Insulating a metal garage door

[John Morrison]

As the title, I have a double single skin up and over garage door, and it gets sharpish in the garage over the winter months, up int’ North.

Anyone any thoughts on insulting such a door!was thinking something like the insulating boards, used for underfloor or cavity insulation?

Cheers,

John.

[TR Rob]

Not sure , but could weight be an issue ?

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

I used expanded polystyrene sheet about an inch thick.  Attached with adhesive or double sided tape

[james christie]

Polystyrene blocks 5cm thick. Very efficient but expensive

james

[RobH]

I used 25mm Celotex sheet which weighs 'nothing' and is foil covered. It certainly helps a bit but up-and-over garage doors don't fit tightly so the gaps all round limit what you can achieve.  If you did manage good sealing you would lose ventilation so you'd probably need a dehumidifier. 

[Peter V W]

I also used celotex, my garage doors face south. The insulation prevented solar gain on sunny days making it cooler inside.

I have removed the insulation. My garage is attached, rarely below 10 degrees centigrade.

[Bfg]

According to budget, weight and airiness, I used a double-layer of bubble-wrap on the inside of my garage door, that with the foil on one side.  I stuck mine on with aluminium tape, the stuff used for ducting. It lasted and performed very well, and it can be done neatly.

As this was a home-built detached garage, in an exposed to the wind location - expanding PU foam was used for all the gaps between its corrugated roof and the walls. Builder's door/window frame sealant between the frame and the wall.

Lip seals &/or brush kits are readily available to (mostly) seal around the outside gaps, but in the good old days we used strips of carpet.  An old blanket or sheet rolled into a long sausage serves very well as a draft-stopper along the bottom of the door. When held in a roll with elastic bands, it's easy to kick out of the way when not needed. 

I used the same (double-layer of bubble-wrap) all around the walls, draped / stapled to battens screwed around the top. And again under the corrugated roof, stapling the foil-faced-bubble wrap to the wooden roof-support beams. It was a sloping flat rather than pitched roof. I left the face of those beams exposed, so I could continue to hang things from them. and even had a strop over one to hang the engine-hoist ratchet from.  .. I did all this because I had been made redundant and so started my own motorcycle restoration business from home, but then it was equally as useful when rebuilding a TR engine.  Of course, after fitting strip lights, the foil faced bubble wrap reflected light back into the working space.

^ 5/8" thick chipboard covered all the floor, into every corner - to prevent rising cold. These were laid over thin expanded-polystyrene-foam sheet (4mm thick off the roll from ebay / carpet shop supplies) as a damp barrier layer, and to level between the underside of the boards and the concrete floor.  Steel straps tied one board to the other (you can see one by the motorcycle's back tyre in the photo above) so non could move.  The boards were (roller) painted with ordinary gloss oil-based paint, white on the upfacing floor side - to reflect light back up and to aid finding dropped screws. 

Without using expensive floor paint, the ordinary exterior gloss paint lasted a couple of years of hard use before everything inside was moved to one side, and it was repainted. The chipboard handled the weight of car just fine but a wide plank under the trolley-jack helped protect the floor from such localised loading.  However I had no problem, with the motorcycle lift (seen in the first photo) which also has small steel wheels, and was used with relatively heavy bikes.  

The one thing which otherwise would have helped greatly would have been to add a single door to the side wall, so that I wouldn't have needed to open the up n' over door to get in and out, even for a coffee or call of nature. Of course opening the big garage door let volumes of cold air in / warmth out.

Hope that helps,

Pete

 

p.s. even with that amount of effort the garage was not 'air-tight' and just going in and out would allow humidity in. As indeed would the moisture from my breath. A propane gas heater introduces very much more humidity, and so I bought a dehumidifier, which I'd put on in the night to dry everything out again, or after I painted something in there. An oil filled radiator was less cost effective but dry.  Humidity was never a problem, even on bare-metal engine parts or with tools.  However, the solid fuel burner, which I made for my boat, required ventilation. Dry heat but outside humidity free to come in. 

 

 

Edited September 24 by Bfg

[Alfrom]

I’ve tried the expanded polystyrene sheet glued onto the door, and found its effect to be minimal.  I think now that  much better would be to address gaps around the edges of the closed door, although this might be detrimental to through flow of air that prevents condensation and keeps the whole garage pretty dry all year.

[Ransomes256]

I have 25mm Kingspan on the door and made a seal from DPC material looped over itself to create a balloon that seals the top gap and sides.

On the bottom I have fitted foam pipe lagging.

Dramatic reduction in drafts and temperature control.

Neil

 

[harlequin]

3 hours ago, Ransomes256 said:

I have 25mm Kingspan on the door and made a seal from DPC material looped over itself to create a balloon that seals the top gap and sides.

On the bottom I have fitted foam pipe lagging.

Dramatic reduction in drafts and temperature control.

Neil

 

+1 for Kingspan, good stuff with proper fire retardant propertys 

George 

[John Morrison]

Many Thanks Guys, especially Pete's explanation,

Had this door thirty odd years, but I'm getting older, and feeling the cold more,

I'll need to try some of these suggestions.

John.

[Phil Kirk]

Hi, John, I appreciate that you are looking insulation suggestions. I tied all sort of insulation on my up and over doors with not much success. It was the gaps around the doors which was the real issue. In the end I bit the bullet and installed  insulated roller shutter doors , the difference was very noticeable.

Not cheap but you pays your money etc.

Cheers Phil

[John Morrison]

Thanks Phil, and I have looked, but I have a special affinity with this old door.

Double width, and it used to be a standard door, i.e. it opened say four foot into the garage, and left 18 inches protruding outwards.

That was going to foul the posts of my four post lift, so after much geometry and mock ups with timber etc., I managed to build two new arm systems to enable the door to, 

when open,extend roughly four foot outwards, with just the 18 inches coming into the garage.

An aside with all this, apart from the fact that I was quite chuffed I got it all to work seemlessly is that I now have an extra four feet of shelter, and often set up a workmate or two ubder this space to do odds and sods.

 

Sure in time I'll need to go electric shutters.

John.

[ianc]

To stop the wind blowing leaves beneath my up & over garage door, I fitted Stormguard brush door seals (from Screwfix) to the bottom of the the door. 

Almost too effective as the door needs a push from my backside when opening to prevent the motor stopping because it has sensed an obstruction!  Probably needs a little judicious shaving of the bristles!

Ian Cornish

[PodOne]

I know a few folk who have fitted one of the Chinese made diesel powered space heaters you see on e bay to good effect. Nice and toasty but needs a flu making though wall or you will likely gas yourself. 
 

I’m very lucky as the combi boiler lives in the garage along with a radiator and an insulated roller door so the temperature never gets below 12-14c. So a jumper/fleece is good enough. Used to have just a car port and a big shed so I feel your pain couldn’t do it now unless forced.

Andy

[TR4Tony VC]

On 9/24/2024 at 12:14 PM, John Morrison said:

Thanks Phil, and I have looked, but I have a special affinity with this old door.

Double width, and it used to be a standard door, i.e. it opened say four foot into the garage, and left 18 inches protruding outwards.

That was going to foul the posts of my four post lift, so after much geometry and mock ups with timber etc., I managed to build two new arm systems to enable the door to, 

when open,extend roughly four foot outwards, with just the 18 inches coming into the garage.

An aside with all this, apart from the fact that I was quite chuffed I got it all to work seemlessly is that I now have an extra four feet of shelter, and often set up a workmate or two ubder this space to do odds and sods.

 

Sure in time I'll need to go electric shutters.

John.

John

You can now but a Celotex lookalike that’s about 10mm thick with self adhesive backing, on a roll 0.5m wide x 5 to 8m length. I bought some on eBay recently at £20th a roll. It’s not the full Monte for insulation but it’s a good enough for a single skin wooden roof, so it might do a metal door. Perhaps have a look ?

I suspect you could over coat with the metal foil tape we use to hold wheels weights on to seal th joints and perhaps even to secure a second layer if you have 30mm frame doors.

Regards

Tony 

[John Morrison]

Thanks all, 

I'm working on serious draughtproofing first, sealing the door as best as is possible, I'm OK as

I have a seperate entry door, from the garage to the house, so it can stay closed - thus keeping the heat in, or at least the cold out?

Then I'll look at the actual door itself.

I'll ket you know what I think worked for me.

John.

 

[john.r.davies]

Obviously it's a choice, but IMHO draught sealing a garage is a recipe for rust.     As the weather cools down, any moisture will condense on cold (metal) surfaces, while outside the fresh air also condenses its water and dries, more quickly than inside the garage.     Some ventilation allows the garage air to be blown through before it can condense, to be replaced with cooler, dry air.

I live in a wetter part of England, just south of Cumbria, the wettest.  Yet I never get rust in the garage, on car or tools.      The garage has sliding doors, and a side door that is not fitted to the doorway, anywhere.  So it's draughty!   If I need to work in there in the winter, I have a Little Devil gas heater, that soon gets the air temp up.   Yes, it also produces water vapour, but the above applies!

Yes, a large metal door is like a radiator in reverse, so insulate that, but don't pursue the draughtproofing!

John

[Spit_2.5PI]

15 hours ago, TR4Tony VC said:

You can now but a Celotex lookalike that’s about 10mm thick with self adhesive backing, on a roll 0.5m wide x 5 to 8m length. I bought some on eBay recently at £20th a roll.

Cellotex lookalike Tony - do you have a link please?

Cheers, Richard

[John Morrison]

On 10/5/2024 at 11:22 AM, john.r.davies said:

Obviously it's a choice, but IMHO draught sealing a garage is a recipe for rust.     As the weather cools down, any moisture will condense on cold (metal) surfaces, while outside the fresh air also condenses its water and dries, more quickly than inside the garage.     Some ventilation allows the garage air to be blown through before it can condense, to be replaced with cooler, dry air.

I live in a wetter part of England, just south of Cumbria, the wettest.  Yet I never get rust in the garage, on car or tools.      The garage has sliding doors, and a side door that is not fitted to the doorway, anywhere.  So it's draughty!   If I need to work in there in the winter, I have a Little Devil gas heater, that soon gets the air temp up.   Yes, it also produces water vapour, but the above applies!

Yes, a large metal door is like a radiator in reverse, so insulate that, but don't pursue the draughtproofing!

John

Hi John, 

I agree, but don't think I'd ever manage to 'Seal' the door completely, 

this is what I've come up with, draught proofing down the sides, just foam adhesive strip from Screwfix, brush strip along the bottom, and small diameter pipe insulation foam along the top of the door, mounted with some small aluminium angle, that I had lying around, 

 

 

Firstly I squirted expanding foam behind all the spars and arms in the door, 

then having trimmed this back to just leave what was behind the spar, cut and bonded 

50mm thick 'Kingspan' thermal sheeting inside all the spars.

 

 

I do have a small central heating radiator plumbed into the garage, which is joined to the house, 

we'll see how things go, but its certainly warmer than it was.

John.

[Lebro]

I have got garage size envy already, & I've only seen the door !

Bob

[john.r.davies]

Good job, John!

Perfectionism might say, now cover the spars.

My second garage (sorry, Bob!) has swing doors, and I added brush strips along the bottom edges as draught excluder.  I know, against my own advice!  but there was a mighty draught!   And the brushes keep dead leaves out.

John

[brian -r]

2 hours ago, Lebro said:

I have got garage size envy already, & I've only seen the door !

Bob

Me too

You can go off people you know

Bri