Workshop temperature

[Iguanadon]

So, after a "mishap" with one of my garage doors (Mishap being defined as me accidentally lowering one of the doors about a foot, not raising it back up, and then a few hours later attempting to back my very tall golf cart out and bending the bottom portion of the door.  What's funny is that I was able to pop the door back on the track and everything was working fine, but I decided to take a rubber hammer to bang a portion of it straight and in doing so it popped the entire bottom rubber strip/seal off.  I should have left well enough alone.)

Anyway I had a garage door company come by today and repair things for me and while I was talking to the guy after he gave me two options, I asked him about insulated garage doors... do they actually help.  Reminder, I live at the coast in North Carolina, my garage faces to the south and gets full sun most of the day.  The highest temp I've registered in the garage is 96 and it's quite unpleasant.  The guy says they do pretty well.  Steel construction with insulation sandwiched in between... I asked about price, he called the office, gave me a quote which I found to be quite reasonable (I have 2 garage doors), so I decided to do it.  The doors are on order and will be installed in a couple of weeks.

Anyone out here have insulated garage doors and can provide your thoughts?  Even if it just lowers the temp 10 degrees or so I'll be happy.  If it does help, then I'll consider having a window or two installed in the garage on the north side (currently there are no windows at all) 

[kmmcrafts]

Yes, I have insulated garage doors on my shop as well as the entry door.. insulation below the concrete when it was being built.. If.. I keep the shop shut up my highest temp was 84 on a day that was 98 outside... But.. I only get sun until around mid day.. as once whole side and back is pretty shaded.. and.. as we all know.. heat rises.. I have a loft / upstairs.. It used to get well over 100 up there.. but i insulated the roof ( I have black shingles ) with 3" styrofoam sheets between the trusses. Now it is tolerable up there... You'd be surprised just how much hanging a piece of plastic helps.. 

I intend to hang up that bubble wrap stuff that has aluminum foil stuff on both sides over my insulation.. They say that stuff does wonders.. even without insulation as the foil is heat reflective..    

You can get some nice colors on those doors too.. Below is a few pictures as they was building the shop.. I have three windows in the lower ( workshop area ) one on each side and one in the back corner.. I put my saws so I'm back in the one corner and can look out all three windows.. Up stairs has 4 windows (two on each end.. I do my finishing and have built flooring back behind the main trusses for my storage area.. So the main 14 x 32 area is still open up there.. great for parties when it's a rainy day and this way we don't have everyone inside the house.. intend to build shelving back there with drawers labeled with my finished pieces.. but for now I just use plastic drawers or totes.. which work really well.

Edited August 3, 2018 by kmmcrafts

[Woodmaster1]

I have two insulate garage doors and they do great in the winter and in the summer they hold the cool air from the slab until about 3 in the afternoon.

[munzieb]

Insulated doors are great and keep the shop cooler but I am a nut for light. I added several LED ceiling mounted lights when I set my shop but I wanted more. I have 4 windows in the shop but still not enough. I contacted a garage door company and they installed some upper lighted panels in my garage doors ( 3 car garage) Whow! what a difference. Sun comes in in the morning and I always think I left a light on over night! My work bench faces it and working is so much better. Tech took about 45 minutes to install just the replacement upper panels  and adjusted the springs and lubed to make sure they were working properly. Great choice, no regrets!

[kmmcrafts]

Yes I like lots of light.. which is why I put the windows in.. plus if I want to I can open the windows and get a nice cross breeze.. I rarely turn the lights on in there other than my magnifier light.. I almost purchased windows in my doors.. but was worried about people seeing in too easily from the road or driveway.. I've never seen windows like those you have in a garage door.. maybe i should have looked more at them.. they look to be high up and probably would be hard to see inside.. unlike the big square windows my friend has in his doors that are like the size of one of the whole door panels and goes all the way across..   

[heppnerguy]

I have insulated doors in my shop, Which is a double car garage, But since we live in Southern Arizona and through the summer most days are in the 100 to 120 degrees, it still get hot in the shop.  I do have a mini split air conditioner in my shop. The sun comes up very early in the morning and as soon as it gets higher then my neighbors single story house across the street, I am hit with the direct sun hitting both my doors. Outside at 6 am it is already 82 degrees, but sometimes the coolest it gets outside is 90 degrees.  I start my AC right after I get up, if I am going to work in my shop and about the best I can maintain is 84 degrees. Without my AC it would get to 104 degrees by noon or so. Do the insulated doors help, YES. Does that mean it will be comfortable to scroll in all day...  Not for me. But an added T shirt that is put in a sink of water and rung out and worn during the afternoon works way better than you would realize. The spraying or misting oneself is a joke but the wet T shirt works wonders for about 45 minutes. 

Dick

heppnerguy

[munzieb]

10 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Yes I like lots of light.. which is why I put the windows in.. plus if I want to I can open the windows and get a nice cross breeze.. I rarely turn the lights on in there other than my magnifier light.. I almost purchased windows in my doors.. but was worried about people seeing in too easily from the road or driveway.. I've never seen windows like those you have in a garage door.. maybe i should have looked more at them.. they look to be high up and probably would be hard to see inside.. unlike the big square windows my friend has in his doors that are like the size of one of the whole door panels and goes all the way across..   

The windows in the door are actually square and you can order various plastic inserts that just pop into the window frame. My pattern conforms with approved HOA requirements.

[Woodmaster1]

My windows are double pane in the garage doors.

[ScollSaw Slasher]

I think you will find that the insulated doors work better at retaining the heat during the winter than helping in the heat of summer to keep the place cool. On our Florida 90-95 daily summer temperature. I still open the garage door and turn the fan on if I feel the need to scroll or any other garage work. I've threatened to air condition the garage these many years after putting up the insulated double door, but have yet to do it. I love the light and  fresh air even hot I guess. But no matter, I would always recommend an insulated door over a non insulated just because there is less noise pollution from the outside world as well.

[NC Scroller]

My shop has an insulated door but it faces North so I can't say how much it helps with direct sun.  I know it helps in the winter so I think it will help you.

[stevan]

So about what would an insulated two car garage door cost with installation included. I’ve been there thinking about this but just had to replace the heat pump and air handler so this could be a few years off but still...

[NC Scroller]

An added bonus of insulated doors is it is quieter.  Less outside noise in and less inside noise getting our to bother your neighbors.

[Woodmaster1]

On 8/5/2018 at 5:38 PM, NC Scroller said:

An added bonus of insulated doors is it is quieter.  Less outside noise in and less inside noise getting our to bother your neighbors.

I only had the police called on me once when making raised panel doors at 11:00 pm. They shined the flashlight in my eyes while I was using the router. After I got done telling them unsafe that was I told them to get the decibel meter out to see if I was breaking the noise ordinance. I only did that because of flashlight deal making it unsafe for me. I got to finish because with the doors closed I wasn't breaking the noise ordinance which didn't make them happy.

[OCtoolguy]

On 8/3/2018 at 9:12 PM, heppnerguy said:

I have insulated doors in my shop, Which is a double car garage, But since we live in Southern Arizona and through the summer most days are in the 100 to 120 degrees, it still get hot in the shop.  I do have a mini split air conditioner in my shop. The sun comes up very early in the morning and as soon as it gets higher then my neighbors single story house across the street, I am hit with the direct sun hitting both my doors. Outside at 6 am it is already 82 degrees, but sometimes the coolest it gets outside is 90 degrees.  I start my AC right after I get up, if I am going to work in my shop and about the best I can maintain is 84 degrees. Without my AC it would get to 104 degrees by noon or so. Do the insulated doors help, YES. Does that mean it will be comfortable to scroll in all day...  Not for me. But an added T shirt that is put in a sink of water and rung out and worn during the afternoon works way better than you would realize. The spraying or misting oneself is a joke but the wet T shirt works wonders for about 45 minutes. 

Dick

heppnerguy

Dick, you are so right about the wet tee shirt. When we moved back to So Cal from Colorado, it was in July and I was driving my tool truck over through the hottest part of the desert. I did it by putting a bucket of water on the floor beside me. I wet my tee shirt and also a towel. I wrung out the towel, held it out the window for a minute or so and then wrapped it around my neck. I did that every 15 minutes or so. It really did help. One of God's miracles is evaporation.

 

[jbrowning]

Well sis and I just had a hell of a hail storm come through yesterday (the hail was tennis ball size). It just tore the snot out of our garage door. So maybe with the insurance company help I can get me a insulated door and larger garage door opener.

[OCtoolguy]

17 hours ago, jbrowning said:

Well sis and I just had a hell of a hail storm come through yesterday (the hail was tennis ball size). It just tore the snot out of our garage door. So maybe with the insurance company help I can get me a insulated door and larger garage door opener.

Another reason we opted out of living in C.S. We have seen what hail can do. Our closest friends just moved to Oklahoma and they were telling us about what car/house insurance is going to cost them. No thanks.

 

[jbrowning]

You know what Ray, I have lived in Colorado Springs since around 1980. I don't remember having hail damage until the last couple of years.

[heppnerguy]

18 hours ago, jbrowning said:

Well sis and I just had a hell of a hail storm come through yesterday (the hail was tennis ball size). It just tore the snot out of our garage door. So maybe with the insurance company help I can get me a insulated door and larger garage door opener.

I saw the videos of the hail storm that hit there. Amazing... 23 years ago our daughter moved to the high dessert of Eastern Oregon and the weekend after she had moved in, my wife and I went to help her unpack and get settled but the day before we got there, a hail storm hit her area and left a lot of destruction behind.    It was also about this time of the year as they were just about to start the harvest of the water melons in Hermiston, which is well known for their high end water melons and the entire crop was destroyed. A lot of broken windows and other damage. It was not as bad as the one you just went through but never the less, it was a small disaster. I hope your insurance covers this for you. I heard a lot of insurances do not include 'natural disasters'.  Good luck

Dick

heppnerguy

[OCtoolguy]

1 hour ago, jbrowning said:

You know what Ray, I have lived in Colorado Springs since around 1980. I don't remember having hail damage until the last couple of years.

I figured that if I moved there, all hell would rain down on us. We moved there in 1985. The first time we were up at Chapel Hills Mall, we parked next to an almost brand new Chevy Camaro. My wife said, "OMG" what happened to that car"? It had been pelted by hail and looked like it had been done in with a ball peen hammer. I do love it there though. We were up at 8500 feet and I never saw so many stars in my life. We owned/operated the Hallmark Store in Uintah Gardens before they redid it and our store went away. 

 

Edited August 8, 2018 by octoolguy