I have an attached garage that gets pretty toasty. I have been looking at Home Depot and Lowes and see some different options for kits that can pretty much be cut to size and stuck in the paneling on the back of the garage door. My main question is for those who have done it, did you notice a big difference? Anything special you did to make sure you got the best coverage/seal possible?

TIA

I did mine. No kit. I used 1" pink foam insulation panels cut to size and squeezed into each panel. LRN2DIY has a great video on YouTube testing garage door insulation, and this was the most effective type tested. It did make a big difference. A few weeks later I installed a mini split. Now my garage stays at a comfortable 78 degrees, with minimal running of the mini split. My electric bill increase was minimal.

I did it and no difference at all. Feel like maybe in the winter it doesn't get quite as cold, but it certainly made no difference in the summer.

I've used this radiant barrier on the garage door and did notice an improvement in temperature & sound insulation:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-24-in-x-10-ft-Double-Reflective-Insulation-Radiant-Barrier-24x10DRI/314983628

yocod said:

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I did it and no difference at all. Feel like maybe in the winter it doesn't get quite as cold, but it certainly made no difference in the summer.

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That is a fear of mine. Going through the trouble to not really notice much temperature difference. I guess I could give it a shot and if it doesn't do much I will look at some mini-split options

Did the premade encapsulated Styrofoam. Easy and cheap. Cant tell much difference, but it cant hurt.

My garage door gets all of the afternoon sun. I did mine with one of the foam kits. Made a noticeable difference.

Note I also added AC to my garage so this was primary reason for doing it. The heat coming off the door was insane before I insulated.

CAOtto1984 said:

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My garage door gets all of the afternoon sun. I did mine with one of the foam kits. Made a noticeable difference.

Note I also added AC to my garage so this was primary reason for doing it. The heat coming off the door was insane before I insulated.

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I think I am going to have to do this to get the exact comfort I am looking for

maverick2076 said:

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I did mine. No kit. I used 1" pink foam insulation panels cut to size and squeezed into each panel. LRN2DIY has a great video on YouTube testing garage door insulation, and this was the most effective type tested. It did make a big difference. A few weeks later I installed a mini split. Now my garage stays at a comfortable 78 degrees, with minimal running of the mini split. My electric bill increase was minimal.

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I think this is where I am headed. The foam insulation did make a slight difference in temperature. Gonna get some quotes on installing a mini-split here in the near future so I can use the space year round.

Absolute said:

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Did the premade encapsulated Styrofoam. Easy and cheap. Cant tell much difference, but it cant hurt.

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This is what I did in my last house. I thought it helped a little bit with the heat as the garage door got afternoon Sun. It definitely helped in the winter as I would frequently use a space heater in there when I would work out.

The mini-split itself is really not that difficult to install. I paid someone to do the install on my garage, but for my shop, I did it myself. When the electrician wired the shop, I had them install the 240 circuit and cutoff box for the system, and then I installed a Tosot mini-split. I did buy a $150 vacuum pump and gauges off Amazon for the install, but doing that saved me about $1000 over a comparable Mr. Cool set. I had the whole thing done in an afternoon. There are some great videos on youtube on the process.

I have a 2-ton wall unit in my garage that cools it to 65 degrees in like ten minutes. It weights 110lbs or so, so you need to add support.

Garage door sealed with insulation and then riveted a piece of metal to the back side. Works like a charm.

I also run a dehumidifier in there 24/7 and keep it around 40%.

Are the other walls/attic of the garage insulated as well?

aggiesed8r said:

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Are the other walls/attic of the garage insulated as well?

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The walls are insulated and sheetrocked.

If the attic is above the garage ceiling, make sure it has sufficient insulation as well. that will make a big difference too.

Pre-made kit from HD worked great for my old garage where the doors were directly in the afternoon/evening sun. Dropped door temps by 10+ degrees (doesn't directly translate into garage temps).

It worked well enough that I'd do it again, but my current garage door faces east and we have a porte cache that shades it, so significantly less need.

I haven't done the doors but our 3 car used to get so damn hot. It's detached and was not finished.

I insulated all the walls and just doing that made a big difference. I was surprised since it's mostly open ceiling besides a small deck space.

i feel like i've seen this on the internet and some people warn against it bc of the added weight (even if only a couple of pounds) to the garage door which will burn out the motor faster. Is this a legit concern?

CAOtto1984 said:

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My garage door gets all of the afternoon sun. I did mine with one of the foam kits. Made a noticeable difference.

Note I also added AC to my garage so this was primary reason for doing it. The heat coming off the door was insane before I insulated.

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I had a similar situation and did the same thing. It worked well for me also.

sirhc said:

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i feel like i've seen this on the internet and some people warn against it bc of the added weight (even if only a couple of pounds) to the garage door which will burn out the motor faster. Is this a legit concern?

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Per my garage door guy, he suggests that you rebalance the door spring after adding the insulation weight.

sirhc said:

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i feel like i've seen this on the internet and some people warn against it bc of the added weight (even if only a couple of pounds) to the garage door which will burn out the motor faster. Is this a legit concern?

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Apparently this is an actual thing. I had to have a garage door guy out after my door started throwing its cables. He mentioned that the most likely cause was the insulation I had added. Even though it hardly weighs anything. I was and, honestly still am, a little skeptical. But I guess it is true, haven't had an issue since he adjusted things.