Insulated Sectional Garage Door - Better for Bedroom Above?

ThisIsWeird

Before going to what I presume will be a considerable cost in replacing the garage door, I wonder if it's worth a trial of gaffa-taping all around the existing one to stop draughts?

It might be hard to compare the difference as the weather is becoming more mild - drat...

diystarter7

EmmyLou30 said:

Very similar situation in our 1990's house, one bedroom above a garage so it has 3 external walls, a block of cold air underneath it in the garage via a draughty up and over door and whatever passed for adequate insulation when the house was built between the ceiling/floor. That bedroom was always harder to heat and we generally left the door open so it could get heat off the landing to balance it out.

Recently got a sectional garage door, thick and insulated (though obviously not 'sealed' round the frame it's a lot better than the old door with minimal gaps). It's made a big difference. The garage is a much more static temp so stayed cool in summer (used to get really hot being south facing) which helped keep the bedroom cooler and now come winter it's noticeably not freezing cold out there at all which has meant the bedroom is easier to heat. It wasn't the reason we did it, the old door was rotting and falling off the runners and not very secure, but the improvement gained by having a modern insulated door have been way more than I expected. 

Hi

I endorse the above post 100%

A house similar to one we have, we have a metal door, not insulated and we can access this via a door inside the house - its freezing in there in cold weather as we have overflow stuff and second washing machine FF etc, etc in there. However, a house similar to ours same garage layout - they have an insulated door and it is properly sealed. There is a massive difference during very cold weather it is a lot more comfy.

Thnaks

seanfos

Quick update from me, the window company came today and adjusted the window so there is no longer a gap.  Will now give it a few days and see if the room warms up to somewhere closer to the rest of upstairs

Sean

seanfos

ThisIsWeird said:

Keep the thread updated, please, with what you find  

As requested, here’s an update!  So turns out multiple people with the same house style as us have also complained about the temperature of the room above the garage. The developer has started a program to add additional insulation to the ceiling and will board and plaster to give it a finished look again. After this I will monitor the temperature difference in the bedroom before thinking of additional measures that might be needed

Sean

ThisIsWeird

Good result, Sean. It does sound like a design/builder fault, as there is simply no excuse for a room above a garage to be colder than, say, a ground floor room above a foundation void. 

I hope the issue is not down to an over-ventilated gap above the existing garage ceiling, tho', because - if so - adding extra insulation to its underside ain't going to help.

I really hope they remove the existing garage ceiling first, and check out what is going on. I think foolish not to.

seanfos

I'm hoping they have done their investigation and testing on other houses as we are somewhere in the middle of the queue of ones being done

Sean

EssexExile

Let's hope that sorts it out. My bedroom is above an unheated and uninsulated garage & I haven't noticed it being any colder than the rest of the house.

born_again

seanfos said:

We have a room above our integral garage that is consistently 2-3 degrees colder than the landing and other bedrooms. It is a new build property, so should have good levels of insulation throughout. The garage door is a standard, very flimsy, up-and-over one and the garage itself is much colder than anywhere in the house. Is installing an insulated sectional garage door likely to have much benefit to keeping the room above warm (assuming windows, radiator, room insulation, etc. are as they should be)?

Thanks

Sean

Don't buy another insulated door. 

MSE way. Just insulate the back of the door. 👍

ThisIsWeird

I still don't understand how insulating the door of an unheated room is going to help significantly.

Yes, the garage may become a few degrees warmer as it pinches heat through the attached house walls, and yes it may be less draughty in there, but it's surely not the  solution. The solution is to properly insult the envelop of the bedroom, so that means its floor - Ie the ceiling void of the garage below.