Best Options for Garage Door Insulation?

[JimRB]

I put R19 in my attic this year. In Georgia that was good for 5-10 degrees cooler garage. I have suffered in the summer with that heat coming down from the ceiling. I do have an insulated garage door but after 27 years it does not seal tightly. That is a bigger deal in the winter when I might want a warm garage. If the garage cools down at night to 75ish, it stays 5-10 degrees cooler than outside on a 90+ day. If I really want to be cool I turn on the window AC unit which now has a chance to keep me cooler even with no insulation in the walls.

 

[bigtiller]

Insulation keeps the heat out as well as in. R19 is a great start for Georgia but R30 would be better and Google says while your at it, R49 would be good for Georgia.

 

[ponytug]

If in doubt, add more insulation. It is so cheap compared to the energy costs. Also, I would not overlook the cumulative losses from air leaks around doors, windows, outlets, air registers, plumbing from one floor to the next (basement/crawlspace to house, and house to attic), the fireplace damper, poor, or non-functional dampers on bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans, and the wide open flues on gas and propane powered ovens and water heaters. The latter are ridiculously large sources of outside air. A little spray foam, caulk, and weatherstripping goes a long way.

Not exactly a glory job like painting, roofing, or putting up plaster board, but adding insulation has big returns on investments.

All the best,

Peter

 

[2manyrocks]

There is a lot of surface area around a garage door for air leaks and not so easy to seal.

 

[jyoutz]

I’ve done this before using foil covered dense foam board. Pretty easy to cut the board to fit inside of the door panels and attach with construction adhesive.

 

[bdhsfz6]

My neighbor installed this product on his uninsulated garage door:

https://www.amazon.com/Matador-Garage-Door-Insulation-Designed/dp/B00RGZ9C10/ref=asc_df_B00RGZ9C10/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=692875362841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13367142118022816146&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9058761&hvtargid=pla-2281435180938&psc=1&mcid=e73beea817393382a16597dfbe129a12&hvocijid=13367142118022816146-B00RGZ9C10-&hvexpln=73

He says it does make the garage a few degrees cooler in summer and a bit warmer in winter. In his case, the relatively low cost will likely pay for itself in a few years.

Not so in my case. 20 years ago, I replaced my garage doors with 2" insulated Raynor doors when the old wooden doors wore out. Yes, there is a difference, but I doubt I will ever make up the installation cost with savings in heat / AC.

Every situation is different but IMO, there is little or no cost savings when replacing a perfectly good garage door with an insulated one. Replacing it for comfort reasons is a different story though and may justify the expense.

 

[oosik]

I don't have any garage doors here. In AK my garage door was insulated with some type of rigid foam. The advantage was - it increased the structural strength of the door. And I suppose it kept the garage warmer.

A couple garage door companies were selling "no freeze" garage door lips. If you had an unheated garage - sometimes the rubber lip could freeze to the concrete floor. It very seldom got that cold in Anchorage. I could always go in thru the "person door" and flip on the heat.