Insulate the Garage a For Home Gym? (Yes! Here’s Why)
When you’re building out your garage gym, not all projects are as fun as buying and assembling a new squat rack. Things like properly insulating your garage gym probably aren’t going to get anyone fired up to do.
However, when that first cold winter morning hits and you walk out to your garage gym for Squat Day, you’ll be thankful that you took the time to make sure your garage was properly insulated.
Should You Insulate Your Garage Gym?
I’m assuming you’ve already gathered my answer to the question, “Should I Insulate My Garage Gym”.
It’s yes.
There are numerous reasons you should insulate your garage gym.
It’s going to help protect you from both hot summer days and those cold winter mornings. They are going to make any other heating or cooling solutions you have way more effective. Insulation is also going to save you a ton of money over the long haul.
Plus, unlike installing a new pull-up bar, adding insulation is something that’s not just going to help the garage gym, but anyone else who parks their car in the garage or maybe uses that space for other projects. It’s a total win-win.
In this article, I will explain all the benefits you can gain from insulating your garage gym as well as a couple of easy (and very effective) insulation solutions that you could potentially get done today!
Benefits of Insulating a Garage Gym
1. Keep Your Garage Gym Warm
There comes a point in the winter when almost all of us are looking for ways to heat our garage gym. Sure, you can tough it out for a while, but lifting with an ice-cold barbell when you can see your breath is just not something to look forward to.
A fully insulated garage can raise the temperature of the garage by 10 to 20 degrees. That’s a huge difference!
Then if you combine the insulation with a garage heater, it’s going to increase the effectiveness dramatically because you’re not going to be immediately losing that new heat to the outdoors.
2. A Cooler Summer Home Gym
One of the best aspects of insulation is that it’s ALWAYS working. Passively. Without any extra time, effort or cost once you have it installed.
Depending on where you live, you might be installing insulation to help ward off the cold in December and January. However, that insulation is going to work just as hard for you in July and August to keep out that summer heat.
Or vice versa, if you live where it’s warmer and you’re looking into insulation from the heat, it’s still going to work for you when it does get cold even if it’s not for long.
The point is, that insulation is always working once you install it.
3. Lowers Your Heating and Cooling Bills
Because insulation is always working to help you retain your heat or AC, it’s making those systems have to work less. When they work less they cost you less.
This is an absolute no-brainer if you have HVAC running into your garage. If your HVAC actively pumps hot or cold air into your garage and it’s not insulated, you are throwing money out of your garage.
For most of us though, this loss of heat is more passive. Heat is pumped into the interior of the house. This heat seeps into the garage which, along with being a wind barrier to the outside helps keep your garage gym warmer.
Insulation will still help you retain that heat and keep it inside longer. It will also dramatically help increase the efficiency of your garage gym heating options like a space heater.
4. A Quieter Garage Gym
Unless you live by yourself, trying to reduce the amount of noise coming from our garage gyms is something all of us have probably done at some point.
Let’s face it, garage gyms are LOUD. Clanging iron, dropped bumper plates and Metallica blaring from a blue-tooth speaker are all not helpful for small napping humans or a significant other trying to watch TV in the house.
In addition to making your home gym a more comfortable temperature and saving you money, it can also help make your gym quieter.
This is especially true if your interior walls, the ones between your garage and the other rooms in your home, are not insulated.
Insulation works as a sound barrier that can help deaden some of the sound from your sets of Power Cleans. How cool is that?
5. Less Extreme Temperatures for Your Car
If you still park your car inside your garage gym, insulation will help protect your car from extreme temperatures.
There are lots of systems in your car that can be negatively affected by your car sitting in very cold temperatures. This includes everything from the battery to tire pressure to many of the fluids that help your car run.
Insulation can passively and with zero effort after installation help curb maintenance repair costs for your vehicle. Have you started pricing this stuff yet?
6. Increased Home Value
More comfortable temperatures not only lead to a better home gym experience as well as opening other opportunities to utilize your garage year-round – but it also can increase your home value.
Home buyers will appreciate the opportunities to use the garage as a living space for their own garage gym, a woodworking shop or any number of other uses. It’s also pretty inviting to be able to pull your car into a warm space instead of having to rush out of the car through a cold garage into the house.
A warmer garage (and remember – a cooler one in the summer!) is definitely an added selling point for your home.
Tips for Insulating Your Garage Gym
I am not an insulation installation expert. Far from it. If you need insulation for your exterior walls or garage ceiling then I would recommend hiring a pro to come out and do that for you.
With that being said, there is one area of your garage that can not only give you a huge ROI, but it’s one that you can DIY yourself.
Insulate Your Garage Door
If you’re now convinced that you need to up your insulation game for your home gym, I would recommend starting with an insulated garage door first for two reasons.
First, in most garages, the garage door is where most heat is lost from the garage. This is especially true for an attached garage. With an attached garage two of your walls are usually adjacent to the interior of the house which will be warmer than the garage itself.
Second, for most of us, the garage door will be the easiest spot to upgrade the insulation ourselves.
Taking drywall off and back on to add insulation to an exterior wall is not exactly a light job and something you end up wanting to hire out for.
But, you can purchase Garage Door Insulation Kits at stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot or even online at Amazon. These kits are made of panels that more or less snap onto your garage door and can be installed in a couple of hours.
Pay Attention to R-Value
What is R-value and why should you care?
R-value tells you how well insulation stops the transfer of heat going through it. Walls are generally somewhere between R-19 and R-30. Roofs can be anywhere from R-30 to R-60. The higher the number the better.
When you look at the garage door insulation kits I just mentioned, you’re likely to see an R-value of around 5 to 10.
Pay Attention to Weight
This also pertains to garage door insulation kits. When comparing products, take into account how much each weighs. I’ve heard and seen people that add one of these kits to their garage doors and their garage door then struggles to be lifted.
I can’t tell you what weight may or may not be too heavy for your garage door. But, how much each kit weighs should be a factor in which one you end up choosing.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking to heat your garage gym in the winter or cool it during the summer, the first place I would start is insulating your garage.
And the first thing I would insulate is your garage door. It’s relatively cheap (most likely less than $200) and you can complete the whole project in one afternoon, maybe even in as little as an hour.
Insulation goes to work for you immediately and works 24/7 to help regulate the temperature in your home gym, make it quieter and help save you money.
The more appropriate question might be, why shouldn’t you insulate your garage gym?
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