How to Insulate a Room Above The Garage

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The Problem

Does your home have a “bonus room,” upstairs media room, or office that is noticeably less comfortable than the rest? We like to call this the “Media Room Problem.” Typically, it’s over the garage.

Often it’s in its little wing, on the southwest side of the house, with exterior walls or a few hot walls that back up to the inside of the attic. You will have performance issues throughout the year when you have a room like this. In the winter it’s too cold, and in the summer it’s too hot!

Our Solution

Energy Attic has solutions to fix these issues. Usually, these rooms have walls in the attic with inconsistent “batt” style insulation, usually with an R-13 value. Removing these “batts” and replacing them with spray foam insulation can make a huge difference. 5.5 inches of open-cell spray foam would create an R-19 and an air seal…creating more of an “ice chest” effect.

Properly addressing this “hot wall” issue can give your room a better chance of performing by creating a far less extreme attic environment. Control your attic and “hot walls,” and you can control comfort!

The Flooring

Another thing we do to address the Media Room Problem is to address the flooring. If your media room is above the garage, there is typically little to no insulation in the “midfloor” space. It takes some creativity, but we can also provide a solution for this issue.

Attic Space

The attic space above your “bonus room” is also significant. Sometimes there is separate attic space above these rooms—but there’s no access! That doesn’t stop us here at Energy Attic! We can usually add ventilation, climb down inside that attic space, and add more insulation.

So if you think you might have the “Media Room Problem” that many of the two-story homes in the DFW area have, give us a call! Let us change the dynamic in that room and make you more comfortable!