Insulating a garage door on the cheap

phoenix_w

Hi all,

I've got an attached garage which is used as the cat's room/general storage. Eventually I want to turn it into a proper room, but can't afford at the moment... So, I'd like to insulate the garage door (old steel up and over) as best as I can so it's not so frickin freezing in there this winter.

I was thinking of no more nails'ing one inch sheets of polystyrene in the panels of the garage door and then tacking some of foil insulation roll on top of it to make it look smarter/preserve more heat. Is this a good idea or does it sound like the ramblings of a drunk?

Also, any recommendations for temporarily sealing around the door? I'd love to squirt expanding foam between the door and it's frame, but I know if I do that I'm likely to need to open it for some reason. Can anyone suggest a material that I could use for filling in the gaps (10mm at widest, 2-5 mm as narrowest) to keep the room free of draughts?

Is all the above in vain and my !!!!!!s will be frozen no matter what I do? All suggestions welcome.

HappyMJ

phoenix_w wrote: »

Hi all,

I've got an attached garage which is used as the cat's room/general storage. Eventually I want to turn it into a proper room, but can't afford at the moment... So, I'd like to insulate the garage door (old steel up and over) as best as I can so it's not so frickin freezing in there this winter.

I was thinking of no more nails'ing one inch sheets of polystyrene in the panels of the garage door and then tacking some of foil insulation roll on top of it to make it look smarter/preserve more heat. Is this a good idea or does it sound like the ramblings of a drunk?

Also, any recommendations for temporarily sealing around the door? I'd love to squirt expanding foam between the door and it's frame, but I know if I do that I'm likely to need to open it for some reason. Can anyone suggest a material that I could use for filling in the gaps (10mm at widest, 2-5 mm as narrowest) to keep the room free of draughts?

Is all the above in vain and my !!!!!!s will be frozen no matter what I do? All suggestions welcome.

I think you'll be better off building a partition wall far enough back to allow the garage door to fully open and leave the garage door alone.

Dan-Dan

HappyMJ wrote: »

I think you'll be better off building a partition wall far enough back to allow the garage door to fully open and leave the garage door alone.

Which would still leave the gap at the top of the wall to allow for the garage door mechanism , unless OP`s garage is massive and he can build the wall at the end of that

societys_child

Average up'n'over door only slides about 3 to 4ft into the garage, so would still leave about 12ft of usable room in an average 16ft garage . . . and you'd get a small storage space for yer junk:rotfl:

Norman_Castle

Can anyone suggest a material that I could use for filling in the gaps (10mm at widest, 2-5 mm as narrowest) to keep the room free of draughts?

Polythene bags loosely rolled then pushed into the gap with a scraper. Try a local carpet shop for long pieces of clear plastic.

phoenix_w

So I've started this project. Didn't follow the suggestion of building a wall, this was only supposed to be a cheap way of keeping the cats warmer over autumn/winter! I've so far put one inch deep polystyrene (cheap stuff, not foil backed stuff) between the panels in the door, and I'm going to put reflective foil insulation on top of that...

Question is... I could add another inch of polystyrene between the door and the foil, but is it worth it? The steel is a big thermal bridge anyhow so maybe the inch I've put down won't have much effect.

Furts

Polystyrene is not a good insulant and 25mm makes this effectiveness worse - you would do well to put more. 50mm ought to be a minimum. Ideally you would buy sheets of Celotex or Kingspan or similar. This is much tougher, much easier to ram into garage doors without breaking, and comes with a foil finish on both sides. It is also a better insulant that polystyrene.

A cheap way to fill the gaps around the door would be painters caulk - some contain fungicide to combat the damp and mould. You could peel this off in the future if you wanted to open the door. Be aware this is not water resistant so if the garage is exposed an acrylic frame sealant is cheap - Toolstation is a good place for this.

phoenix_w

PIR is just too expensive for something I plan to throw away sometime next year, unfortunately. It's four times the price and would make this a very expensive job. As mentioned before, the door itself is a massive thermal bridge and the bracing steel will all be exposed after taking in polystyrene or PIR, so I think the whole project is a bit of a gamble anyhow....

Norman_Castle

Could you fix the silver coated bubble wrap to the frame with either double sided tape or self adhesive velcro so it could be removed and replaced if needed.

Furts

phoenix_w wrote: »

PIR is just too expensive for something I plan to throw away sometime next year, unfortunately. It's four times the price and would make this a very expensive job. As mentioned before, the door itself is a massive thermal bridge and the bracing steel will all be exposed after taking in polystyrene or PIR, so I think the whole project is a bit of a gamble anyhow....

Then hang some heavy lined old curtains across the opening, weigh them down at the bottom and staple the sides to the frame. Cheap - or dirt cheap if you get them off Freecycle.

Think of it as an Eco solution!

AnnieO1234

Double up the curtains with cheap fleece too, and get some cheap foam weatherstripping for door. You'll be able to build it up if needed. You can currently get 3 x 4.5m rolls in discount uk for £1. Xxx