[dbyers]

Hi experts, first post.

living in canada, I have a new laundry room built into the one corner of a new garage.

- all 2x6 construction
- garage is insulated
- the new laundry room was built into the garage, right off the main house, and is around 14' long x 7' deep
- the laundry room is at the back corner of the garage

I need to setup my washer and wash tub on the exterior wall that's on the inside of the garage.

To try to keep things clean, I have the typical washer box that distributes the connections to the hot/cold/stand pipe for the drain.

I also extended my basement underneath this new room, so I'll be running the pipes and drain from there.

My main concern, if I throw my lines/drain/venting in that exterior wall, and completely fill the stud cavities holding the pipe with that canned spray foam from home depot, will that be enough to keep these pipes from a risk of freezing? Keeping the air from moving around these lines seems to be the goal here.

I'm trying to avoid a double wall on the inside to house these pipes due to space limitations.

If I had to build out the wall, I do have some 1x4's that I can rip and attach to the face of the studs, that would give me a bit more room to have the lines moved away from the outside of the wall... opinions?

That exterior wall is sheathed with 7/16... would I gain anything from an inch of foam board as well?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Dan

[speedball1]

Hi Dan,
A easier way to insulate your pipes would be with Armoflex,( see image) a black pipe covering made of spongy rubber. Will the laundry room receive any heat at all? Regards, tom

[dbyers]

Hey there, thanks for the quick response! Interesting idea.

Yes, the laundry room will definitely be heated... we're basically adding it on as extra living space and locating the washer dryer and washtub out there. The extended basement underneath (full 8' wall) will be heated as well.

So you think the armoflex would be enough? I just had an AC installed this summer and it had similarly looking black foam insulation that wrapped entirely around the one pipe... wonder if that's similar to what you're suggesting... I'll have to take a look :)

[speedball1]

just had an AC installed this summer and it had similarly looking black foam insulation that wrapped entirely around the one pipe... wonder if that's similar to what you're suggesting... I'll have to take a look

Don't bother looking, that's the stuff. If the room will be heated along with the basement addition you oughta be OK. Those winters up in Canada can be wicked, I moved to Florida from Wisconsin just to get away from them. Good luck and thanks for rating my reply, Tom

[Milo Dolezal]

You say you have 2x6 walls. I assume the walls are filled with R-19 insulation. You have shear wall and either plaster or siding on the outside. You are not saying how cold it gets in winter - but I assume very cold.

I would do this: remove existing insulation, go to Home Depot and buy StyroFoam insulation. It comes in 4'x8' sheets and in various thicknesses. Get the one that is 3/4" thick. Cut 14" wide strips to fit exactly between the studs. Install them against the exterior siding/stucco, all 8' up and down, in areas where you will run your pipes. Drill holes for pipes, closer to the interior of the house, about 1" away from the edge.Install new plumbing, install 7/8" ArmoFlex pipe insulation as suggested by Tom. Put nail-plates on studs. Reinstall R-19 existing wall insulation. You should be fine.

[dbyers]

Hey milo,

just stud walls right now -- this is brand new construction. All I have done is sheathed the outside of the walls (the walls that are in the garage) with 7/16" aspenite.

it gets real cold normally, up to -30, but since the garage is insulated i'm hoping that it won't drop too far below zero even on the cold days (heat from the car engines, insulated garage doors, etc). again, the wall that i'm running the lines through is on the inside of the garage...

that's a great idea about the rigid insulation -- i'll also put some accoustical along all the edges to make sure it's a good seal.

i'll be running an 1.5" vent up through the top plate into the attic and 2" for the drains... do I need to worry about wrapping those at all? I can't see the vent being a problem... but the stand pipe, not sure.

if I'm putting runs of abs in the wall, will that compress the batt insulation too much to cause a problem? I'm guessing you're saying I don't need to build out the wall with an extra thickness of the 1x4?

thanks in advance.
Dan

[Milo Dolezal]

Not a bad idea at all:You could definitely build it up with 1x4s. This is especially true if you add that rigid styrofoam insulation. (With extra styrofoam, you will be "stealing" space from the true thickness of the wall that is actually designed to be occupied by R-19 insulation only ). What insulates your walls is air in combination with insulation. Let's say, if you'd pack insulation too thick into the wall, it would not insulate as well as if you would put it in loosely.

Don't worry about vents. They carry air only. I would not worry about compression of insulation caused by presence of 1 1/2" pipe either. Just keep the pipe on top of insulation as much towards the front as possible.

[dbyers]

Awesome gents, I'm feeling much better about this now. Thanks for the great and quick help!