advice on insulating my Garage door.

[JohnMcD348]

I live in Central Florida(Lakeland) between Tampa and Orlando. I have a standard 2 car Garage with 5 pane door. I have a large double window facing East and the Garage door faces South. This allows the Hot Florida Sun to get quite alot of face time which doesn't do me wonders in the Summer time. This past week temps have gotten up to 130* inside my garage. I have heavy blinds covering most of the window with only the top rounded portion exposed. The top panel of my Garage door also has window panes. I am considering applying a heavy limousine type tint to those windows to help decrease heat.

What I would like to know is what is the best way to apply insulation to the panels of my garage door to help decrease the amount of thermal load that it radiates into my garage? I have thought about something along the Styrofoam sheets but don't really know what would be best. I really don't think the standard fiberglass would work and would look very bad to boot. The seals around the door are good. I have even been thinking about was to add A/C perhaps through a window unit but I have to do something about the heat being generated by the door first.

Please help with any insight and info you may have. I'd really like to get my garage up and going so I can relax with some decent projects in my spare time.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[hobie1dog]

There is a product which is foil faced front and back, is 1/4" thick and has a R14 insulation value. This is what I used with contact cement on the back of my door which has the sun on it all afternoon. I forgot the trade name but you should be able to Google it up.
This is a picture of it.

 

[Falcon67]

I used 1" pink hard foam from HD. Score it with a box knife and break it like sheetrock. I just cut it to fit tight in the sections and did not use any adhesive. 2 4x8 sheets did an 8w x7h door. It does not look as nice as the aluminum backed stuff above but it makes a heck of a difference.

 

[JohnMcD348]

Thanks. I was looking today at Lowes and saw the Foam stuff and also a rolled Aluminum type insulation that looked more like a barrier insulation that I was wondering about. It wasn't 1/4" but I was thinking about perhaps using both of them together. They would easily fit between the channels of the doors and with contact cement, they should stay pretty well.

 

[nate379]

I did a door at my friends. We used aluminum backed foam, the 1" stuff and just scored it where the panels folded so it's still 1 piece. Screwed it to teh door using fender washers and wham bam, all done.

Why someone put a wood non-insulated door up, I have no idea. It helped a ton with just the foam when it was -35* out that's for sure.

Really should just replace the door with a proper insulated one, but the foam is a great temp fix for cheap.

 

[JohnMcD348]

I've never seen an actual insulated door before. Here in Florida, we don't have a need for them. Our biggest concern are wind load doors. I believe mine is rated at 110 or 120 mph before it rips itself from the hinges.

 

[ArthurPE]

There is a product which is foil faced front and back, is 1/4" thick and has a R14 insulation value. This is what I used with contact cement on the back of my door which has the sun on it all afternoon. I forgot the trade name but you should be able to Google it up.
This is a picture of it.

that looks cool, I might have to do that...advantages both heat & cool

 

[walrus]

There is a product which is foil faced front and back, is 1/4" thick and has a R14 insulation value.

Foil faced bubble wrap?

 

[35mastr]

I prefer the foam over the aluminum myself. Its alot easier on the eyes.

 

[hydramatic]

put up a cloth / canvas awning..keeps the direct sun off the door..or go with an Air flow awning..plus foil back inside..should fix the problem..hydramatic !!

 

[nate379]

Don't heat or cool your garage?

I've never seen an actual insulated door before. Here in Florida, we don't have a need for them. Our biggest concern are wind load doors. I believe mine is rated at 110 or 120 mph before it rips itself from the hinges.

 

[35mastr]

Here in sunny California we dont heat or cool our garages either. I have an insulated door. One day I am going to tag off one of the reisters for some A/C in the summer though. Gets a little warmer in there than I like.

 

[JohnMcD348]

Don't heat or cool your garage?

Most typical Garages here, no. I plan to eventually do something. Most likely a window unit. Right now I just want to decrease some of the heat radiating into the garage. After that, I'd like to turn my Garage into my workshop and hobby place.

 

[Joe Reed]

There is a product which is foil faced front and back, is 1/4" thick and has a R14 insulation value. This is what I used with contact cement on the back of my door which has the sun on it all afternoon. I forgot the trade name but you should be able to Google it up.
This is a picture of it.

I used the same thing on my door It's called "Reflectix" and is available at Lowes and Home Depot - and it's cheap. My garage door faces west, so radiated heat was a major problem on a summer afternoon. The Reflectix made a huge difference.

I also used it underneath the carpet of my MGB and it made a huge difference in the amount of heat in the footwells...

 

[JohnMcD348]

I'll have to look again at the aluminum stuff I saw yesterday. It didn't look all that thick to me when I saw it. It was also in a roll. It looked more like one post stated, Aluminized Bubble wrap.

 

[walrus]

It looked more like one post stated, Aluminized Bubble wrap.

I have no doubt thats what it is, otherwise I'd buy the cheapest garage door possible, put 4 layers of that **** on it and have a R 50 door. In reality that would be closer to an R4 door

 

[JohnMcD348]

I actually found a sticker on my door that said it was insulated. It has to be a very thin insulation since the panels on the door are only about 1/8 inch thick at the most.
I measured the panels and they come out to a 20 1/4 between the lips and they are 1inch deep.

Here's what I have to battle in order to bring the heat levels down in my garage. The blind is pretty thick and does a decent job at keeping some of the heat out. THe rounded top though is a problem. Then I have those windows in the garage door itself so as the sun comes up in the east and shines through the double windows, it passes over to the south of the house and shines right through the windows in the Garage door for the rest of the day until late evening. It's great for allowing alot of natural light into the garage but just stinks being it's Florida Sunshine so I can sloe roast in my garage.

 

[ripsnortMN]

I recently just installed the garage door insulating kits on my 16'x7' door. It worked well and looks pretty profesional. It is styrofoam with the white plastic coating on one side. I think its working since it was 90 degrees out the other day and it was 65 degrees in the garage. Since I insulated everything, the overnight temperature stays in the garage all day. So if it was 65 degrees one night then it will most likely stay that temp throughout the day

Before I insulated everything it would get up to 85 degrees in there on a 80 degree day.

 

[nate379]

They make blinds to cover the top part as well. I lived in a house a while back that had a few windows like that.

One of these days I need to put the blinds for the house up. It's maybe 65* outside and it's 75* here in the house.

I actually found a sticker on my door that said it was insulated. It has to be a very thin insulation since the panels on the door are only about 1/8 inch thick at the most.
I measured the panels and they come out to a 20 1/4 between the lips and they are 1inch deep.

Here's what I have to battle in order to bring the heat levels down in my garage. The blind is pretty thick and does a decent job at keeping some of the heat out. THe rounded top though is a problem. Then I have those windows in the garage door itself so as the sun comes up in the east and shines through the double windows, it passes over to the south of the house and shines right through the windows in the Garage door for the rest of the day until late evening. It's great for allowing alot of natural light into the garage but just stinks being it's Florida Sunshine so I can sloe roast in my garage.

 

[larryv]

I recently just installed the garage door insulating kits on my 16'x7' door. It worked well and looks pretty profesional. It is styrofoam with the white plastic coating on one side. I think its working since it was 90 degrees out the other day and it was 65 degrees in the garage. Since I insulated everything, the overnight temperature stays in the garage all day. So if it was 65 degrees one night then it will most likely stay that temp throughout the day

Before I insulated everything it would get up to 85 degrees in there on a 80 degree day.

Have any pictures? Thanks

 

[ripsnortMN]

Have any pictures? Thanks

I will get some later today and post them up.

 

[79Sleeper]

I think I would see about going with some spray expanding foam. Heck I've considered possibly removing the cheap impercisely cut factory sterofoam from my insulated door and expanding foaming it as to fully fill and insulate every knuck and cranny.

 

[MrWhy19]

Think I'm going with a kit from this company which is not far from me. The kit with white vinyl on one side would help light the place.

http://www.texasgarages.com/insulation.htm

 

[hobie1dog]

Think I'm going with a kit from this company which is not far from me. The kit with white vinyl on one side would help light the place.

http://www.texasgarages.com/insulation.htm

Why are you going with an insulation with such a low R value?

 

[JakeD]

There is a product which is foil faced front and back, is 1/4" thick and has a R14 insulation value. This is what I used with contact cement on the back of my door which has the sun on it all afternoon. I forgot the trade name but you should be able to Google it up.
This is a picture of it.

There's absolutely no way that 1/4 inch of foil faced bubble wrap is R14.

 

[Medwards]

Think I'm going with a kit from this company which is not far from me. The kit with white vinyl on one side would help light the place.

http://www.texasgarages.com/insulation.htm

Search around a bit more. I bet you can find a better price. I'm willing to bet that Insulfoam is the manufacturer for the kit you linked.

I bought two Insulfoam kits from Lowes. They didn't have them in the store, so I odered on line. It was ~$100 shipped for two kits from lowes.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=222457-10477-8 FT GARAGE DOOR INS

 

[hobie1dog]

There's absolutely no way that 1/4 inch of foil faced bubble wrap is R14.

I know it made a reduction in operating costs for the apartments we renovated several years ago. One tenants electric bill ( for heating) went from 280.00/month down to 75.00/month for the same January billing cycle after we put a layer of this on the ceiling before we installed the drywall. And new insulation of R-19 on top of that(had been R-13).

Read the page here which describes this specific type of insulation.
http://atticfoil.com/radiant-barrier-R-value.htm

So you are likely right.

 

[JakeD]

I only say that because I just went through some effort insulating my garage, including the door, and I used basically the same foil/bubblewrap stuff. I applied it slightly differently than you, though. I had long rolls and applied it over the entire span of each horizontal panel, creating an air pocket between the outside skin and the insulation. I was told this would increase the insulation value a lot over applying it directly to the door, kind of like a double-pane window.

In any event, I think mine was supposed to be something like R6, and I was skeptical of that, so R14 seems unobtainable for 1/4 inch of anything considering you would need 5 inches of fiberglass batt to equal R14.

By the way, I did R25 in my garage attic and it's made the greatest difference of anything I did.

 

[hobie1dog]

This site sells the Microfoil radient barrier
http://www.barrett-inc.com/microfoil.html

They do explain how you can obtain the R-14 as a rated "assembly"

But thanks for mentioning about putting it on the face of the door to create an air pocket, as I'm going to be removing mine shortly, then apply a sound damping material, and then re-install the foil insulation.

 

[nate379]

Yeah I think he meant R1.4

There's absolutely no way that 1/4 inch of foil faced bubble wrap is R14.

 

[timgr]

The rating of the foil insulation is very much dependent on the principle method of heat loss/gain and the presence of an air gap next to the reflective surface. If the heat transmission is mostly by radiation, ie from a hot roof over an empty attic, then you might be able to justify those high R-values.

I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I did a little research when I insulated my garage. If you install the foil as a vapor barrier, and enclose it in contact with other materials, then it won't work well. Ditto if you glue or stapel it to a surface.

I have the double bubble on the ceiling of my garage, exposed downward and with an air gap between it and the fiberglass between the rafters. Works well.

 

[ripsnortMN]

Have any pictures? Thanks

I got a few pictures for ya Larryv.

 

[JohnMcD348]

OK, so if I were to go with the reflective aluminum bubble wrap, would you recommend I apply something like wood strips on the door and then apply the wrap to the strips to create a air barrier? I guess maybe using something thin like 1/8-1/4 inch width or would that be too much air space? Perhaps using something like cardboard strips or something like it that's a little thinner.

 

[JohnMcD348]

Search around a bit more. I bet you can find a better price. I'm willing to bet that Insulfoam is the manufacturer for the kit you linked.

I bought two Insulfoam kits from Lowes. They didn't have them in the store, so I odered on line. It was ~$100 shipped for two kits from lowes.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=222457-10477-8 FT GARAGE DOOR INS

The had it at my Lowes and I was thinking of possibly using that in combination with the metalized Bubble wrap. I wonder how that would work.

 

[Romanova]

There is a product which is foil faced front and back, is 1/4" thick and has a R14 insulation value. This is what I used with contact cement on the back of my door which has the sun on it all afternoon. I forgot the trade name but you should be able to Google it up.
This is a picture of it.

Whats the best way to attach this to the garage door? Glue? Black magic? Bubble gum?

 

[ket-tek]

I helped a friend insulate his door with 1" foamboard and it did make a considerable difference. We planned to glue it but we cut it so tight it wedged in good enough to hold it self in.

On the windows, Tint like you mentioned would make a big difference. Buy a quality tint like Lumar. A mirror tint as opposed to a limo tint may be better suited as you want to reflect the sun away in the summer.

 

[krooser]

I used simple 2X4 insulated ceiling panels like are used in a dropped ceiling... work great and are ez to trim.

 

[2_lude]

Do they sell the foil/bubblewrap insulation at Lowes or HD? If not where is the best/cheapest place to get it.

 

[JohnMcD348]

They do sell it at the Lowes in my neighborhood. That's what got me to wondering about the stuff.

 

[2_lude]

Cool thanks for the tip. I'm going to pick some of the foil bubble wrap tonight. FYI Lowes has a 10$ off 50 coupon attached to every receipt if you made a purchase in the last few days.

I wouldn't do both the foam and foil bubble wrap it won't give you any added benefit. R values don't combine, it will just take the properties of the higher R value.

What is the best method to attach the wrap? Glue, tape?