Workshop Insullation Question

[John861]

Ok, well I guess the question now is do you want too insulate it, or Just seal the
holes?
I don't think I would spend a lot of money insulating it, if it is not living space.

Only a portion of the garage will be heated, so I may not insulate the entire perimeter. But the workshop side will be fully insulated so I can keep it above freezing through the winter without spending a fortune.

 

[EddieWalker]

If you fill the cores by pouring in expanded perlite, you will increase the R-value from about R-1.6 to R-5.9 (assuming 8" 2-core medium-weight blocks). That R-value is for the whole wall, not just the perlite (so it includes the loss from the webbing in the blocks).

I don't have any experience with block walls and homes, so this is a bit of a suprise to me. R 1.6 sure seems low, in fact, it's the part that really suprises me. Are you sure this is correct? Then adding that perlite, another thing I've never heard of, will bring it up to almost an R 6. Double pained windows are around an R 5, give or take a few tenths either way.

I'm wondering what that perlite costs and if it's worth the expense. Foam sheets will give you an R 5 just glued to a wall. They are cheap and real easy to use. Add sheerock or OSB to the inside of the wall and you go up to R6 and have a nice interior wall. More foam, more insulation, and that's not counting what you get from that hollow block wall.

Of course, framing the interior of the wall with 2x4 studs and fiberglass insulation will bring it up to an R13. I've heard this is very common in cement basements, but again, it's not something I'm very familiar with and find this to be an interesting topic

Eddie

 

[ray66v]

I guess then, I would go with the perlite, if I could do it without spending a lot, and seal the top.

Considering you planned to heat this area, you could have opted for a more energy efficient design.

You should have eliminated the block from being part of the inside walls in this area.

I would not loose any sleep over it now though, either way, its only 2 courses. And its at the bottom.