Wheather proofing the garage?

[mille_3]

I know it's maybe a little early to start thinking about winter, but I'd much rather do the work in the summer instead of freezing my **** off trying to fix leaks in the winter.

So my question. How can I keep the drafts and leaks out of the garage in the winter? I have the outside "wheater strips" on the garage doors, but snow and water still gets through. There is a little play in the tracks that the doors ride in, so I suppose the doors can be pushed tighter. How tightly can the doors be pushed against the frame? Are there any other products available to seal from the inside? If have done all kinds of searching but all I can seem to find are the outside wheather strips.

Btw, the doors are insulated and garage heated. Hate to be spending money to heat the neighboorhood. Any advice? What have you guys done?

 

[mille_3]

Nobody? I must be the only guy with a leaky garage

 

[rieferman]

Just a non-expert's opinion:

The track for the garage door should allow you to loosen up a few bolts and push it tighter to the frame. If it's tight (mine, a piece of paper would be pinched and would not drop to the floor when I shut the door) and you have the weather stripping (and you already stated it's insulated) that should help quite a bit. During a really bad driving rain storm the other day, I didn't get any moisture past my garage door at all.

edit: the weather stripping should be pressed against the face of the door when the door is closed.. I saw at my neighbor's house there was a gap - we just unscrewed the weather stripping, moved it closer, and his water problem ended. His door was already tight to the frame. Again, just a non-expert here

 

[mille_3]

I appreciate your feedback. I have the doors as tight as they go without causing them to bind. What I am trying to find out is what everyone else is doing to keep driving rain and snow out of their garages.

 

[Thomarann]

As our house 8' and 16' attached garage doors face the weather, I added double weather strips all around both doors. In other words, I bought weather strip that is just flat on top, attached it tight to the door, then attached another different weather strip that screwed into it then had a snap on cover to hide the screws.

I also added a strip like this to the bottom (top one on the page and not from this company, I think from Griot's but they don't have it on their web site any more).

Finally, I also tightened the bow strap across the top of the 16' door to make sure it was tight to the top of the frame at the top.

All this worked very well so I am now doing the same thing to my 16' x 9' door on my detached shop.

Marc

 

[Thomarann]

Oh yeah, and I replaced the rubber strip at the bottom of each door so it stuck out about 1/2" on each side to seal the little gap left by the siding.

Marc

 

[mille_3]

As our house 8' and 16' attached garage doors face the weather, I added double weather strips all around both doors. In other words, I bought weather strip that is just flat on top, attached it tight to the door, then attached another different weather strip that screwed into it then had a snap on cover to hide the screws.

I also added a strip like this to the bottom (top one on the page and not from this company, I think from Griot's but they don't have it on their web site any more).

Finally, I also tightened the bow strap across the top of the 16' door to make sure it was tight to the top of the frame at the top.

All this worked very well so I am now doing the same thing to my 16' x 9' door on my detached shop.

Marc

I will give that a try. Thanks!

 

[scottybaccus]

My 16' door has a rubber seal strip on the outside that the door presses against when closed. Zero air gap. I might lose a little across the top, but the sides are tight and the bottom seal is great, with only a small place to leak at each end.

EDIT: I looked closer to see what it is. It's actually a trim board with integrated weather seal. The whole thing is made of a rubber material. Kinda neat.

Like this I think: http://www.mdteam.com/products.php?category=235

Cool weather strips and storm thresholds here: http://www.garage-doors-and-parts.com/garage-door-weather-seal.html#wps