Learn About Cold Room Solutions that Fix the Uncomfortable Room Above your Garage

During the winter, many homes contain cold, uncomfortable rooms located above attached garages. As a result, learn about cold room solutions that fix these uncomfortable rooms. For example, a closer look at why these rooms above garages become so cold help homeowners better understand the best solutions for this nagging comfort problem.

In winter, rooms above garages typically include unconditioned space or cold air around them. Picture yourself standing in a room above a garage, cold outside air surrounds you. Typically, these rooms include cold outside air behind three of the four wall surfaces. Bonus rooms remain cold if they lack proper insulation and/or air sealing.

Poor Insulation Means Cold Rooms

Poorly installed insulation frequently occurs in the floor between the bonus room and the garage. This causes very cold floors. Additionally, insulation in floor cavities commonly leverage R-19 fiberglass batts. This installation offers 5 ½ inches thick insulation. However, typically floor cavities are constructed of 2” x 10” floor joists. This means the floor cavity depth is 9 ¼ inches deep. It is very common for the insulated floor below a bonus room to have about a 3” gap above the insulation (assuming there is any insulation at all). This airspace between the floor insulation and the room above creates very cold floors.

Similarly, if the wall insulation and the ceiling insulation were installed to minimum thicknesses with no air sealing, the insulation is probably not performing anywhere near its rated R-value.

Distance From the Furnace Impacts Room Comfort

Frequently, rooms above garages remain the farthest room from the furnace. Plus, these rooms often include small, undersized ducts that supply heat. The ducts are often undersized due to space limitations connecting the room over the garage to the heating system. The undersized ducts often leak, which means air escapes the home. Additionally, the ducts lack insulation and deliver only a small amount of warm air.

Finally, for rooms over garages, poor insulation and lack of air sealing causes significant heat loss. Plus, the heat supplied remains less than needed, which creates a surefire formula for cold, uncomfortable rooms. However, once homeowners identify the underlying reasons for uncomfortable bonus rooms, a solution exists that makes rooms over garages much more comfortable while saving energy for the occupants.