Insulating Garage doors

[John Maus]

Greetings Creekers,

As many of you have already done, I am putting my shop in one bay of a garage and would like to know if any of you have put insulation on your roll up garage door panels? It seems like it would be easy enough but getting max insulation and still having use of the door seem a little tricky.

I'm insulating the ceiling and walls so the big pneumonia hole will only be the roll up door.

Thanks

John

[Rob Will]

John,
Probably not the answer you're looking for but the best money you can spend would be to install a new door.

Short of that, you can glue blue styrofoam board to the inside of your existing door. Just use the construction adhesive designed for foam board. You can paint the foam board with latex paint if you like.

Be sure to re-adjust the lift springs on the overhead door after adding any weight to it. (exercise caution here).

Rob

[Jim Kaczmark]

I had a very simple fix to this very same problem. My doors were simple wood textured fiberglass doors, one 16' wide & the other 8' wide. Each panel of the door had a flat one inch lip on the upper & lower side for wind bracing. Space between the "lips" was 14.5". I simply used a blade attachment on my soldering iron & cut 8' x 14.5 (+)" panels from a 1" by 4'x8' white sytrofoam boards. I cut the 14.5" dimension a bit proud of the line & simply pressure fit the panels between the lips of the garage door panels.

Between the texture on the fiberglass & cutting slightly oversize, this pressure fit has kept the panels in place all winter without a hitch. It also added virtually no weight to the door.

The very top panel had a metal stiffner on the top side, thus it had no texture... I simply used some wire and formed an "X" across the panes from one corner of the panel to the other. Connected this wire behind the hinge so that it would not affect the door's operation.

Took about an hour to cut the panels & install.
Jim

[Sam Yerardi]

I used blue styrofoam board. Actually I didn't use glue, I just cut the pieces for a snug fit and they have been in place now for 4 years. See the attachment below.

[alex grams]

i used reflective insulation. It is basically bubble wrap with foil on each side of it. It is light weight and helped a decent amount. I believe it is originally designed for undersides of roofs in attics. I just cut it to size and held it up with aluminum tape.

[Doug Swanson]

I used 1" foil faced boards...cut as snug as I could then filled in the gaps with spray foam (in a can) to hold in place. Works good so far...I do need to adjust my springs though...

ds

[Dick Bringhurst]

I used blue styrofoam board. Actually I didn't use glue, I just cut the pieces for a snug fit and they have been in place now for 4 years. See the attachment below.
Ditto on Sam's. Dick B.

[RickT Harding]

Same here, blue insulation. I cut mine and put it in place with that great stuff expanding foam to seal around.

http://mihardings.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=20428

Seems to be doing fine so far. The great stuff cans added up though.

[Scott Loven]

I have been toying with the idea of hanging an insulated curtain over the door, possibly using Velcro to attach it, even using a section to loop over each of the tracks and attaching to the wall. Anyone ever try something like that?

[Marc Schmitz]

Greetings Creekers,

As many of you have already done, I am putting my shop in one bay of a garage and would like to know if any of you have put insulation on your ...


Greetings;
Though my "shop" is not in the garage, we did pay for upgraded insulated garage doors during the building of our home, as the master bedroom is directly above and I didn't want a cold floor. It's great, but in the summertime, two freshly driven vehicles parked in the garage raises the temp considerably, as in Oh my God, it's hot in here!!! Can't have it all I guess....In the 10 degree winter spells, the garage has never been below 45, but in summer I use the pet feature and open the doors a couple of inches in the evening to vent for an hour or so. Just another data point to consider...

[Rick Gooden]

I too used the blue styrofoam board, pressed to fit. I then lined the door with a perforated reflective barrier. Secured the barrier with reflective heating tape. I did this a couple of years ago and it has worked well. Mine is a 16' door and the opener still works.

[John Minnick]

I called the local Overhead Door company and they sold me the vinyl backed foam insulation that they put in their garage doors. I just told them the dimensions of the recessed area in my door and the number of recesses. I had to cut them down to fit into the recesses but it looks almost like it was factory installed.

[Eric Haycraft]

Two words. Spray foam.
Should take about half an hour to do and costs about the same as foam panels. I just did my basement with the stuff.. Very easy to do and much simpler than cutting and fitting foam panels.

[Doug Shepard]

I used to have 1" white styro pressed in between the ribs and added some thin braided wire to hold them just because I love overkill. No appreciable extra weight and it did help with the temps. It's been removed for several years though. The door is fiberglass and lets through quite a bit of light which didn't register when the styro got added. It significantly darkened up the shop and got removed after a few years.

[jason lambert]

I have had several gurages the worst was the fiberglass door with alumin, wind would blow through the cracks and it was cold. Tried to insulate it with strafoam never worked because the alumin frame conducted the cold anyhow and was drafty.

Next gurage had a old woden door, much better but not great. Was wormer but still drafty.

New gurage had two insulated doors. I didn't relise this would make such a difference but it is great. No drafts they seal and it is warm in there. If I knew that I would of replace the doors on my original gurage.

[Harry Hagan]

I just placed an order for a insulated garage door (R 15.67) with insulated windows. There went a house payment! :rolleyes:

[matt pickston]

Beleive or not, I ave been slowly insulating mine withte polystyrene whcih comes in any boxes I receive. Many are justt the right size. Some need to be doubled up.

Now it doesn't look professional by any means, but it performs the function desired. COst me nothing and I don't have to break them dowm for the trash man.

[Josiah Bartlett]

You probably already know this, but you should concentrate on sealing up the air leaks before bothering to insulate the door panels. If you can't seal up the leaks, replace the door. You can insulate it all you want but if the weatherstripping is ineffective you haven't done anything.

[John Maus]

Thank you Creekers. Great ideas and the task doesn't seem nearly as daunting now that I know many of you have completed the same project.

[Dave MacArthur]

I used 1.5" yellow foam board faced with aluminum foil, sold at Home Depot for like 8$ for a 4x8 foot sheet. It has much better R value than either the blue or white styrofoam, and is IMMENSELY cleaner! You can cut the panels out with a utility knife with no mess or little styrofoam balls rolling around.

I did a 3 car garage in 40 minutes, slip the pieces in over the panel lips, then spray exanding poly foam ("Great Stuff") in the lip to seal it. In Phoenix, it dropped my garage temp 30 degrees F in a West facing garage in the summer, instantly. I've dont this at two houses now, and I can say absolutely--use the foil covered foam board, NOT the while/blue styrofoam.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

We're in the process of getting a wood operation going and had to have insulation. Heat didn't go anywhere but to the eleven foot ceilings and heated the metal roof. The clincher came when it started to "rain" inside the building from condensation. We got a company to spray insulation on and while they were at the ceiling and walls also got them to do the 10x10 roll up door. Works very well. I'm sure that it would be cost prohibitive to hire just a door done but there should be homeowner type products that would work. If you find something I'd spray a small area first to see that it would stick and stay stuck to your door.

Now to finish the furniture we're making for the guy as partial payment for the insulation job. :)

[Mike Kenney]

I used duct wrap holds the temp nicely

[Brad Townsend]

Two words. Spray foam.
Should take about half an hour to do and costs about the same as foam panels. I just did my basement with the stuff.. Very easy to do and much simpler than cutting and fitting foam panels.
Easy for you to say! If I used it, I would have foam everywhere but on the door.:D

[Rob Diz]

I used a foil foam foil insulation that I stapled to each door segment. The door will still roll up and down - which is something I need to do frequently. All in all, the insulatino works well for me. I also put new weatherstripping around the entire door, so I don't have any drafts.

[Eric Haycraft]

Did I mention the part about wearing a tyvek suit? Seriously though, it is only really messy if working overhead. Otherwise a drop cloth and a bit of plastic is enough to keep from making a mess.

[David Giles]

If you are comfortable with your masculinity, pink insulation board works as well.

[Eric Gustafson]

If you are comfortable with your masculinity, pink insulation board works as well.

:eek: pink in my workshop... Heavens no! ;)