I am adding on to my house (hopefully, if I get all the paperwork done)this summer. Because I am on septic/well systems, I am limited to the amount of the lot I can build on. The perfect solution, for me, is to add a garage/workshop, with a master suite over top. The rest of the house gets little more space. My concern is keeping a warm second floor bedroom in this scenario. I want to pour a concrete floor in the garage, with a small crawl space area for water pumps, tanks, etc. Someone told me that the floor of the garage should not be poured the first year, but allowed to 'settle' after construction, then poured a year later. With the floor not being sealed, this will cause lots of cold air into the bedroom, unless it is well vapour barriered. Now the workshop will be cold. Eventuality, when the floor is poured, will I not end up with a double vapour barrier? This is confusing.
Answer:
Once you build the garage you should have no trouble doing the floor and as far as the crawl space is concerned, there need be no problem if you properly re-enforce your pour. To keep the bedroom warm, you may have to modify your plans a bit. About the only system that appears to alleviate this sort of situation is to lower the garage ceiling creating a crawl space. The walls and floor of this crawl space are heavily insulated and the area heated. This makes the space above comparable to the rest of the house as regards heat.
