fnbadaz06
Active member
As it's been getting extremely hot again here in Arizona, and I've been doing a significant amount of work on my Corvette in the garage, I finally made the effort to make the garage survivable (and comfortable 
).
First to get tackled was my metal, non insulated garage door on my two car garage, which measures 20x26 and 9' ceilings. The garage has two exterior walls that are not insulated, and the ceiling has some coverage near the entry into the interior of the house...but the builder didn't get hardly any coverage up near the garage door itself. The metal garage door, which also has 8 windows, faces due west and gets the full afternoon sun.
Last week, with ambient temperatures hitting 115*, the exterior of the garage door hit a blistering 169* ... the window glass came in anywhere from 115* to 139*.
Interior measurements on the door were anywhere from 135-140, with ambient temps in the garage of 110*
Next day, I went to Lowe's and purchased four 4x8 sheets of the R-Tech 1.5" rigid foam panels with the foil face on one side and the poly face on the other. I also purchased the heat reflective foil tape, some static cling Gila heat control reflective window tint, and several pieces of 1/8th inch clear polycarbonate. I was able to cut and fit the rigid foam panels within the recesses of all the panels, including cutting pieces to fit around the window frames. I placed metal foil tape on all the seams where the rigid foam made contact with the door framing, and even applied it to the exposed metal framing on the garage door where the hinges attached.
I applied the static Gila window tint to the windows, and then placed the polycarbonate on top of the rigid foam framing, which created a 2" vapor barrier. I then applied the Gila window tine to the polycarbonate window as well.
End result ?
With the night time low of 95* (at 4:54 a.m.), I opened the garage door to at least cool the garage down to ambient outdoor temps, then closed it at 7:00 a.m. before the temps started to rise.....the high this day hit 113+ .
I borrowed a friend's FLIR camera to augment my infrared laser thermometer readings, and also placed several standard outdoor thermometers around the garage to take readings at 3:30 to 6:30 in the afternoon/evening.
I'll claim success, in dropping temps below 97* with direct radiant sun hitting the garage door with no cooling apparatus other than a floor fan to circulate what air was in the garage.
Garage door opener, suspended at 8' off the floor showed 96*
FLIR, infrared, and standard outdoor thermometers ranged from a low of 90* , to a high of 100* measured on the metal hinges. Overall, I'd say low to mid 90's, with outside hitting 113+ ......
The following week, I installed a new 12K BTU 110v mini-split i picked up at a local online auction house.
After getting it mounted and having an a/c tech test my lineset for leaks, we charged the system and turned it on. To say that I was pleased to see the air handler discharging 36* air while ambient garage temps were in the mid 90's is an understatement !!!!!
I let it run all day and overnight just to see what it could do. Overnight temps were in the upper 80's, with a afternoon high of 109*. I had set the unit to 69* the night before, and what di you know......69* garage !!!!!!
It warmed to low 70's in the late afternoon sun, but to say I'm tickled pink would be an understatement.
109* ambient....
74-77* garage interior.....
76* measured at garage door opener at 8' above floor
44.7* air at air handler
152* exterior door temp
).First to get tackled was my metal, non insulated garage door on my two car garage, which measures 20x26 and 9' ceilings. The garage has two exterior walls that are not insulated, and the ceiling has some coverage near the entry into the interior of the house...but the builder didn't get hardly any coverage up near the garage door itself. The metal garage door, which also has 8 windows, faces due west and gets the full afternoon sun.
Last week, with ambient temperatures hitting 115*, the exterior of the garage door hit a blistering 169* ... the window glass came in anywhere from 115* to 139*.
Interior measurements on the door were anywhere from 135-140, with ambient temps in the garage of 110*
Next day, I went to Lowe's and purchased four 4x8 sheets of the R-Tech 1.5" rigid foam panels with the foil face on one side and the poly face on the other. I also purchased the heat reflective foil tape, some static cling Gila heat control reflective window tint, and several pieces of 1/8th inch clear polycarbonate. I was able to cut and fit the rigid foam panels within the recesses of all the panels, including cutting pieces to fit around the window frames. I placed metal foil tape on all the seams where the rigid foam made contact with the door framing, and even applied it to the exposed metal framing on the garage door where the hinges attached.
I applied the static Gila window tint to the windows, and then placed the polycarbonate on top of the rigid foam framing, which created a 2" vapor barrier. I then applied the Gila window tine to the polycarbonate window as well.
End result ?
With the night time low of 95* (at 4:54 a.m.), I opened the garage door to at least cool the garage down to ambient outdoor temps, then closed it at 7:00 a.m. before the temps started to rise.....the high this day hit 113+ .
I borrowed a friend's FLIR camera to augment my infrared laser thermometer readings, and also placed several standard outdoor thermometers around the garage to take readings at 3:30 to 6:30 in the afternoon/evening.
I'll claim success, in dropping temps below 97* with direct radiant sun hitting the garage door with no cooling apparatus other than a floor fan to circulate what air was in the garage.
Garage door opener, suspended at 8' off the floor showed 96*
FLIR, infrared, and standard outdoor thermometers ranged from a low of 90* , to a high of 100* measured on the metal hinges. Overall, I'd say low to mid 90's, with outside hitting 113+ ......
The following week, I installed a new 12K BTU 110v mini-split i picked up at a local online auction house.
After getting it mounted and having an a/c tech test my lineset for leaks, we charged the system and turned it on. To say that I was pleased to see the air handler discharging 36* air while ambient garage temps were in the mid 90's is an understatement !!!!!
I let it run all day and overnight just to see what it could do. Overnight temps were in the upper 80's, with a afternoon high of 109*. I had set the unit to 69* the night before, and what di you know......69* garage !!!!!!
It warmed to low 70's in the late afternoon sun, but to say I'm tickled pink would be an understatement.
109* ambient....
74-77* garage interior.....
76* measured at garage door opener at 8' above floor
44.7* air at air handler
152* exterior door temp
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