How to Install Fiberglass Insulation in a Non-Drywalled Ceiling

How Strapping Plays an Important Role in Insulating a Non-Drywalled Ceiling

By Mark J. Donovan

Question: Mark, I want to install fiberglass insulation in my garage including in the garage ceiling area. Eventually I want to drywall the garage, but that is for a later date. For now, I just want to have a warmer garage during the winter months. My question to you is whether or not it is possible to install fiberglass insulation in a non-drywalled ceiling, or do I have no choice but to first hang drywall on the garage ceiling joists before installing the insulation?

Answer: C.D., Insulating your garage is a great idea. I insulated and drywalled my garage a couple of years after I built the garage addition.

Even though I do not heat the garage, the garage can be as much as 30o (F) warmer than the outside during the months of January and February.

In regards to answering your question on how to install fiberglass insulation in a non-drywalled ceiling it’s pretty simple. Typically 1”x3” strapping or furring strips are attached perpendicular to the ceiling joists for fastening the drywall to. The strapping is typically spaced on 16 inch centers. In addition and how it relates to you, the strapping also helps to hold the fiberglass insulation in place. The fiberglass insulation is installed in between the ceiling joists and is held up by the strapping.

If strapping has yet to be attached to your garage ceiling joists it is both a curse and a blessing for you. The curse is that you have to install the strapping before installing the insulation, or at least some of it. The blessing is that you can install it in a way that helps make the fiberglass insulation installation go more easily.

As I stated earlier, typically strapping is spaced on 16 inch centers. This tight spacing makes it difficult for passing the fiberglass insulation batts up through the strapping and installing them in place in between the ceiling joists.

To help make the installation of the fiberglass insulation into the non-drywalled ceiling easier, skip every other row when installing the strapping, so that there’s a 32 inch gap between strapping rows.

This will give you sufficient room to more easily pass through and install the fiberglass insulation in the non-drywalled ceiling. After installing the insulation, you can then go back and nail the additional strapping up to achieve the 16 inch on center spacing.

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