? Thanks
Hi Spencer - sorry for the delay in getting back to you. In terms of the thickness of the insulation I was balancing thickness of the construction with the recommended insulation thickness to meet building regulations. 40mm fell at the mid-point of that range (between 25 and 75 (regs at the time)) hence the choice. One thing I would say is that while I was heavily concerned with the amount of space I was going to loose, having completed the project I think I probably wouldn't have noticed an additional 40mm by using 60mm insulation. You get used to the space and you can use light flat colours on the wall to give the impression of more space.
In terms of sealing - I probably didn't explain that as well as I could in the video. I used Everbuild AC50 to fill the smaller (up to 10mm) gaps. for larger gaps either expanding foam and AC50 together, or jointing foam strips and AC50.
AC is a sealant that doesn't fully cure and remains soft so has great flexibility and exceptional sound absorbing capabilities.
I'm thinking of revisiting the project and may be cover in more fully some of the details that people have asked about. If you have any other questions, please ask.
Thanks for the vedio do you intend to insulate the wall support pillars ?
Yes and they're all now clad and insulated. It's not something I've actually featured on the channel.
Thanks for sharing your work. Did you screw insulation to the battens or fix to brick wall?
The battens were first screwed to the wall using masonry screws. There were two insulations used. In the case of the insulated plasterboard, it was screwed to the battens with drywall screws. Where I switched to the PIR (celotex covered in MDF) I first screwed the celotex to the battens with 50mm screws and large penny washers. The MDF was attached to the battens through the insulation using longer screws. I hope that makes sense.
Fab video Karl, questions for you - I have a single skin block work garage (6x4m) where I keep my bikes and tools. It is getting a bit damp to the point some of my tools rust and a bit of mold growing. I'm planning to insulate it but not 100% sure what is the easiest way to go... Insulated plaster boards or studs, insulation in between then plywood over. Also do I need a complete sheet of vapour barrier?? Thanks in advance.
There's a couple of things you'll need to ensure you address first, but I think the approach I took would probably work. Ahead of completing this project, I had a little mould form in the spaces behind cabinets and issues with damp generally and having done the work the workshop is dry and warm. The insulation I chose creates a dry space inside and any moisture that forms behind can pass back through the brick to the outside in its own time. The things you need to address before you start is to address any parts of the wall that a permenantly wet/damp. Common causes are poor/no gutters, missing DPC (I have since discovered I have that in one spot) and wall exposed to wind blown rain. So, fix the gutters, you can use a chemical DPC to fix any rising damp and Thompson's Water Seal is a great way of weatherproofing an exposed wall. I hope that helps.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Thanks for the advice. I had a look again during the weekend and i think i might have to re do the roof - the previous owner used box shaped roof sheet and screwed directly to the rafters without any membrane underneath, hence i found them to be a bit damp. The wall has no wet patches (touch wood) so i think i might just put in some battens, then fit the double sided insulating sheet in between, leave a gap and board it back up.. I think it should work..
Great vid, wish all youtube videos were up to this standard - you've inspired me and I will be doing this exact build in my garage this summer. Only one question and apologies if you have already answered and I missed it - what size masonry screws did you use? Thanks
Hey. Thanks so much for the comment. The screws were Easydrive screws from Screwfix and they were mostly 7.5 x 70 with a handful of 7.5 x 50 as I began to run out. You drill a 6mm hole and then drive straight into the hole with a standard drive.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Brilliant thank you
Hi Karl, I’m hoping you could help. Do you think instead of using the insulated plasterboard I could use osb and being the cheap skate I am apply some aluminium foil with adhesive to the wall side. Do you think that could work?
I'm not sure you'll get anything like the insulation benefit you'll get with the thinnest PIR insulation sheet. If the OSB is still cold it will attract condensation and, in my experience, go mouldy very quickly. For foil insulation to work effectively there needs to be a gap between the foil and material. Foil insulates by reflecting heat. Foil coated bubble wrap does this by sandwiching air between two layers of foil. Anyway - given my experience i would always recommend saving a bit more and investing in insulation if what you're looking for is to keep out the cold.
Awesome video thank you! Hope you don't mind daft questions... with getting electrics/sockets put in, would you do them first, mounted onto the brick and then cut holes for them in the insulation/board, or would you get a sparky in after it's insulated and have them mounted ontop of the board?
In my case I knew the electrics would be surface mounted (it's a workshop after all) so didn't plan ahead.
I wouldn't recommend doing the electrics in advance and bringing them through the insulation. It creates a hole through the vapour barriers. The better approach is to batten the wall, install the insulation, then counterbatten the insulation to create a void before placing the plasterboard/mdf/ply wall boards on those battens. But speak to your electrician they'll be keen for you to to choose an approach that makes their job easier.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Thank you for the reply! My electrician actually recommended mounting electrics onto battens/boards and insulating around it afterwards, which sounds off to me too!
Hi Karl, did you ever make (and post) a video for how you insulated the pitched roof?
Hi david - yes the link is here. th-cam.com/video/fpO6lMwRpCQ/w-d-xo.html Strange you should ask now as I'm re-editing the video to address a mistake made in the inital installation, why that matters and what I've done to correct it. I intend that video to go up on Saturday morning.
In brief, in the linked video the mistake was to leave a gap between the two layers of insulation. In practice I've had no issues as the workshop is well ventilated and not used all day every day but did re-arrange the layers of insulation to remove the gap. The gap potentialy would allow condensation to form within layers of insulation and with nowhere for that moisture to go.
I hope that helps.
Many thanks Karl; these are really useful, clear, and to the point videos of what you've done. Much appreciated. I'll watch out for the updated video.
great video, i feel confident attempting to renovate my garage myself but i dont have tools. Very well explained. thank you. When i look at your garage it is similar size to mine and i have been quoted double what you spent on your project and im now stuck as i dont have enough money .my detached garage is 16 foot long, 7 foot height and 9 foot wide. The builder advised 27mm- 11 celotex 8x4 plaster boards for walls and 4inch kinspun x5 plaster boards. including studs and nails £1540:((( yet you spent half of that. I want the garage to be a laundry room, and if you can help please how i can cut cost but maintaining a professional project like yours i would be very grateful.
thanks in advance
Thanks very much for the comment. I spent a good deal of time ringing around and checking online prices and in the end collected materials from several sources. Insulation Express was the cheapest on insulation, wickes for roofing battens, Travis Perkins and B&Q for MDF and so on. It was a challenge to get everything together at the same time but the work was done in two stages so I didn't have all the project materials getting in the way. The back half of the garage, then the front. The video joins them together to make the whole thing look like it was done in one go.
A builder should be able to provide a bill of materials for the work (it sounds like you have that) so you could shop for them and save that way.
Is there any reason you raised the bottom battons off the floor? I’ve done all my battening and just realised I’ve laid them right against the concrete!
I wanted to avoid the battens bridging the damp proof course. But of course that doesn't make as much sense as that sounds given there's DPC on the back of them. If anyone asks from now on I'm going to say that I can't bend down like I used to.
If you've DPC'd the back it won't make any difference.
What a fantastic video. As someone who's also in South Northants, on a new estate, with a virtually identical garage, we've wanted to do this exact job (plus the roof insulation from your other video). Thank you so much for the advice. For someone who is not very handy, this really helps to break it down simply. Do you have a website that gives further guidance or details?
There's some additional information on my website that explains more about how I did the garage door. See: www.strawbyte.com/blog/2018/11/18/how-to-insulate-a-garage-door
This video is gaining some interest recently (probably due to how TH-cam recommends based on how well the video is performing) and I am getting lots of questions. For example, alternatives that I considered in the planning stages but dismissed and then didn't discuss in the video; plus material choices and so on. So I might add more information to my website while I'm off over the Xmas/New Year break. And I definitely have a follow-up video in mind to review the project 18 months on and cover off a few things that required attention or fixing.
I've also insulated my old workshop which was a timber summerhouse and turned that into a garden office. So there will be more from me on this sort of project too. I'm just waiting for a weekend without rain when I can get out and finish that off. Anyway thanks for the comment - I really appreciate it. Do subscribe if you haven't already to keep up-to-date with videos on the subject, and have a great day.
It's funny that I looked into insulating my garage too a few months ago and spent some time looking online on how to do that properly - same "single skin" awful walls so condensation had to be taken into account. And I ended up doing exactly what you did besides that I didn't use insulated plasterboards but celotex and drywall separately. I also chose 20mm of Celotex to avoid losing too much space. I still have to do one half of the garage but the difference has been absolutely fantastic. It's a shame that "single skin walls" are still allowed. I appreciate it's a garage but we all know nobody keeps their car in the garage and if it's wet and cold it's going to damage everything you store in there.
Thanks for the comment. I switched to celotex and MDF panels later in the project due mostly to the weight being more manageable on my own. To be honest I'm lucky to have a garage at all where I am since only 4 of the 14 house styles on my development have garages at all.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop My initial plan was to go with MDF too. Then someone pointed out that from a safety perspective drywall was better (it's fire proof). So I went with that. I don't mind and I bought the moisture-resistant type. I think MDF is safe too! :)
Yes, I see what you mean. I believe I have the only double garage in the area - for a relatively small house.
It used to be a car port apparently. Then closed with shutters by the previous owner. I then removed the silly wall partition between the two spaces after a structural engineer confirmed that it was safe to do
Another question, sorry! We have DPM on the floor but no DPC in the brickwork that I can see, do you think a layer of tanking slurry before battening do the job? Bricks seem dry but want to take precautions for the future!
In your situation I would probably use the battens as I have with DPC fixed to the back. While I have a DPC there is a fault in one small area were damp has risen into the wall in winter months. I had it all off to repair it and the battens, insulation were fine. The alternative is a chemical dpc and I think skill builder has a good video on a system which looks easy.
Hi Karl, great video, really helpful, I'm doing something similar to my garage which is quite similar to yours but smaller, my issue is it's half brick thick and I've been warned against this for the weight of the plasterboard and battons, I was wondering if you knew a way around this without compromising the buildings structural integrity?
many thanks
Hi Nick - thanks for the comment and as for the question, an alternative to hanging the battens (then insulation followed by plasterboard or MDF) is to fix a bearing timber to the floor and roof joists and fix battens between them. A stud wall if you like with just a handful of fixings into the wall to add stability. You'll need DPC under the floor bearer and behind the vertical studs if you place them directly against the wall. The load of the wall is then through the floor and not off the wall. You can then fit the insulation between the studs with thin layer over the face of the wall which when taped gives you your vapour control barrier. The important thing to remember about brick is that in heavy rain they 'wet through' so keep timber off the brick with DPC at every opportunity. I'm going to have to re-do a 600x600mm section where moisture has penetrated.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop thank you Karl, that's a great help, i was also turned onto the dot and dab technique which I may use for some walls, but over my workbench I was looking for a way to hang tools and cabinets on afterwards so that's a huge help
Where did you buy alot of your products from, any particular supplier or just the normal construction places?
@@nickhoy8727 All the insulation (including the insulated plasterboard) was from Insulation Express an online insulation specialist and very cheap. The blue battens were from Wickes and were miles cheaper than builders merchants when bought as 4.8m lengths. MDF from B&Q. Some things were really expensive by comparison and I couldn't find a good price or quantity. For example, the plasterboard sealer and jointing compound - expensive and sold in quantities miles more than I needed. But I did get rid of the excess on Facebook Marketplace and the finish was unquestionably worth it. In summary I shopped around and I think saved about 30% compared to getting one builders merchant to supply.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop yeah that's pretty much most of the places I'm getting my supplies, just wondering if I'd missed any cheaper options
Thank you for answering my questions, you've been a great help 🙂
Hi, brilliant build! My new build garage is a home gym - currently not insulated.
I’m just trying to figure out what would be the best/easiest/effective way would be to do this - I am not very DIY!
What temperature is the garage in winter? And how quick does it take to heat? Is much heat lost? Sorry if this has been asked a hundred times already!
Hi Nick - thanks for the questions. I think the approach in the video is pretty approachable and I've had tood feedback from non-diyers who tackled the project themselves.
In general I find the temperature inside is around 5 degrees above the outside temperature in the winter. I've a lot of cast-iron tools so run a dehumidifier throughout the winter as well. It takes around 20 minutes with a 2kW heater to get it up to around 13-14 degrees which is plenty warm for working with tools, and stays warm for quite a while afterwards.
Anyway it's well worth it as I said in the video it was pretty miserable without insulation and impossible to get the damp out the air. I hope that helps.
What a great video. I've found others that have me advice but yours is amazingly detailed and helpful. This is what TH-cam (social media) is for! Question, you mention sealing the top and bottom, how did you do this and what did you use? I see a reply to a previous question mentioning that the board's didn't interact with he floor. My garage is a little older, and wondering what I put around the bottom of wall and floor to help seal. Thanks
I got my boards within 8-12 mm of the floor and sides and used a thick bead of acoustic sealant (AC-50) and where the uneven floor or pillars left larger gaps used expanding polyurethane foam first.
I used AC50 because of the noisy tools and I hoped it would limit noise transfer through the wall to my neighbour's garden.
And you're correct in noting the objective to avoid direct contact with the floor. It is tempting to simply rest the wall boards on the floor, but there is a risk of moisture in the cold floor wicking up through the wall materials. I did have one spot n the garage where the wall panels I installed touched the brick below the DPC and a huge stain appeared over several months.
Anyway thanks for the question and I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Regards. Karl.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop amazing Karl, thank you for getting back to me and the details. So much US woodshop content it's great to see something similar to my set-up and pains. Can I ask how you resolved the issue with the DPC, did you put a piece of barrier over the brick?
@@gsallis85 Yes - basically that was the fix. The issue was that the bricks below the DPC in one small area of the garage wall were particularly wet and had bridged the DPC installed by the builders to wet-out the mortar coarse below the blockwork above. This is really a poorly installed DPC. The approach was to take some barrier from under the floor and tie it into the mortar coarse above the faulty DPC, and then a second layer over that up the wall to around .5m.
I did film some footage of the fix but didn't post an update as interest in this video had dropped off. However, it has picked-up and I've received a lot of interest and questions recently so think it might be worth putting out a follow-up.
Great video, was the thermal plasterboard 22m. Thanks
The insulated plasterboard was: Celotex PL4000 Insulated Plasterboard 40mm + 12.5mm
I hope that answers your question
Thanks for making this. As I am planning my own garage conversion this was very interesting. How are you finding the. PIR direct against 25mm battens working for you? Any case of condensation or is the limited air gap working? Did you do a follow up door video?
Hi Steve - Everything is fine and I've had very few issues. It's worth saying that the air gap is not the important feature of the wall. In fact, if there was no risk the external wall was going to get rained on then it would have been perfectly permissible for the PIR to be glued straight to the wall. It's the thickness of the insulation which is important. An on that point, my choice of 40mm PIR was a compromise to avoid too much space being lost to the wall.
The only issue I've had as been external where excessive run-off from my neighbours patio and shed, plus an incorrectly installed DPC by the builder of my garage led to water getting in from outside and spoiling a small section of wall. Other than that the workshop has remained warm when heated and the performance in the summer months in exceptional with the workshop consistently 5 degrees cooler than outside. And maybe that's a final point, what I should have added that you could still get condensation on the inside of the wall if you don't take any steps to heat the space to a temperature above the dew point.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop I have similar issues with part of the garage walls below ground level as my property is built into a hill. Nothing visible but i worries me if ground gets saturated outside. I have potential if unprovable flood risk too from a river fed from the hills around here in North Wales. I planned to have an oil radiator on low to go on below 5C and heat when I’m in there. As I won’t be keeping it warm 24/7 I might take advice I heard elsewhere and vent the garage after use to allow any moisture I produced to escape. I doubt it’ll be that much. I’m torn between PIR and rockwool as Keith rag-and-bone brown had done.
Hey great video!!! im looking to insulate my single skin porch, if i wanted to put up a shelf how would you suggest i go about it. :)
Your best bet is to through the insulated wall into the battens supporting it. Recently I've repeated this technique and used 30mm thick vertical battens at 400mm centres secured with masonry screws. Clad the wall in insulated plasterboard and then fixed shelf brackets into the battens.
Can I just ask why you chose MDF over plywood? I'm tackling my double garage in the next few months and wondering what your opinion is on boarding over windows being that I have 6 of them 2 on each wall.
Thanks.
Tony Attacks Thanks for the question. The principle reason was that MDF is denser than plywood which makes is a good insulator of sound when compared to standard softwood/hardwood plywood’s at the same thickness. Plus, it has a good paintable finish from the outset - plywood would have required filling to bring it up to the same standard. I’ve used standard MDF rather than moisture resistant.
As far as boarding up the windows, you will need to be mindful of condensation inside the window space on the inside. Brick is porous and any moisture forming in the inside will eventually make its way out. Glass is not and you will need to have a way of ventilating the space. Other than that treat it like an external wall. Batten ensure a vapour barrier is installed on the warm side of the insulation and you’re good,
Great video, explains a lot of the questions I have had since I started looking into doing something similar myself! One quick question, did you use anything to hold the DPC to the back of the battens? It didn't look like you had grip of both and I can imagine it being quite fiddly if the DPC isn't glued/fixed to the batten first? I'm guessing a dab of silicon or adhesive would be better than screws as they'd obviously pierce the DPC? Thanks
Hi, you don't really see very when what I'm doing but they're held on initially by staples into the ends of the battens. Then obviously held in place by the screws that go into the wall.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Thanks for clarifying!
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Great video Karl. Keep them coming. Could you please elaborate on why you chose MDF for some walls and plaster board for others?
Good question. I had originally planned to use insulated plasterboard for the whole project. Each sheet costing around £60 each. The video compresses time a little as having got some experience with the first wall I decided not to skim with plaster and then the cost of priming a bare plasterboard wall for paint pushed the cost of Insulated plasterboard over that of insulation plus MDF. The bonus being that mdf is easier to fix small items too.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Dear Karl, Thanks for the very rapid reply. I guess there were many other options. it seems that you reached an acceptable compromise for you particular situation.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop if you were doing this today, would you just do everything with the MDF+insulation option?
@@amahmood3799 I think there are two things I would do differently if I did the project again. 1. Yes, I'd not bother with insulated plasterboard for a workshop insulation project. MDF that's been filled and sanded gives a surprisingly good finish and is quick and easy to achieve. 2. I would use 15mm MDF rather than 12mm. For a difference of 6mm over the width of the workshop the benefits of thicker panels in terms of being able to fix to the wall outway the small extra cost.
One final thing, I'd do the floor first and use a membrane tied into the walls. I expect to do a follow-up video where I explain why properly and where I show the fix, but one area of the new wall panel has been badly affected by rising damp from the two courses of brick below the damp course.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop I look forward to your updated video. I already have the floor "done" using pvc matting like yours and take the point re: 15mm vs 12mm too.
Karl, great video, thank you. What did you use to seal the bottom and the top of the wall (6:16 in your video)? I am going to epoxy paint my garage floor first and will then move on to insulation. Many thanks, from another Karl.
Hey Karl. I don't know about you but when you get to meet another Karl (albeit on-line) it's quite a rare treat. Anyway, I didn't show it very well but did describe it. For the most part the gap is sealed with Everbuild AC50 accoustic sealant in a 5-8mm bead around the edges of the insulation as it meets the wall. Okay, step back. You see me install insulated pasterboard on 2 walls the gap between the boards, floor and concrete blocks were filled with AC50 and for some larger gaps over 8mm Soudal Gap Filling Expanding Foam was used. Here the seal is really between the plasterboard layer and the concrete/blockwork. Later I applied the insulation and then a MDF skin. Here the wall/floor gaps were filled with AC60 before the MDF went on - any large gaps filled with foam, and then only vertical gaps filled again with cheaper decorators caulk. The gap between the MDF and floor was covered by skirting (although it took me 3 years to get around to it).
I hope that your project goes well. You'll find my flooring video on the channel but I think you're going about your project the right way. Looking back I wish I'd fitted the floor first and then installed the walls as it's probably the better way to go.
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Karl, thank you for the detailed response. And yes, it’s a rarity to meet Karl’s with a ‘K’ these days👌🏻.
I’ll check out your flooring video also. I’ve just ordered all of the epoxy paint so am looking forward to getting the flooring done. It’ll then be the wall insulation to do and, following that, insulating the roof (like you, I want to keep the loft space for putting items up in the rafters).
Great video. I’m about to start my own Garage Project and this has given me a lot more confidence of doing what I thought in the correct way!
Question- How did you seal at the floor? More adhesive or did you also install garage flooring and then seal?
Hi James, You can do it! I've heard from many complete DIY novices who have surprised themselves with pulling off a decen installation. I think the nice thing about it is that you cover-up mistakes with each layer leaving, perhaps, some moderate surface filling and then painting.
Regarding the floor. Before tackling the floor the concrete used to kick-up dust all the time and I found that concrete sealing products really didn't last long. I sealed the floor for the last time a few months before I bought the vinyl floor with a product recommended by my builder and what I used to seal my patio. It didn't really work so the floor you saw me laid was laid straight on the concrete. No damp-proof membrane and not sealing post installation. In-fact being PVC I've had no damp what so ever rise through the floor.
I hope that helps. Let me know if not.
Hi. I’ve noticed you only put a moisture barrier between walls and baton only slightly bigger than baton. Interested why you decided this and not a full sheet of dpm or painting wall with blackjack or something?
The short answer is that the approach shown is one recommended in the technical data sheets from most of the insulation manufacturers (notably Kingspan). Its purpose is to protect the batten from moisture penetrating through the wall leading to premature failure of the batten and the materials attached to it. It is the vapour control membranes (the foil) in the insulation and sealant that is there to prevent warm moist air condensing on the exterior cold wall. Should any moisture condense on the inside of the exterior wall due to failure of the membrane or resulting from water penetration from the outside, the condensated water can still permeate through the porous brick to the outside. If I'd used DPC across the whole wall or treated it, that wouldn't be possible.
There are other approaches to using PIR insulation, such as bonding it directly to the wall. However in my case I had to account for the the fact the exterior wall gets wet when it rains.
I hope that makes sense, but thank-you for your question.
Great video, this has really helped me plan for my garage, though I can no longer seem to find the video you did on roof insulation, has this been deleted?
Hi - The video is hidden. The link is here: th-cam.com/video/fpO6lMwRpCQ/w-d-xo.html
I'm just finishing some remedial work in the roof space and I will update/replace the video to correct a mistake in the original.
Feel free to take a look at the old video. At 4:08 I start talking about the construction of the two layers of insulation. The error made was to include a void between the two layers. This isn't the correct way to do it and while I have experienced no issues with the approach I took, but a roofer pointed out two problems: 1. The void actually reduces the efficiency of the insulation not enhances it. 2. There is an issue with insulation voids where vapour permeating through the insulation could condense in the void. This might lead to rot in the roof trusses or (as before) a loss of insulation performance.
The mistake was made because I hadn't planned to use two layers from the beginning. battening-out the trusses came afterwards when I decided to install the second layer. What I should have done is planned to install two layers from the outset. This would have had me batten-out the trusses first and install the first layer of insulation flush with the battens and the second layer over the top with no gap. Where the roof support beams cross the space, It would have been easy to test fit the pieces before carving out a rebate to accommodate the beam.
Thanks very much for the link, I’ve now insulated half of my pitched roof using a similar approach to yourself, just a bit more to go and then on to the walls!
Great video, this has really helped me get my head around this project. Potentially a stupid question.. do you not need to seal the edges where the insulation boards meet on the sides facing the wall? Like you have with tape in the roofing on the inside? Have no idea how you would physically do it but curious
Good question and I did touch on it on the video. The sealing of the edges is acheiced with sealant and expanding foam for larger gaps.
I'm thinking bording across rafters is way to go for me. What are you thoughts on leaving the top behind insulation open to have air from roof space? I would think more air flow potential would be a good thing?? Or better to 'box' in like you have with the point you mention at the start from Instagram?
Superb video Karl. The benefit is in the detail. I have a newbuild brick shed and this will help to convert it into a warmer one. Just spent a while checking through all your replies concerning sealing. I assume the complete external perimeter of the wooden studwork is sealed before the celotex is fixed and then this too is sealed all round including the floor gap. I have a new upvc doorway in the garage wall. However, the brickwork wall is so uneven that there is no internal brickwork reveal left. so creating a seal with celotex to the upvc frame will be a challenge. Creating a reveal using the thickness of the stud (47mm) plus 40mm Celotex plus 12mm MDF creates a reveal just 100mm deep. Can I just turn a strip of celotex into the reveal and glue/seal it to the batten edge followed by MDF sealed to the upvc or will this create a damp cold spot. Obviously all the studwork has DPC behind it.
One last thing. I assume you stopped all timber battens above the DPC layer and relied on the stiffness of the celotex board to continue down to within 8mm of the garage floor, where you sealed it with AC50.
Thanks for the comment. A lot to unpack here.
So, in terms of sealing. The wall is battened and the celotex is fitted. It's important that the it is a close fit to the side walls and fortunately in my situation the block columns were straight enough. Seal the gap between the celotex and the wall now, and the floor too. When I boarded over the top, I sealed again to get a clean finish for paint.
In your situation, I can't fully comprehend the transition between the door and wall. Getting the detail right here is about minimising cold bridging. When I put my door in kept the transition around the door quite simple. I'll come back to this in a separate reply.
Your last question has the correct assumption. All my lower battens are above the DPC. That said, using the method shown in backing each batten with DPC material could allow you to bridge the DPC with minimal adverse consequences, but it's not recommended in the guides from insulation manufacturers. I guess this is that when a batten becomes wet on its end the moisture or rot will migrate along the grain.
Hello again @olddiyer I've quickly recorded a video about the detail around the door of the workshop check it out here: th-cam.com/video/0ZLimvz0EEU/w-d-xo.html
@@StrawbyteWorkshop Many thanks again Karl for yet more super video material. Your video has helped me overcome some problems I have experienced after installing a new doorway in my garage. The reasons are explained below.
I had to use a bespoke UPVC door to fit the limited wall height and as a result a Birtley type steel lintel had to be used to support the single brick course just above it and the wall plate where the roof trusses were supported. This type of lintel has an "L" shaped shaped cross section with an outward protruding section along its interior length to provide added strength. As as result the wall battens had to be 2x2 to clear this feature and this limited the insulation thickness I could use to remain within the depth of the garage piers. As a result I decided to use 25mm PIR Reticel board overlaid with 12.5mm MDF
The wall itself was another issue as it had been badly laid and was 5mm or more out of vertical in some places where the doorway had been cut into it. However, the 2x2 battens proved to be ideal to create a solid straight , vertical fixing adjacent to the new UPVC door. These battens were positioned just far enough away from the doorway frame to ensure a reveal thickness of 25mm insulation plus 12.5mm MDF would overlay the new UPVC doorframe by about 17.5mm. In other words the timber battens were not positioned right up to the doorway frame.
The gaps between the timber battens and the crooked walls were sealed all round. 25mm Reticel PIR board was then fixed and sealed to the new flat studwork bringing it flush with the studwork edge around the doorway reveals. It was then sealed all round and to the floor below the DPC.
25mm Reticel was then glued and screwed to the timber battens inside the reveals, once again sealing it all round to prevent the edges touching the rough brickwork. Finally, 12.5mm MDF was fixed over the insulated reveals to make a neat straight corner as you show in your video. The MDF was also sealed all round.
Using this process I could fix the MDF right up to the UPVC doorframe and seal it, hopefully prevent excessive cold bridging at this point.
We have a similar project but unfortunately also have a gas boiler and gas mains on the outer wall and mains distribution on the house adjoining wall. I thought about boxing them off with access hatches but worry this would be a source of penetration, should I be much concerned about doing this?
A tricky problem because boilers will require clearances around them because the have to dissipate excess heat from the heat-exchanger. For the electrical panel you need enough clearance for an electrician to work (especially as they charge by the hour).
If the objective is to reduce heat loss, then insulating what you can and leaving what you can't would still be beneficial. Then if and when you have replace the boiler, then you can fill-in the gap.