mightyhead
New member
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2008
- Messages
- 2
Hey everyone,
I have done a ton of research both on this site and other sites and before I threw more money at this issue I figured I would ask what y'all think.
I live in Austin, TX and in the summers (especially right now) it gets to the high 90's, low 100's with lots of wind and little moisture. My garage was generally as hot as it was outside. The attached garage came with uninsulated walls and door (except the wall that it shares with the house) and the attic is completely uninsulated. The attic has drilled soffits in the easements and one 9"x9" vent about 4 feet down the side of roof. I have no windows for a window unit (wouldn't that just solve most of my problems) and I really don't want to buy a free standing portable unit (cost mainly, maintenance, and regardless, i need to get the garage as cool as possible before i try to actively cool it so i am not paying a ton to run the conditioner). Cutting a hole in the wall for a window unit would lead me to divorce proceedings ... = P
My goal was to turn the garage not necessarily into another living area, but just cool it from its current 100 degree at 3pm self. I recently came into a nice front projector for free and i would like to be able to leave it in the garage as well as any AV equipment so I would be able to watch movies/play games in the garage on the 104" screen in the evenings. That means getting it to ~82 if possible ...
The first thing I tried was radiant barrier on the garage door. For some reason all it seemed to do was raise the temperature in the garage. In some ways this makes sense, as the garage is still basically a closed box with zero ventilation. I then thought "well, it must be the attic is just too hot, and i need to insulate the attic, add additional venting and put up some radiant barrier." So I buy the vent (just another passive 9"x9" that I would put higher up on the attic ceiling but on the other side) and necessary installation materials, and climb into the attic to find that it is actually quite nice in there, lots of ventilation coming from the soffits and out the top from the single vent (i have to admit, my wife was not too jazzed about me jigsawing a hole in the attic roof).
At this point, I am at a crossroads. One option I considered was to open up some vents inside the garage to let hot air rise into the attic, and get a ceiling fan for the garage, and add the additional vent for the attic (and worry about insulation/radiant barrier for the attic later). Problem is i have no idea if this would actually work. I opened the 2' x 3' opening to get into the attic and it seems to alleviate the temp slightly, but not much. It is a flat ceiling so hot air would have to somehow find that opening to rise up, and i imagine there are hot spots in the garage. I would hope that the ceiling fan would cycle the air around and the hot air would eventually find its way up the numerous vents i would add to the garage ceiling, but i have no real way of knowing this will work.
As much as I am for a passive, cheaper solution to my garage cooling project, i don't want to cut a bunch of vents into the garage ceiling just to have to get a portable unit that I would then vent the hot air into the attic to blow out the top through the vent(s). I don't mind the work, but i would like to keep costs down, and moving parts down (other than the necessary ceiling fan i plan on adding) as much as possible. After the radiant barrier did nothing for me I got a little gun shy about my project plan (i didnt expect anything drastic from the garage door radiant barrier, i just didnt expect temps to actually rise). It does look pretty cool though.
So that is my story, I apologize for its length, but I hope I covered everything ...
Thanks so much,
-dave
I have done a ton of research both on this site and other sites and before I threw more money at this issue I figured I would ask what y'all think.
I live in Austin, TX and in the summers (especially right now) it gets to the high 90's, low 100's with lots of wind and little moisture. My garage was generally as hot as it was outside. The attached garage came with uninsulated walls and door (except the wall that it shares with the house) and the attic is completely uninsulated. The attic has drilled soffits in the easements and one 9"x9" vent about 4 feet down the side of roof. I have no windows for a window unit (wouldn't that just solve most of my problems) and I really don't want to buy a free standing portable unit (cost mainly, maintenance, and regardless, i need to get the garage as cool as possible before i try to actively cool it so i am not paying a ton to run the conditioner). Cutting a hole in the wall for a window unit would lead me to divorce proceedings ... = P
My goal was to turn the garage not necessarily into another living area, but just cool it from its current 100 degree at 3pm self. I recently came into a nice front projector for free and i would like to be able to leave it in the garage as well as any AV equipment so I would be able to watch movies/play games in the garage on the 104" screen in the evenings. That means getting it to ~82 if possible ...
The first thing I tried was radiant barrier on the garage door. For some reason all it seemed to do was raise the temperature in the garage. In some ways this makes sense, as the garage is still basically a closed box with zero ventilation. I then thought "well, it must be the attic is just too hot, and i need to insulate the attic, add additional venting and put up some radiant barrier." So I buy the vent (just another passive 9"x9" that I would put higher up on the attic ceiling but on the other side) and necessary installation materials, and climb into the attic to find that it is actually quite nice in there, lots of ventilation coming from the soffits and out the top from the single vent (i have to admit, my wife was not too jazzed about me jigsawing a hole in the attic roof).
At this point, I am at a crossroads. One option I considered was to open up some vents inside the garage to let hot air rise into the attic, and get a ceiling fan for the garage, and add the additional vent for the attic (and worry about insulation/radiant barrier for the attic later). Problem is i have no idea if this would actually work. I opened the 2' x 3' opening to get into the attic and it seems to alleviate the temp slightly, but not much. It is a flat ceiling so hot air would have to somehow find that opening to rise up, and i imagine there are hot spots in the garage. I would hope that the ceiling fan would cycle the air around and the hot air would eventually find its way up the numerous vents i would add to the garage ceiling, but i have no real way of knowing this will work.
As much as I am for a passive, cheaper solution to my garage cooling project, i don't want to cut a bunch of vents into the garage ceiling just to have to get a portable unit that I would then vent the hot air into the attic to blow out the top through the vent(s). I don't mind the work, but i would like to keep costs down, and moving parts down (other than the necessary ceiling fan i plan on adding) as much as possible. After the radiant barrier did nothing for me I got a little gun shy about my project plan (i didnt expect anything drastic from the garage door radiant barrier, i just didnt expect temps to actually rise). It does look pretty cool though.
So that is my story, I apologize for its length, but I hope I covered everything ...
Thanks so much,
-dave
) and have been trading posts with a guy who may have just what you need. I think I am going to order one of his units for our garage. The thread is "Garage Cooling that Works", or something like that on this site. Let us know what you think.