Emily writes from Ore City, Texas: "We just bought our first home and the garage was semi converted so we decided to convert it all the way. We have 2 walls of brick which we will frame over and add insulation, and one framed wood that has paper covered insulation, and then the big wall where we are going to take down the garage door and put up a wall and brick the outside to match the rest of the house.

"My questions are what kind of insulation do we need to use, what kind of moisture barrier do we need to use, and in the attic what kind of insulation do we need to use above the room we are converting? We are going to connect the central heat/air conditioning into that room. There is currently no insulation over that room but there is blown in insulation everywhere else, we were going to add extra blown in insulation if we need to do the same over that room. We are very energy efficient and we want that room to be energy efficient as well."

Answer: If you will be using 2x6 wall studs you can insulate with R-19 or even R 21. The typical wall is 2x4. In this case you can use R-13 or R-15. The higher the R-value, the more insulating power the insulation has. For the attic we recommend a thicker fiberglass insulation product, either batt or blown-in type. Our blown-in product is typically available through contractors. Batt insulations are retail products.

For attics you can insulate using 12" R-38 for example. If the attic above the room has proper ventilation you may not need a vapor retarder, on the attic insulation. The standard residential vapor retarder is the Kraft facing on our insulation products marked FACED.