I'm insulating my sectional steel door - pics inside

Like the title says, I'm in the middle of insulating my garage door. I've got a standard one-car attached garage with a sectional steel door. It's adjacent to the living room and kitchen, and the finished attic is above it. It's original to the 26 year old house, along with, I assume, the Stanley 1/3hp chain drive opener. This door has many issues that I'm taking care of, and insulating is just one part of my "garage door restoration" so that I can begin actually using the garage for parking This is also practice for my 25x23 detached out back.

Insulation order:
1) Exterior door surface
2) 3/4" air space
3) 1/2" extruded polystyrene board
4) 1/2" air space
5) Aluminum flashing

I used expanding foam around each of the foam panels, and also all the holes in the frame of the door, then taped everything up with aluminum foil HVAC tape. The aluminum flashing is for fire protection since the foam is flammable and I like to throw sparks once in a while. A side benefit is that it brightens up the garage and looks pretty bad ***

The foam and 3/4" air space creates an R-value of 3.3+2.8=6.1 total. I'm guessing with the aluminum flashing and additional air space, I've got a total of somewhere around R8.

On to the pictures!

Obligatory reference pic from when I moved in last summer. Yes, those are purple walls This was the previous owners' granddaughter's play room apparently, and I haven't gotten around to painting yet.


Cutting foam after using liquid nails to hang wood spacers in each of the panels. I guess I don't have any pics of the foil backing, but you can sort of see it on the panels at the bottom left of this pic.


Making progress! The left panels took a full board (48") plus 7.25", and the right side took a full board plus 4.5". I took my time and removed all the hinge screws so I could slide each of the foam board all the way behind the framing.


All the foam boards in place. You can see where I taped over all the holes in the frame too. I could've stopped there and called my insulation job complete, but nooooooooo I need to take it way overboard.


Spray foam in all gaps, including the holes in the sides. 2.5 cans total. This held the foam boards in nice and tight, no sliding around at all.


First section fully faced and taped. Each section of flashing is 20"x108".


And this is where I stand tonight. In addition to the foil tape, the flashing is held in place by the hinge hardware and sheetmetal screws on the right, left, and middle (the flashing isn't quite tall enough to screw the top and bottom edges like I wanted to).


I've already leveled the door (it was 1/2" off across the width of the door), but I'll need to rebalance it after I'm done. Gonna finish it up tomorrow evening, just in time for my parents coming in for Thanksgiving. While they're here I'm going to put my dad to work helping me replace the opener with a Chamberlain belt drive unit.

Looks good. Also don't forget to replace the bottom seal, it looks like it has shrunk quite a bit.
Charles

Looks good man. Where did you get the sheets from? And about how much were they?

Like you I throw sparks working on my CJ, so I had planned on doing something exactly like this. So this helps a ton.

haugy said:

Looks good man. Where did you get the sheets from? And about how much were they?

Like you I throw sparks working on my CJ, so I had planned on doing something exactly like this. So this helps a ton.

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He said in the OP it was alum. flashing, come in rolls different widths for rooofing jobs also available in steel.

johno said:

He said in the OP it was alum. flashing, come in rolls different widths for rooofing jobs also available in steel.

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Yes, but can you get that at Lowe's, Menards, specialty stores? Etc.
And how much does that stuff cost?

haugy said:

Yes, but can you get that at Lowe's, Menards, specialty stores? Etc.
And how much does that stuff cost?

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I'm in Canada so couldn't answer any of those questions,eh,but any place that sells metal roofing is a good bet.

Looks good. Are you going to adjust the torsion spring by yourself?

Thanks for the compliments everyone

GreyOwl said:

Looks good. Also don't forget to replace the bottom seal, it looks like it has shrunk quite a bit.
Charles

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Yup, you can see in some of the later pictures that I've already removed the old seal, along with the T-track that was cracked and needed replaced as well. Haven't put the new one in yet since I couldn't find any single T-slot track in my area (found the bulb seal at HD, but not the track), so I need to figure out how to install this double T-slot track onto the stepped bottom of my door.

haugy said:

Looks good man. Where did you get the sheets from? And about how much were they?

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It's a 50' roll from Lowes, cost me $55 plus tax. They also sell 10ft rolls and different widths. I will only use 36ft for the door, so I'll use the leftover for a backsplash to my work bench in the other garage. You can see the roll at the bottom right of the second pic.

bchee said:

Looks good. Are you going to adjust the torsion spring by yourself?

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Yeah, though I plan to have someone else present to take me down the street to the ER if it goes wrong Mostly kidding. I understand the dangers and respect the forces involved, but I'm a safe and methodical person when it comes to these types of things, so it should be pretty uneventful. Unfortunately, I didn't test the balance until after I added the foam panels, so I don't actually know if the door was balanced beforehand. Since it wasn't level to begin with, the door was sort of hanging up in the tracks and it wouldn't have been a good baseline anyway.

So how much more weight do you think was added to the door after the insulation and flashing? My door is already insulated but I thought about adding blue panels similar to yours in the future, possibly before it gets any colder.

The foam panels themselves don't weigh much. I'd guess about 5-7lbs for the whole door, which took two full 4x8 sheets. I don't see the foam alone being a weight issue, unless the door is already unbalanced or the torsion spring is already at its limit.

Oh, and I have no idea on the flashing. But crunching the numbers, it should be about 7-8lbs for a single door the way I did it. So 12-15lbs total.

Looks good! I had started down this path a while ago, even installed all the insulation and a few panels of flashing, but i was concerned about the weight on a 16' wide door. I ended up getting Thermax insulation (rated to be left exposed) for free so i changed directions, but it is validating to see someone doing this!

thrytis said:

Looks good! I had started down this path a while ago, even installed all the insulation and a few panels of flashing, but i was concerned about the weight on a 16' wide door. I ended up getting Thermax insulation (rated to be left exposed) for free so i changed directions, but it is validating to see someone doing this!

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Good to know I'm not the only one that at least started to go overboard with the flashing, but I don't blame you on the free Thermax. I'll be doing this on my 16' door, but I'll just conveniently ignore any concerns you or I may have about the weight and report out on the results when that time comes

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! My parents and sister were kind enough to come from Virginia to my place this year, so after a few days of visiting I put my dad to work helping me finish the door. And here she is, in all her insulated glory!



Mind you, there's still plenty to be done to finish the door (balancing, bottom seal, slide lock, new opener) but at least I'm a lot more ready for winter than I was a week ago. And just in time for the first snowfall of the year last night!

On the sprayfoam...... Did you just spray in the large holes of the metal channels then tape over them? I taped over mine, but didn't think of spraying foam in there. If so, I think I'll try that.....

Sixball

I am planning to do my door in a similar fashion, but am planning to use aluminum PVC coated trim coil for the interior covering. That would give a textured, prefinished colored surface on the inside.

sixball said:

On the sprayfoam...... Did you just spray in the large holes of the metal channels then tape over them? I taped over mine, but didn't think of spraying foam in there. If so, I think I'll try that....

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Yeah, but I didn't fill the entire cavity up. I just sprayed in the opening enough to block off the hole, then after it cured I cut off the growth that expanded out of the hole and taped it up. A little overkill on the tape I'm sure, since I was covering it with the aluminum flashing anyway, but it certainly doesn't hurt anything.

OccupantRJ said:

I am planning to do my door in a similar fashion, but am planning to use aluminum PVC coated trim coil for the interior covering. That would give a textured, prefinished colored surface on the inside.

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Is that the same type of wall covering that's used in pre-fabbed homes and campers?

akjason said:

Is that the same type of wall covering that's used in pre-fabbed homes and campers?

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No, it's the aluminum trim on a roll, in flat sheet form, that is 24 inches wide, and 50 feet long, used to form trim on homes, usually along with vinyl siding. It comes in smooth finish or wood texture finish, PVC coated, or not. About $80 a roll.

Link here.

http://www.alscometals.com/products/coil1.php

Did you use liquid nails to secure the board to the wood spacers as well?

I did mine a few years back.

IONH said:

Did you use liquid nails to secure the board to the wood spacers as well?

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I considered it, but decided that I'd get adhesive all over the foil backing from sliding the foam boards behind the door frame, which would decrease the reflectivity. Very minor, I know, but it was all the reason I needed to take the easy way out Turns out the expanding spray foam did a really good job of holding the boards solidly in place.

What type of temperature gains have you guys seen from insulating your inner garage doors? What about noise reduction? And how did you seal up the sides and top of your garage door akjason?

After a long hiatus and a job change, I finally had some time to continue working on this garage so here's an update. Not too long after finishing the insulation I installed a Chamberlain 1/2hp belt drive opener, and the door has been working like a champ ever since. This past week I've been working on painting and organization, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. My 25x23 detached garage out back is where all the work gets done, so this garage is basically storage for the lawn implements, my bicycles, my motorcycle during the summer and my jeep in the winter.

This was pretty much my vision when I decided to go with aluminum flashing on the door. The wall on the left will be home to my jeep doors, and all my yard tools will hang on the other wall.


Corner shelves are simple 2x4 and plywood, built into the wall and cantilevered. The space underneath is for the mower, pressure washer, and other bigger items.


Coat/shoe rack is mostly for my motorcycle gear.


I rewired the single light bulb socket to use as a switched outlet, so I could put a little more light on the subject.


This faceplate didn't cover the entire hole from the light bulb fixture, so I fabbed up a little cover with some sheetmetal I had laying around. It's hard to tell, but I beveled the edge to give it a finished look.


I like pictures from outside at night, it makes everything in the garage just pop that much more.


I really like the grays and blue stripe, infinitely better than the purple it used to be! I intentionally left the doors white to see how they looked when everything else was painted, but I think they need to be gray to match the trim. The only major item left for this garage is to replace the weather strip on the outside of the vehicle door. It's brittle and cracking, so it doesn't seal well at all, which defeats the purpose of the insulated door!

Did you ever do any temperature tests before and after to see how well it worked?

Is the reason you went with the 3/4 gap between door and foam for moisture? We have 3/4 and 1" thick foam here, and I wondering if I put the foam flush up against the door and it's thicker it will help with R value. I've got a 10'x16' door and a 12'x12' door to do, and they let out alot of sound and temp.

akjason- Your garage door looks great! I hope it will achieve what you are looking for in insulating quality.I started a thread yesterday on the very same topic the difference being that the garage door I have and the neighbour has are both wooden so wondering which route we should go with.I guess I should do a search on here as this must be a topic that has been covered before.
scarrylarry

haugy said:

Did you ever do any temperature tests before and after to see how well it worked?

Is the reason you went with the 3/4 gap between door and foam for moisture? We have 3/4 and 1" thick foam here, and I wondering if I put the foam flush up against the door and it's thicker it will help with R value. I've got a 10'x16' door and a 12'x12' door to do, and they let out alot of sound and temp.

Click to expand...

I never did do a temperature comparison, but my calibrated back of the hand says it made quite a difference. It went from being frosty cold to the touch (it frosted over once or twice before I insulated it) to being slightly cool. For reference, winter temps get into the lower teens overnight. And I made that size gap mainly because that's the foam board thickness I could get around here, I didn't really consider moisture. I definitely wanted an air gap because it acts like a double pane window (or triple pane in my case), where the trapped air is an additional thermal barrier. If you have room for the 1" board and an air gap, I'd suggest doing that.