[rpalumberi]

Originally Posted by Mike3461

Hello. I have a 2 car garage Villages home.

Has anyone installed air conditioning in the garage? What would you recommend? Would a mini-split do the job? Or, would a portable unit such as they sell at Best Buy work?
Thanks in advance.

We would recommend a mini-split for the garage. We also have a 2 car garage. It gets real hot in there, we face east with small garage door windows. Its unbearable for us at times and definitely for everything we store in there since we have no basement. I think it also protects the cars & golf cart. We had Munn's install it. We did insulate the attic floor, garage door and added solar tinting to the windows in the garage door. Good luck

[Jaybird777]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I would suggest that you reconsider not insulating the ceiling. You are losing a lot of energy through the roof.

If his total cost is only $15-20 per month it would take a very long time to recover the cost of insulating. Not to mention the impact it would have to storage. If it were me, I’d count this as a win and spend my money elsewhere.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Jaybird777

If his total cost is only $15-20 per month it would take a very long time to recover the cost of insulating. Not to mention the impact it would have to storage. If it were me, I’d count this as a win and spend my money elsewhere.

You are not taking account of the extra wear and tear on your mini-split running a lot longer because of the added heat load shortening the life of the unit. Sheesh.....

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Jaybird777

If his total cost is only $15-20 per month it would take a very long time to recover the cost of insulating. Not to mention the impact it would have to storage. If it were me, I’d count this as a win and spend my money elsewhere.

If this space is heated and cooled year round, almost any amount of ceiling insulation will pay for itself. Also, when the house is sold, the home inspector could very well cite this as a building code violation and possibly jeopardize the sale.

[Smalley]

So happy that we air-conditioned our 1.5 car garage. It's a pleasure to get into a cool car or cart. Very pleasant to go out to the washer and dryer and it just keeps all the things stored in the garage cool and dry. We insulated the door and the ceiling beforehand.

[BostonRich]

What if when you replace your AC unit you add some ducts and include cooling of the garage? I would think it's not much if anything to go from a 3 ton unit to a 3.5 ton unit if that would do it. It's already in the room. Has anyone done this?

Edit: Just did a quick check with AI and it said this would possibly bring dangerous fumes into the living space. Good point!

[dadspet]

Originally Posted by Mike3461

Hello. I have a 2-car garage Villages home.

Has anyone installed air conditioning in the garage? What would you recommend? Would a mini-split do the job? Or, would a portable unit such as they sell at Best Buy work?
Thanks in advance.

We have a 2 1\2 car extended garage with radiant barrier insulation above, and I insulated the garage doors with foam from Lowe's.

I decided to install an air conditioner in our garage so I could work on my car when needed. I was set on a mini-split since this is what most people seem to use. I received three estimates from various AC contractors that ranged from about $ 6,500 to $ 8,500, which included a veterans' discount of $ 1,500.
We have a 2 1\2 car extended garage with radiant barrier insulation in the ceiling of our 4-bedroom concrete block house, including over the garage. I insulated the garage doors with foam from Lowe's. Since we really don't use the garage often for actual work but wanted to keep it reasonably comfortable for the limited time, I did some work on the car or in my small workshop, and also kept the temperature about 80°F most of the time. I checked on a portable MEDIA AC unit with an advertised 12000/14000 BTU, 550 sq ft, (my garage is a little larger than 550) from Sam's for about $550. It had a variable speed inverter motor (more efficient) with heat and a remote control, both intake and exhaust hoses combined into 1 large oval hose (made it look a bit neater) connected into my garage window, and an air director that could be set to swivel up and down to move air. WOW, I THOUGHT, about a minimum of $6000 less and no yearly maintenance contract required on a mini split AC unit, why not give it a try, what do I have to lose? I was concerned about a few things before I bought the unit. 1. Can I move it into the garage and install it myself (not exactly a spring chicken) > The AC unit has wheels, and my wife and I were able to easily remove it from the box and move it to the window area, and install it within a day. 2. Of course, will it cool our garage to 80 most of the time > yes, often down to 79, and most time below 81. When we move our hot car into the garage after driving it the temp will clearly go up, and it takes the unit several hours to cool it back down to 80 +-2 even when the outside temp is well up there. So if you want to bring the temp down rapidly, this unit will not do that. 3 I was concerned about the 110 V outlet I had to use being able to handle charging my golf cart, and also the portable AC - turned out to be no issue. 4. What about water from the AC unit? This unit has a water evaporative system, and after several months of use, I haven't had any water issues, but there is an option to connect a narrow hose to it to drain it outside if needed. 5. Window install wasn't that hard, and it really doesn't take up much space in the garage, and doesn't look bad either. Would I buy it again > yes.
BTW, insulating the garage door with foam boards was a lot more work than I imagined and took me about a week at the rate I work, since the garage doors have hurricane bracing and require you to cut the foam into several pieces to fit behind the bracing. Oh, we did already have radiant barrier insulation, but the sun beating on the garage doors in the morning was a bit much, and I wanted to improve it some - additional foam did by about 4 degrees surface temp in the mornings.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by dadspet

We have a 2 1\2 car extended garage with radiant barrier insulation above, and I insulated the garage doors with foam from Lowe's.

I decided to install an air conditioner in our garage so I could work on my car when needed. I was set on a mini-split since this is what most people seem to use. I received three estimates from various AC contractors that ranged from about $ 6,500 to $ 8,500, which included a veterans' discount of $ 1,500.
We have a 2 1\2 car extended garage with radiant barrier insulation in the ceiling of our 4-bedroom concrete block house, including over the garage. I insulated the garage doors with foam from Lowe's. Since we really don't use the garage often for actual work but wanted to keep it reasonably comfortable for the limited time, I did some work on the car or in my small workshop, and also kept the temperature about 80°F most of the time. I checked on a portable MEDIA AC unit with an advertised 12000/14000 BTU, 550 sq ft, (my garage is a little larger than 550) from Sam's for about $550. It had a variable speed inverter motor (more efficient) with heat and a remote control, both intake and exhaust hoses combined into 1 large oval hose (made it look a bit neater) connected into my garage window, and an air director that could be set to swivel up and down to move air. WOW, I THOUGHT, about a minimum of $6000 less and no yearly maintenance contract required on a mini split AC unit, why not give it a try, what do I have to lose? I was concerned about a few things before I bought the unit. 1. Can I move it into the garage and install it myself (not exactly a spring chicken) > The AC unit has wheels, and my wife and I were able to easily remove it from the box and move it to the window area, and install it within a day. 2. Of course, will it cool our garage to 80 most of the time > yes, often down to 79, and most time below 81. When we move our hot car into the garage after driving it the temp will clearly go up, and it takes the unit several hours to cool it back down to 80 +-2 even when the outside temp is well up there. So if you want to bring the temp down rapidly, this unit will not do that. 3 I was concerned about the 110 V outlet I had to use being able to handle charging my golf cart, and also the portable AC - turned out to be no issue. 4. What about water from the AC unit? This unit has a water evaporative system, and after several months of use, I haven't had any water issues, but there is an option to connect a narrow hose to it to drain it outside if needed. 5. Window install wasn't that hard, and it really doesn't take up much space in the garage, and doesn't look bad either. Would I buy it again > yes.
BTW, insulating the garage door with foam boards was a lot more work than I imagined and took me about a week at the rate I work, since the garage doors have hurricane bracing and require you to cut the foam into several pieces to fit behind the bracing. Oh, we did already have radiant barrier insulation, but the sun beating on the garage doors in the morning was a bit much, and I wanted to improve it some - additional foam did by about 4 degrees surface temp in the mornings.

A radiant barrier does not replace the need for a 12-inch thick layer of fiberglass insulation above the ceiling. I would suggest that you add fiberglass insulation above your ceiling.

From AI:

"A radiant barrier does not have a significant R-value because R-value measures resistance to conductive heat transfer, which is not how a radiant barrier works. Instead, a radiant barrier's effectiveness comes from its ability to reflect radiant heat across an air space, drastically reducing heat gain by 90% or more. While the material itself provides very little R-value (often around R-2 or less), its true benefit is achieved by improving the performance of traditional insulation in a building's overall assembly by preventing radiant heat from entering the structure."

[Runway48]

Originally Posted by NewFLgirl

We have a three car garage and we sprayed the ceiling of the attic above as well as have insulated garage doors. It’s awesome! The garage stays very cool and the attic is a decent temp for storage. We installed a mini split and hired one of the local companies. Be careful…we got three estimates and they were wildly different…by thousands! We settled with sunshine. Installation was great and they were very easy to deal with.

I like the idea of gaining some attic storage space at reasonable temperatures so a wider variety of items can be stored there. When you say " we sprayed the ceiling" I assume you mean you sprayed foam insulation between the rafters. Insulating between the rafters can also be done with batt insulation but it has to be done correctly otherwise you run the risk of trapping moisture that could lead to wood rot of rafters and roof. Did you hire a third-party contractor to do the sprayed-on insulation or was it part of a new house construction?

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Runway48

I like the idea of gaining some attic storage space at reasonable temperatures so a wider variety of items can be stored there. When you say " we sprayed the ceiling" I assume you mean you sprayed foam insulation between the rafters. Insulating between the rafters can also be done with batt insulation but it has to be done correctly otherwise you run the risk of trapping moisture that could lead to wood rot of rafters and roof. Did you hire a third-party contractor to do the sprayed-on insulation or was it part of a new house construction?

Batt insulation comes with or without an aluminum or paper moisture barrier. If you are concerned about trapping moisture, you can buy batt insulation with no vapor barrier. Spraying insulation does not necessarily mean foam. You can also spray fiberglass insulation above the ceiling, which is actually more common than foam.

[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by Mike3461

Hello. I have a 2 car garage Villages home.

Has anyone installed air conditioning in the garage? What would you recommend? Would a mini-split do the job? Or, would a portable unit such as they sell at Best Buy work?
Thanks in advance.

We added a minisplit in our garage shortly after closing escrow back in 2022. No regrets. We keep it at 78 unless we’re working out there, and it’s still super comfortable at that temp, plus it keeps the humidity low. We insulated the garage door, but not sure about the attic ceiling. I think solar guys might’ve done that when they added a solar fan up there. We haven’t added solar film to the windows (west facing), but we might eventually. We aren’t sure it’s necessary as the garage is always comfortable. We had ours done by Kalos, and since we had two minisplits added to the lanai at the same time they did all three with one condenser unit.

[jrref]

So at the end of the day, many who are installing mini-splits in their garage are doing the right thing by insulating and putting film on the garage door windows if they have them and a whole lot not doing the right thing thinking they are saving money but in the long run they are not because by not insulating, the extra heat load is causing your system to run a lot more shortening it's life in addition to throwing money away every day. It's the Villages, so that makes sense, LOL

[zuidemab]

Originally Posted by GymJim

Our garage is east-facing and over 1,000 sq ft. We installed a mini split (from Munns) about 4 years ago and did not add any insulation to the storage/attic area above it. However, our garage door is insulated. It is absolutely amazing how quickly that mini split can cool down the garage (and keep it cool) - even during the hottest days. It only takes about 10 minutes before the temperature reaches the selected level. In addition to storing 3 cars and 2 golf carts, we have a small workshop in one corner, a workout area (treadmill, Peloton bike, dual-rack functional trainer [cable machine], free weights] in another corner and a golf simulator/launch monitor with 10x15 foot movie/TV screen across the back. Whenever we want to use any of those or just work on our vehicles, we simple turn the mini split on and wait 10 minutes. Once it is cooled, doing anything in the garage is completely comfortable. We do not cool it all the time - only for extended use activities as noted above.

How did ou get all that out of one garage? I have a 31 x 26 but I don't get all that into it.

[Mike3461]

Many excellent tips. Much I had not considered. Thank you.

[Wjcarbone7202]

A large exhaust fan might be very effective and preclude insulating various areas.