Separating stud wall in garage - do I need insulation?

[onionlikeapple]

Hi all,

Once again, budget reigns supreme here.

After a conversation in the general woodworking forum, I’ve decided I need a way to separate my gym and workshop. They currently both reside at other ends of my garage, but that’s not so great for dust inhalation.

The garage is already pretty cold, and I’m not that fussed about the stud wall maintaining/dissipating heat - I just put on a couple layers in the gym/workshop.

I’m mentioning this because I’m wondering if putting up a stud frame and attaching some plywood (with a makeshift door thrown in for good measure) would cause any issues with mould and the like? The frame would be sealed around the edges, and the door would have a stop in place to help prevent dust contamination.

Any thoughts on this? Anything cheaper I’m missing here? I’ve seen people use PVC curtains but I can’t really see how that blocks off the finer dust particles.

Thanks!

 

[fezman]

I’ve done this, didnt use any insulation. Not had any issues and its been in about 5 years now

 

[onionlikeapple]

I’ve done this, didnt use any insulation. Not had any issues and its been in about 5 years now

Oh awesome! If you don’t mind me asking - did you use any vapour barrier lining at all? And did you plywood both sides, or just the one?

 

[Sachakins]

I split my garage into 2 for same idea. Used basic CLS timber for stud work, plywood on both sides, with insulation between.
Not only heat but provides a level of sound insulation too. I used ply not plasterboard as easier to hang tools off on one side and dartboard etc on other side. There is an access door, solid pine and everything caulked around edge and draughtstrips around door.

The problem I have is more with lack of air movement. No windows on gym side, gets really stuffy. Same other side but need to improve dust collection so will be fitting a vent this year and a fan vent in gym area too.

 

[onionlikeapple]

I split my garage into 2 for same idea. Used basic CLS timber for stud work, plywood on both sides, with insulation between.
Not only heat but provides a level of sound insulation too. I used ply not plasterboard as easier to hang tools off on one side and dartboard etc on other side. There is an access door, solid pine and everything caulked around edge and draughtstrips around door.

The problem I have is more with lack of air movement. No windows on gym side, gets really stuffy. Same other side but need to improve dust collection so will be fitting a vent this year and a fan vent in gym area too.

Thanks for this. Will bear the gym stuffiness in mind as ours already gets stuffy in the summer. Not against putting a vent/window in that side either honestly.

Maybe a silly question, but did you have to get planning permission or notify insurance companies for this sort of thing?

 

[Sachakins]

It's done as a "temporary" fitment, so I can't define it as anything other than a garage. The front is still garage doors for that reason.

Garage conversions, where the door is replaced with wall and/or windows here require planning permission.

 

[onionlikeapple]

It's done as a "temporary" fitment, so I can't define it as anything other than a garage. The front is still garage doors for that reason.

Garage conversions, where the door is replaced with wall and/or windows here require planning permission.

That was what I was hoping for. Going to do some research to see if our home insurer would grumble at this but otherwise, think I’m good to go.

Might do it in parts - so this month put the stud work up and plasterboard up on one side, then tackle the rest next month.

Either way, thanks for your help

 

[fezman]

Temporary fitment for me as well. It is literally a CLS stud wall, 12mm MDF on both sides, an old internal door for access. Splits the garage 1/3rd utility room (freezer, tumbledrier, storage) - 2/3rds workshop. All the external walls on the workshop side are also clad with either 12mm mdf, or 18mm ply. It's a single skin brick garage. I haven't as yet (20+ years) had any moisture issues and it usually stays quite a few degrees above the coldest temp. Currently -6 outside, 0 degrees inside.

 

[onionlikeapple]

So I started looking into this today, and quickly realised I only have one light in the garage, which will need to be two.

I took off the fixture and had a poke around. Theres solid insulation in behind the plasterboard in the ceiling, meaning running an extra wire through it would be challenging.

I'm thinking of replacing the ceiling rose with batten lights, and just joining the lights with wire that lives on the surface of the plasterboard, rather than underneath it. Something similar to this picture:

The downside means one switch would turn on the lights in both the gym and the workshop, but thats not too much of a worry honestly.

Does this sound reasonable? Want to stay up to code as much as possible, but also not worried about having exposed wires, given its the garage.

 

[onionlikeapple]

Another q - this time regarding the terrible topic of sound proofing.

Whilst the neighbours haven't complained, my girlfriend mentioned how loud the table saw sounded outside the garage. Sounds obvious but the rest of the house has amazing sound isolation, so hadn't really given it too much thought before now.

Just went outside and measured it, and yeah, it's not great. Hovering between 65-70db without any wood being cut.

After some googling, and not finding a whole lot of useful information, I'm thinking about slapping some Rockwool slabs on the back of the garage door. It's already all sealed up with weather strips. Does this sound effective enough? Building a fake wall behind the door isn't really doable given the limited space.

I recognise I won't 100% drown out the noise, but just want to make it a bit more sociable.

 

[Fitzroy]

Sound insulation is about mass and air paths. Rockwool better than glass wool as it’s denser. If you have open air paths, gaps, this will allow sound out no matter the Rockwool, especially the higher frequencies. Try draft/gap sealing first then go for the Rockwool.

 

[onionlikeapple]

Sound insulation is about mass and air paths. Rockwool better than glass wool as it’s denser. If you have open air paths, gaps, this will allow sound out no matter the Rockwool, especially the higher frequencies. Try draft/gap sealing first then go for the Rockwool.

I'm pretty sure I have all the gaps covered with weather seals but I will check this. I did look into insulated garage doors but none of the manufacturers seemed to want to back up their very generic sound isolation claims when pressed...

 

[mg123]

So I started looking into this today, and quickly realised I only have one light in the garage, which will need to be two.

I took off the fixture and had a poke around. Theres solid insulation in behind the plasterboard in the ceiling, meaning running an extra wire through it would be challenging.

I'm thinking of replacing the ceiling rose with batten lights, and just joining the lights with wire that lives on the surface of the plasterboard, rather than underneath it. Something similar to this picture:

View attachment 195852

The downside means one switch would turn on the lights in both the gym and the workshop, but thats not too much of a worry honestly.

Does this sound reasonable? Want to stay up to code as much as possible, but also not worried about having exposed wires, given its the garage.

I have similar lighting in my garage, I didn't wire into the lighting ring, I just ran mine from a separate plug socket and feed this into a twin light switch. This has given 2 benefits, I have 4 lights but can independently switch only 2 on at a time, and it doesn't require building regs as its not interrupting the ring. You could do similar with the workshop and gym being independently switched.
My cabling is exposed on the ceiling between the lights themselves, but its neatly clipped and I'm not too precious about the aesthetics.