# Garage insulation



## F0ZZ (Jul 3, 2018)

When I purchased my Tesla I also decided to renovate my garage. It’s a separate building from my home a s is going to take until next fall to finish. I have a two car garage with an extra bay ( garage door) on one side. Roughly 800sqft total. I’ve added a wall that separates the rear bay from the main two Bays. This will allow me to have a separate wood shop and still lots of room to park. The shop will be fully insulated and already has a gas furnace. I’m in Ontario CANADA, so heat in the shop is a must. I’m debating whether I should bother insulating the two car bays? The walls have already been done but I think it’s a waste of time and money to do the ceiling? The car portion will not have heat.

is it a waste to insulate an unconditioned space?


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

F0ZZ said:


> I'm debating whether I should bother insulating the two car bays?


It probably depends on how much time you'll be spending in the garage. If it's just for parking & storage, no. If you think you'll be tinkering in there a good bit, then it might be worth considering.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

A few things to consider about insulating:

- Telsas generate a small amount of heat during charging, and _need_ to generate some warmth to charge the battery efficiently. If it's losing that heat too quickly, it won't charge as efficiently, which means higher electric usage.

- I've always been taught that most of the heat you lose from an insulated space is from the smallest possible gap. For instance if there is a door between the main garage and workshop and it's hollow, or has a space under it, you'll lose a _lot_ of the heat through there. Same goes for the garage doors, if you insulate the rest of the building, but air comes in around the garage door, you'll lose a lot of heat that way.

- Insulate only so that the cost of the insulating isn't so excessive that the energy savings will never be worth it. If it only costs a couple hundred to do the rest of the garage, and it will save you that much in electricity/heat in a year, go for it. If it's going to be thousands, you might never get that back. A good example is I insulated my garage doors so the sun beating on it in the evening wouldn't transfer a lot of heat to the garage. It only saved a tiny bit in A/C costs in the summer in the end, but it also only cost me $80. A nice side benefit is the garage isn't horrible to be in during the summer anymore.


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## Feathermerchant (Sep 17, 2018)

I would insulate it. For the car's sake and your sake. You'll be surprised how much warmer it will be. 
You have an insulated garage, right?


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## gary in NY (Dec 2, 2018)

Another way to look at is what if you change your mind on the usage of the space a year or two after you finish? Voice of experience here. I would probably do it if as said above it's not prohibitively expensive and time consuming. I hate going back to do something I could/should have done the first time around. It always seems to be more expensive in time and money to do it later.


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## mrau (Nov 22, 2018)

Insulate you’re garage ceiling if you can. Totally worth it. Garage will be a bit warmer in winter and lot cooler in the hot summer. That is good for both humans and Tesla’s.


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## F0ZZ (Jul 3, 2018)

Seems to be unanimous. I’ll take the advice and pick up the Batts and vapour barrier.


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