Hey Mark:

My wife and I recently had a home built for us in November of 2008.  We have noticed that our master bedroom is very cold in the winter and extremely hot in the summer even with the air conditioning turned down to 70 degrees.  The bedroom is right above the garage.  I guess my main question is…. Is it code for home builders to add insulation above the garage???  (The rest of the home is perfectly fine).  Or……Is this normal for rooms above the garage if the builders do not have to insulate the garage by code??

Thanks,

Ben

Ben,

I am not a code inspector, so I can’t directly answer your questions in regards to “code”.  However, there should be insulation over the garage in this instance. One way to tell if it is there, would be to remove a small portion of the drywall ceiling of the garage and actually look. (Make a nice, neat, square cut with a utility knife so you can replace the piece later.) Another more non-invasive method would be to have someone with a “thermal infra red” camera, examine the garage ceiling to look for temperature differences that would imply a lack of, or missing sections of, insulation.

All that being said, the problem may not have anything to do with insulation at all. If the bedroom door is closed, and you have the symptoms you described, but with the door open you don’t, there could be another cause. Typically there will be a small gap under the bedroom door. This gap actually allows air to exit the room as the new conditioned air enters it. Often times this gap is too small, or blocked by carpeting. If the air is restricted from leaving the room, then the new conditioned air has no place to go. You effectively shut the vent off.  So if there is no problem when your bedroom door is open, then I would suggest adding a return air vent either in the room, over the door, or at some other location based on the recommendations of your trusted HVAC technician.

I hope that helps!

Mark

Mark Nahrgang is the owner of Kingdom Inspection Network Group – St. Louis and is a professional NACHI certified building inspector in the St. Louis metro area. Mark performs home inspections as well as commercial inspections throughout St. Louis and St. Charles County. If you are looking for a thorough and qualified St. Louis area home inspector, use the contact information on this site to contact Mark regarding available services.

Filed under: Heating and Air Conditionining, Insulation