Leaderboard

Yes, they make “sealed” insulation, google “encapsulated insulation”. The ceiling, consider leaving it open and renting or buying a high volume paint sprayer and just painting it all a light color. I did this in my semi-finished office/gym in my basement and I’m happy with the results. It is a bit industrial looking, but that fits with the basic theme here, and it was waaay cheaper than any of the other options. I also have a fairly low ceiling and didn’t want to lose any more height to a dropped ceiling. Drywall was never an option, it would bury too much crap that might need to be accessed.

Gotta basically agree with googus . . . Stud (16" o/c), insulate *, and sheet rock the walls; add a short-drop grid ceiling (w/lightweight foam panels) for future easy access. *If it's in the budget, look into closed foam spray insulation for the walls; it does an excellent sealing job and really helps with sound isolation/exclusion.

R-30 drop ceiling

I did some more reading on JB weld and while it is magnetic, it's not conductive just as they say. My clean title came in the mail today. It's possible that it'll still get reported and someone's just slacking, or it slipped through the cracks. The insurance guy/people screwed up on some other stuff so I'm not too surprised they didn't report the salvage.