? about insulation

[Greg Wieskamp]

I have mentioned before that I have a basement under my garage. The walls are poured concrete, the floor is also concrete. The garage itself also has a concrete floor, and it gets very cold. Would it do any good to glue Styrofoam insulation to the ceiling of the basement, to help keep the garage floor warmer? The garage is heated. If so, what type of glue works best for adhering Styrofoam, the extruded pink stuff, to concrete?

Thanks Greg

[Bill Dufour]

Climate?
Bill D

[Kev Williams]

Just a suggestion,
when I changed my 22x22-ish-foot garage into a working area, I covered the floor with Harbor Freight's interlocking padded floor pads:
488189
They've gone up in price since I got mine, but still, over 8 square feet for $10 is a bargain, and IMO you can't find a better or cheaper cement floor upgrade!

[Lee Schierer]

If so, what type of glue works best for adhering Styrofoam, the extruded pink stuff, to concrete?

Thanks Greg

When I added insulation to the ceiling of my garage (floor of my workshop) I used the extruded green foam panels from Lowes. Since I was force fitting the foam between floor joists that weren't evenly spaced I started accumulating lots of narrow and short pieces. I experimented with some polyurethane wood glue and if I applied it sparingly, I didn't get much foaming outside of the joint. I would clamp the panels together with my wood clamps and by the next morning I had larger pieces to work with. In the end I had very little scrap. The glues is stronger than the foam itself and I didn't have a single joint failure.

[Bill Dufour]

Is the shop heated hotter then the garage? Ground temperature?
Bill D

[Greg Wieskamp]

The garage is my shop. The basement is not heated. The garage is. It is a walkout basement to the east, 8' of dirt on the west. Sloping on both sides.

[Tom M King]

Dabs of Powergrab will hold it. Just take the plastic film off if there is any on the glue side.

[Bill Dufour]

Consider spray foam insulation under the hanging floor. You could install radiant heat tube under or on top of the hanging floor then insulation below. It used to be it was cheaper to install foam insulation panels and fill gaps with spray foam in a can.
I would seriously consider rockwool insulation with chicken wire to hold it up. It is fire proof, does not hold water so no real mold issues.
Be very carefull drilling attachment holes into the slab. there may be critical steel in it.
Bill D

[Brian Elfert]

Loctite makes a special glue just for foam. That is what I used recently with pink foam for a project.

My father has a shop under the garage. The walls and ceiling are insulated and he has an electric heater. I think the power company sends him a thank you card for the electricity it takes if he heats the space for a few days in the winter. It costs quite a bit just to heat it for a day.

[Doug Garson]

No direct experience here but my gut says trying to insulate the concrete floor in the basement won't be effective unless you keep the shop warm 24/7. If you let the shop cool off it will take a lot of energy to heat up the concrete until it is warm to the touch as a concrete floor is a big heat sink and until then it will suck the heat out of the shop. If you have the headroom, consider adding a subfloor with insulation or just add insulating mats as others have suggested.