Garage Door Insulation

[GpaVader]

Greetings all! I so miss my basement, but I am making due using the garage for my hobby. I build plastic scale models and I do a fair amount of painting so I need to plan to address the humidity and moderate the temperature in the garage. Already looking into a split AC unit but it was also recommended that the garage door be insulated. I plan to do this myself, but the question I have is has anyone else done this and does it make that much of difference. The AC salesmen I talked to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20*. Living in MN, I know just having your car in the garage during the winter can have that much affect. Just trying to do some fact checking and look for product recommendations.

[retiredguy123]

If you install an AC unit, you should definitely insulate the garage door and the ceiling above the garage. If you don't install an AC unit, insulating the garage door or the ceiling will not help much, if any, to cool it down. There is no way that your garage will be 20 degrees cooler with just garage door insulation. Insulation only slows down heat transfer, it doesn't prevent it, unless you are conditioning the space with an air conditioner. That is why the builder doesn't insulate unconditioned spaces in the first place.

[NoMo50]

It depends on the direction your garage door faces. A west or south/southwest exposure will generate a lot of heat in the summer. My garage door faces north, and an insulation tech talked me out of insulating the doors. He said the difference would be negligible. I did, however, have insulation added above my garage and lanai.

[JoelJohnson]

I saw some garage door insulation videos on YouTube. I have West facing door, so it DOES get hot. How much it will is somewhat debatable, but I might still do it, it is easy.

[GpaVader]

My garage door faces East, So I get the morning sun.

Another interesting point is the Attic space above the garage. We use it for a lot of seasonal storage. Mostly candles, just kidding...:) but would like to at least help that space out so wondering on pros and cons of not insulating above the garage.

The other part is that we are looking at cooling the garage and controlling the humidity. Cold air falls so does insulating the attic from the garage really make that much difference?

[MrFlorida]

My metal garage door faces south, during the summer it's like a hot plate, you can feel the heat 3 feet off the door. Insulate the door with Styrofoam sheets and it will help lower the temp a few degrees.

[snbrafford]

Greetings all! I so miss my basement, but I am making due using the garage for my hobby. I build plastic scale models and I do a fair amount of painting so I need to plan to address the humidity and moderate the temperature in the garage. Already looking into a split AC unit but it was also recommended that the garage door be insulated. I plan to do this myself, but the question I have is has anyone else done this and does it make that much of difference. The AC salesmen I talked to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20*. Living in MN, I know just having your car in the garage during the winter can have that much affect. Just trying to do some fact checking and look for product recommendations.

I can't speak to the garage door insulation. A previous owner to my house installed a powered ceiling fan (about a foot square) in the garage ceiling that can be turned on/off. In addition, there were two vents placed at the bottom of the garage door so you can turn the fan on and it pulls air in though the door vents and vents it into the attic area. I've not used much as I don't work in the garage much but thought I would include this to give an idea.

[JMintzer]

I can't speak to the garage door insulation. A previous owner to my house installed a powered ceiling fan (about a foot square) in the garage ceiling that can be turned on/off. In addition, there were two vents placed at the bottom of the garage door so you can turn the fan on and it pulls air in though the door vents and vents it into the attic area. I've not used much as I don't work in the garage much but thought I would include this to give an idea.

I installed a wall mounted, oscillating fan in my garage. It's on a time, set to run for 2 hours every afternoon, from 4:00-6:00pm...

It definitely cools the garage...

[DAVES]

Greetings all! I so miss my basement, but I am making due using the garage for my hobby. I build plastic scale models and I do a fair amount of painting so I need to plan to address the humidity and moderate the temperature in the garage. Already looking into a split AC unit but it was also recommended that the garage door be insulated. I plan to do this myself, but the question I have is has anyone else done this and does it make that much of difference. The AC salesmen I talked to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20*. Living in MN, I know just having your car in the garage during the winter can have that much affect. Just trying to do some fact checking and look for product recommendations.

"The AC salesman I spoke to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20^." It is a matter of BTUs measure of HEAT. There is also humidity. Too big an AC will make the area like a cave-cold and damp.

Your application PAINTING adds another issue apparently not mentioned by the, "salesman." If, you will be spraying solvent based paints it is highly flammable-explosive. No one reads instructions. It says flammable, use in well ventilated area.

Personal story. I used to regularly walk past a guy, on my way home from work who purchased a gorgeous 1960's Jaguar. He showed me all by himself, he put up one of those opened gas heaters you used to see in stores. He apparently was spraying paint
in there. He blew up his garage. The flames destroyed his gorgeous car and he was found DEAD under the car by the fire dept.

[GpaVader]

"The AC salesman I spoke to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20^." It is a matter of BTUs measure of HEAT. There is also humidity. Too big an AC will make the area like a cave-cold and damp.

Your application PAINTING adds another issue apparently not mentioned by the, "salesman." If, you will be spraying solvent based paints it is highly flammable-explosive. No one reads instructions. It says flammable, use in well ventilated area.

Personal story. I used to regularly walk past a guy, on my way home from work who purchased a gorgeous 1960's Jaguar. He showed me all by himself, he put up one of those opened gas heaters you used to see in stores. He apparently was spraying paint
in there. He blew up his garage. The flames destroyed his gorgeous car and he was found DEAD under the car by the fire dept.

Well aware of the need to use in a well ventilated area. I have gotten away from using solvent based paints and now using acrylics. It's been tough because I know how enamels and lacquers behave after using them for over 40 years, so the old dog is trying to learn new tricks. It's happening but not at a record pace by any stretch....

[CappyRam]

I picked up about 15 degrees. I did the door and the crawl space above the ceiling.

[Black Beauty]

Ours faces north. We did insulate and marginal results..we're from Detroit Lakes!

[pjackson8]

We insulated our garage door and noticed a big difference! our gatage doesn’t get nearly as hot as it used to during the hot summer days.

[MandoMan]

I can't speak to the garage door insulation. A previous owner to my house installed a powered ceiling fan (about a foot square) in the garage ceiling that can be turned on/off. In addition, there were two vents placed at the bottom of the garage door so you can turn the fan on and it pulls air in though the door vents and vents it into the attic area. I've not used much as I don't work in the garage much but thought I would include this to give an idea.

I had a garage-to-attic ceiling fan professionally installed last summer. This cost around $800–much cheaper than an AC system. My garage door faces East, though I use a screen door all summer. However, I’ve only used the fan a few times. What was I thinking? If I park my car in the garage after driving it in the sunshine, it emits a lot of heat, and that’s when the fan could help most. But unless I’m working in the garage, why bother? Even when the sun is shining on the screen rather than the steel door, it heats up the garage a lot. But the fan is only going to pull in hot, humid air from outside. Also, the vents in the door installed by the man who installed the fan are near ground level, so the air pulled in has just flowed over a very hot concrete driveway and may be even hotter than the air eight feet off the ground. If the temperature outside is 90° and much hotter near the driveway, sucking it into my garage is not going to make it much more pleasant to work there. It’s still too hot. A better idea might be to leave my car outside for the day once I’ve had it out and it is hot. Using the screen door on the garage, the shady garage will usually feel cooler than being in the direct sun, even if it is still 90°. The previous owner of my house left a desk fan attached upside down to the ceiling aimed at the workbench, and that seems to help a lot more than than sucking air into the attic. The ceiling fan might work better in the evening, when the temperature drops, as it could gradually cool everything in the garage by twenty degrees. But the sun will heat up the garage the next morning, or parking a hat car in the garage will heat it up in a few minutes.

[bobeaston]

I installed reflective foam core garage door insulation and am VERY SATISFIED with the results. (Stuff I used is here: Double Garage Door Kit – US Energy Products (https://www.usenergyproducts.com/collections/double-garage-door-kit))

My garage doors (3 car garage) are chocolate brown and face east. They catch all of the morning sun, and until I installed insulation radiated inward like pizza ovens. I took careful temperature measurements for several hot summer days before installing and several more hot summer days after installing the insulation.

Temperatures of the inside surfaces of the doors lowered dramatically, easily the 20 degrees mentioned in other posts, and on a few days up to 50 degrees different. HOWEVER, surface temperature of the doors isn't what you're living with when working in the garage. It's the air temperature that's important. So...

Before installing, the air temperature inside the garage would become 7 to 10 degrees above outside air temperature. Afterwards, inside air temperature remained 4 to 6 degrees below outside air temperature. In short, the insulation made noticeable reduction in the pizza oven radiant effect, not 20 degrees, but certainly cooler than the surrounding outside air temperature.

If you're also going to use a mini-split, the insulation will save it some work.

[DaleDivine]

Greetings all! I so miss my basement, but I am making due using the garage for my hobby. I build plastic scale models and I do a fair amount of painting so I need to plan to address the humidity and moderate the temperature in the garage. Already looking into a split AC unit but it was also recommended that the garage door be insulated. I plan to do this myself, but the question I have is has anyone else done this and does it make that much of difference. The AC salesmen I talked to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20*. Living in MN, I know just having your car in the garage during the winter can have that much affect. Just trying to do some fact checking and look for product recommendations.

I bought and installed myself styrofoam from White Aluminum on 441. comes in 8 and 12 foot sections. They will cut it in half for you. Don't remember how many sheets or how much.
:coolsmiley:

[crash]

If you install an AC unit, you should definitely insulate the garage door and the ceiling above the garage. If you don't install an AC unit, insulating the garage door or the ceiling will not help much, if any, to cool it down. There is no way that your garage will be 20 degrees cooler with just garage door insulation. Insulation only slows down heat transfer, it doesn't prevent it, unless you are conditioning the space with an air conditioner. That is why the builder doesn't insulate unconditioned spaces in the first place.
I had the garage ceiling insulated and installed a radiant heat barrier when I insulated the door it helped but not 20 degrees. The house I live in now the former owner went further with insulating the entire garage and installing a split unit can now get what ever temperature you want but fairly comfortable without even turning on the split unit.

[bobeaston]

I had a garage-to-attic ceiling fan professionally installed last summer. This cost around $800–much cheaper than an AC system. My garage door faces East, though I use a screen door all summer. However, I’ve only used the fan a few times. What was I thinking? If I park my car in the garage after driving it in the sunshine, it emits a lot of heat, and that’s when the fan could help most. But unless I’m working in the garage, why bother? Even when the sun is shining on the screen rather than the steel door, it heats up the garage a lot. But the fan is only going to pull in hot, humid air from outside. Also, the vents in the door installed by the man who installed the fan are near ground level, so the air pulled in has just flowed over a very hot concrete driveway and may be even hotter than the air eight feet off the ground. If the temperature outside is 90° and much hotter near the driveway, sucking it into my garage is not going to make it much more pleasant to work there. It’s still too hot. A better idea might be to leave my car outside for the day once I’ve had it out and it is hot. Using the screen door on the garage, the shady garage will usually feel cooler than being in the direct sun, even if it is still 90°. The previous owner of my house left a desk fan attached upside down to the ceiling aimed at the workbench, and that seems to help a lot more than than sucking air into the attic. The ceiling fan might work better in the evening, when the temperature drops, as it could gradually cool everything in the garage by twenty degrees. But the sun will heat up the garage the next morning, or parking a hat car in the garage will heat it up in a few minutes.

I also had a similar fan installed and have not used it much. Mine is a 3-car garage with a window. I chose not to have the doors pierced with vents since I can open the window instead. If one is working near the window, the airflow produced by the fan is helpful, but other than that, I don't think it was worth the money.

Add to that, the thought of using it in the evening when temperatures are cooler is only moderately helpful, because by that time of day humidity is back near 100% and all the fan is doing is pulling in moisture. Again, not worth the money.

OTOH, screens on the garage doors are very well worth the money. They afford good airflow through the garage, keep the insects out, and slow down the gators.

[lseymour66]

Did it 15 yrs ago. Makes a big difference especially if your door faces west!!

[gary.p.wolschlager@gmail.]

Greetings all! I so miss my basement, but I am making due using the garage for my hobby. I build plastic scale models and I do a fair amount of painting so I need to plan to address the humidity and moderate the temperature in the garage. Already looking into a split AC unit but it was also recommended that the garage door be insulated. I plan to do this myself, but the question I have is has anyone else done this and does it make that much of difference. The AC salesmen I talked to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20*. Living in MN, I know just having your car in the garage during the winter can have that much affect. Just trying to do some fact checking and look for product recommendations.
I had my garage door insulated about 4 years ago with 1.5 " Styrofoam , the kit the insulation company used had extra insulation thus I was able to insulate the wall above the garage door as well , Plus the installers had extra pieces they gave me so I insulated the outer wall around the door - yes it lowered the temperature in the garage by about 18 degrees - very pleased I insulated the door and surrounding wall - which made being in the garage bearable. I would have done it all myself but I had an additional 4" blown in the attic plus radiant barrier added (thus hired out the job a little bit more than I can handle). Living in a patio villa The Villages do not insulate above the lanai or garage - I had both of these areas blown in an insulated as well (just in case I enclose the lanai and the garage just in case I add a split AC unit). Attic temperature was lowered by about 28 degrees when I checked. I noticed my AC did not run constantly. I don't know if it is cost effective proposition - cost about $2500 , saved $3-5 a month in electric bill , and suspect my AC unit will last longer (PS I am probably the only Patio Villa owner with their original AC unit in the neighborhood - still in use after 19 years).

[writerslife]

When I purchased my home here in The Villages five years ago, I replaced all windows with low-e Argon units, added radiant barrier in the attic as well as lanai and garage areas and also had the technician insulate my garage door. And yes, my house faces South. I can tell you that there was a dramatic difference when that garage door was insulated. In fact, I had considered having a new Clopay door with closed-cell insulation added to replace the original --- and only did not based on the technician's assurance that it would be overkill. He was right. Unlike you, I do not use my garage for any hobby work. And frankly, I made a commitment to myself that I would never put anything up in my attic -- and I haven't. I've heard too many stories about people here in TV who have been seriously injured hauling stuff up and down their attic stairs. So like the others, I vote that you do have your garage door insulated. It's a super cheap fix. And if it doesn't adequately cool your garage, you can always replace the door completely. That change 5 years ago would have cost me about $2,000. I can't imagine what the price would be today. Good luck and enjoy your space!

[merrymini]

I have an east facing garage and it got way too hot. I purchased insulation from Texas Garage and for about $275 insulated the garage doors myself. Took about two hours. Did not want to use styrofoam because of adhesives and did not want to dismantle anything to put in the insulation. I did not have the proper equipment to test the temperature before or after but it was significant, however, during the summer months, not cool enough to work in the garage comfortably. It is a good first step before making a significant expenditure to extra cooling. By the way, the insulation is lined with white plastic and it looks great aesthetically.

[meridian5850]

Greetings all! I so miss my basement, but I am making due using the garage for my hobby. I build plastic scale models and I do a fair amount of painting so I need to plan to address the humidity and moderate the temperature in the garage. Already looking into a split AC unit but it was also recommended that the garage door be insulated. I plan to do this myself, but the question I have is has anyone else done this and does it make that much of difference. The AC salesmen I talked to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20*. Living in MN, I know just having your car in the garage during the winter can have that much affect. Just trying to do some fact checking and look for product recommendations.

We had our garage insulated, attic stairs installed, and the foam panels added to the garage door. Garage temp was just a few degress cooler than ambient. Only if you're going to have a split unit installed, I would have the garage door insulated.

[jrref]

It depends on the direction your garage door faces. A west or south/southwest exposure will generate a lot of heat in the summer. My garage door faces north, and an insulation tech talked me out of insulating the doors. He said the difference would be negligible. I did, however, have insulation added above my garage and lanai.

Who did you use to insulate over your Lanai and how did they do it?

[patdougherty5151]

Greetings all! I so miss my basement, but I am making due using the garage for my hobby. I build plastic scale models and I do a fair amount of painting so I need to plan to address the humidity and moderate the temperature in the garage. Already looking into a split AC unit but it was also recommended that the garage door be insulated. I plan to do this myself, but the question I have is has anyone else done this and does it make that much of difference. The AC salesmen I talked to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20*. Living in MN, I know just having your car in the garage during the winter can have that much affect. Just trying to do some fact checking and look for product recommendations.

My garage faces South and was insulated from the start. Doubt there is anywhere close to a 20 F difference as it's really hot in the summer.

[Rickg]

I insulated the door and the attic. I had a mini split installed that does both the garage and the lanai. I replaced the lights with LED’s and added two additional lights. It’s just like any other room in the house, even after pulling a hot car into the garage. Be sure your system is sized correctly.

[Tom52]

We purchased a pre-owned home in TV 3 years ago. The garage is facing West. Original owner insulated doors and added one of those attic fans that pull air from outside thru garage door vents. This set up, in my opinion, is a Total Waste Of Money. If it is 95 degrees and humid outside, it is just as hot and humid inside. That is too uncomfortable for any activity in the garage.

Since I spend a lot of time in my garage the only sensible solution was to yank out the attic fan, insulate attic above the garage, and installed a high efficiency Mitsubishi mini-split. Since my garage is 3 stall I installed a 24,000 btu unit. I have one summer's worth of experience with this set up and can honestly say this is the best possible solution. These mini-splits are very efficient and costs little to operate. Maybe $30 extra per month for electricity. Not bad considering I only have to run it for about 6 months per year. I can set it on 78-80 degrees and it is very comfortable because the humidity is greatly reduced.

My next project will be to purchase new insulated garage doors with windows. Good garage doors have a much higher insulation rating than adding the insulating kits to the inside of these cheap builder grade garage doors we have in TV. The extra light coming thru the windows would brighten up a dark garage.

[Blue Oval]

My insulated garage doors face southwest. The insulation makes a huge difference on surface temps and having them insulated is the biggest bang for the buck. I also have a mini-split HVAC unit installed but no ceiling insulation. I suggest you take a contactless thermometer and on a hot afternoon, test the insulated ceiling temps in each room of your house then determine the average. Then test 4 areas of the un-insulated ceiling over your garage and compare. In my case I had only 2° increase in temp of the garage ceiling. My HVAC installer did not recommend insulation over the garage but said insulating southwest facing doors was mandatory. A cheap contactless thermometer will tell you the story - no need to guess.

[Calisport]

I insulated my garage door in my last house. I makes only a slight difference. The main difference is the door becomes very quiet opening and closing. The Solar Guys can put a garage vent in your ceiling with fan, and 2 vents in the garage door for air circulation. It still will be somewhat hot in the garage either way unless it had some type of air conditioning.

[GregG7]

My garage doors face west. I insulated them using a couple of rolls of Owens Corning Garage Door Insulation that I purchased from Amazon. (Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002FR5QO6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1))
The rolls of insulation were already the proper width, I only had to cut them to length and put them in the door cavities. They did make a big difference, especially in the afternoon when the doors are in full sunlight.

[dhmundy]

Switching to acrylics and using a dual fan spray booth, vented outside, reduced/eliminated the paint smell to the point where my significant other allowed me to set up my modeling workshop in our spare room. (She also let me install a wall-to-wall display case in the dining room for finished models, so I am doubly blessed.) If space rather than smell is forcing you into the garage, then as you noted, some form of AC is a must to control the temperature and, more importantly, the humidity that can cause all sorts of issues with acrylics.
That said, insulating the garage door and the space above the garage will help your AC work less. We have an east facing garage door and the door insulation does help, but the 20 degrees figure is hyperbole at best. An additional option to consider would be the installation of reflective insulation/foil in the attic. This can be attached to the rafters so it would not affect the use of the area for storage. We have had this installed in our home in TV and previously up north, and the thermometer says it works.

[LarryL]

Yes I insulated my West facing garage door. It was not too difficult and really made a difference.

[rogerk]

Insulate your garage door and the ceiling above the garage and lanai. You will be surprised how much heat comes thru the metal garage doors, especially if the sun shines on them.

I recommend you hire someone to install the insulation or at least buy the precut insulation from RoMac that is designed for your specific garage doors. It is not terribly expensive!

I was amazed at the difference! At first I only insulated the double doors. The golf car door insulation was not available. You could feel the difference in the radiant heat from the two doors.

[sherryszekeres@gmail.com]

Our garage door had thin sheets of styrofoam which we removed and put in 1” think sheets and fit them all tightly in every space. It took some time but I think it helped. Our garage door faces west.

[Boffin]

Greetings all! I so miss my basement, but I am making due using the garage for my hobby. I build plastic scale models and I do a fair amount of painting so I need to plan to address the humidity and moderate the temperature in the garage. Already looking into a split AC unit but it was also recommended that the garage door be insulated. I plan to do this myself, but the question I have is has anyone else done this and does it make that much of difference. The AC salesmen I talked to said it could lower the temperature in the garage by as much as 20*. Living in MN, I know just having your car in the garage during the winter can have that much affect. Just trying to do some fact checking and look for product recommendations.
2 car 1 golf cart garage faces southwest.
Installed 2 garage door vents on opposite ends (one low and one high).
Insulated doors with 2 layers of reflectix.
Insulated roof rafters over garage with reflectix.
Have two attic access doors. Made and installed a screen on the smallest one.
Installed a gable vent fan.
Main concerns are radiant heat and air circulation.
Goal is to be within 5 degrees of outside ambient air temperature without using a/c or mini split.

[Tom W]

I insulated my garage door with 1" rigid foam with foil sides. It works great. Yes it only slows the rate of heating up the garage, but overall it works. Example: open your garage door at night and let all the heat out. Then close the insulated door. Now in the morning when the sun hits the door, your garage stays cooler longer. It works the same way as your house.

Tom

[Pruman1992]

Would a strong dehumidifier make a difference in the garage ?

[retiredguy123]

Would a strong dehumidifier make a difference in the garage ?
The conditioned spaces in your house are insulated and sealed with a vapor barrier in the walls and ceiling. The vapor barrier prevents moisture from entering the house after it is removed by your air conditioner. So, unless you install a moisture barrier around the garage space, a dehumidifier would be very ineffective at reducing the relative humidity in the garage.

[Speedie]

I can't speak to the garage door insulation. A previous owner to my house installed a powered ceiling fan (about a foot square) in the garage ceiling that can be turned on/off. In addition, there were two vents placed at the bottom of the garage door so you can turn the fan on and it pulls air in though the door vents and vents it into the attic area. I've not used much as I don't work in the garage much but thought I would include this to give an idea.

Cutting a hole in the drywall to install a vent fan to your attic destroys the fire barrier. Only safe option is to buy a fan that includes automatic fire damper.