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My office is an add on attached to our garage. It predates our place, and was unpermitted, so we try to minimize what we do to it in case some day we get forced to remove it.
It's a nice space, but has zero insulation. That particularly means it gets blazing hot in the day because it has no attic nor insulation between the office ceiling and the shingled roof above it. I have a fan blowing in from a window, but unless I turn the mini split AC on, when it's high 70s outside it'll get above 90°F in there.
This is annoying but bearable, but exacerbates issues with my frag tank. When it gets that hot I have to use the AC or evaporative cooling can't keep up.
I finally decided to try and fix this. I bought a thermal camera from AliExpress and did a bunch of AI backed research on how to fix it. Things I've found, starting with images.
It's 73°F and sunny right now, and the ceiling is at 116°F! My assumption is it'll get worse as the day goes on (I haven't been tracking).
I installed 2in thick foam insulation with a foil lining pointed to the room. The plan is to lock that in place with some spray foam as needed, and then tape over the edges with foil tape to create a vapor barrier. The barrier being inside versus against the ceiling because there's no attic.
I'm leaving one section uncovered with insulation for now so I can see how big a temperature difference there continues to be, but the room is way cooler than it would normally be. Still not cool, but not 90s. Insulation is around 85°F at the surface, though I'm not sure the camera can get a good reading on foil.
If anyone wants to borrow a camera that attaches to a phone with USB-C let me know. I can loan it out. My eventual goal is assess my entire house that way, and try and find ways to hold heat into my tank.
It's a nice space, but has zero insulation. That particularly means it gets blazing hot in the day because it has no attic nor insulation between the office ceiling and the shingled roof above it. I have a fan blowing in from a window, but unless I turn the mini split AC on, when it's high 70s outside it'll get above 90°F in there.
This is annoying but bearable, but exacerbates issues with my frag tank. When it gets that hot I have to use the AC or evaporative cooling can't keep up.
I finally decided to try and fix this. I bought a thermal camera from AliExpress and did a bunch of AI backed research on how to fix it. Things I've found, starting with images.
It's 73°F and sunny right now, and the ceiling is at 116°F! My assumption is it'll get worse as the day goes on (I haven't been tracking).
I installed 2in thick foam insulation with a foil lining pointed to the room. The plan is to lock that in place with some spray foam as needed, and then tape over the edges with foil tape to create a vapor barrier. The barrier being inside versus against the ceiling because there's no attic.
I'm leaving one section uncovered with insulation for now so I can see how big a temperature difference there continues to be, but the room is way cooler than it would normally be. Still not cool, but not 90s. Insulation is around 85°F at the surface, though I'm not sure the camera can get a good reading on foil.
If anyone wants to borrow a camera that attaches to a phone with USB-C let me know. I can loan it out. My eventual goal is assess my entire house that way, and try and find ways to hold heat into my tank.
