Should I insulate my garage workshop walls?

expert EXPERT April 26, 2007

Your inventory suggests that you have a single car detached garage. There are three possible elements that could be insulated -- the ceiling -- the walls -- the door. In all likelihood, you use the space above the ceiling for storage, and the ceiling is probably unfinished. The door is a solid unit which could be insulated, but you would likely be better off attempting to weatherstrip it to reduce air infiltration. That leaves the walls. If the structure has unfinished walls with open stud cavities, it would be relatively easy to insulate. If it is a solid masonry structure insulating it would require some form of strapping. Under no circumstances do you want to use combustible plastic insulation unless it is covered by something like drywall. In summary, if you have open stud walls and you plan on using the garage on a fairly regular basis, then insulating the walls makes sense. Beyond that, we might weatherstrip the door but that's about it.