Winter is Coming

[Rebecca Stapler]

We rent a slim 4-story townhouse, with the first floor consisting of a one-car garage and a stairway up to the living room. The garage is closed off from the rest of the house, but in the winter, the draft into the living above the garage feels like a breeze. There is a .25-1" gap between the garage door and the wall, on all 4 sides of the door (enough for light to come through on all sides; the 1" gap is at the top of the door, very close to the living room floor).

What cost-effective way can we reduce the breeze? Our summer gas bill is $25, our winter gas bill is $150. During the spring and fall, it's around $75. We will live here this winter and maybe next winter, but that's up the air. So, I would like to do something that will pay for itself the first year.

MMM wrote that he insulated his garage with $25 of insulation, but I'm not a contractor, so I assume that I will have to buy more than just insulation. Some DIY sites online estimate it will cost me $100 -- does that sound more on target?

Is there a way to attach insulation in a way that won't damage the door if our landlord makes us take it off when we move?

Is there a way to weatherstrip the perimeter of the garage door without messing up our ability to open and close the door?

I don't think that my landlord would consent to us hiring someone to blow in insulation between the garage and living room, but if they did, how much would that cost in a HCOLA?

This project is a little daunting to me, but I can't stand the waste of energy and money that this garage door is causing. One last question ... do I really need to hire a garage door professional to adjust the "spring tension" on my door, now that it will have some added weight? Or is this something I can puzzle through on my own? (Or with some mustacian badass help?)

[kdms]

I'd be interested in responses to this too....we've got a similar problem.

[Rebecca Stapler]

I have found a few DIY instructions on this:

http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/insulation/how-to-insulate-a-garage-door/#.
http://www.dri.edu/images/stories/editors/receditor/HEA_-_Insulate_Garage_Doors_4-5-10-1.pdf
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103788

Looks like, depending on the doors, I might be able to just pop the insulation in to the door's ribs without using screws / nails / adhesive.

The gap, IMO, is the biggest culprit. And in some places, I can see light through the slats in the door.

[Nancy]

Had my hopes up that this might be a Game of Thrones thread. I'll see myself out.

[Another Reader]

The greatest heat loss in this situation is by convection, not conduction.   Look at how the door is installed and how it opens and closes.  It may need adjustment.  Is the bottom of the door completely weather stripped?  Perhaps with some weather stripping and door adjustment, you can slow the flow of air.  Not much point in insulating the door if the area of the gaps totals the size of a small window.  Is it a sectional door?  You may be able to insulate between the rails and the front wall, although if it shows the HOA might object.

Can you beef up the weather stripping on the door that separates the garage from the rest of the house?  Is it at the top or bottom of the stairs?  Would hanging a blanket or quilt help?

[worms]

Would hanging a blanket or quilt help?

I'd go for a home-made Roman blind arrangement of quilts on the garage door itself, or failing that, on the garage-to-house door.

[GuitarStv]

Besides insulating, you really want to caulk every crack and seal any gap that can allow airflow from your garage to your home.  The exhaust from your car is not good to breath . . . and if it's as drafty as you say you're definitely getting some of that exhaust coming inside.

[Rebecca Stapler]

The greatest heat loss in this situation is by convection, not conduction.   Look at how the door is installed and how it opens and closes.  It may need adjustment.  Is the bottom of the door completely weather stripped?  Perhaps with some weather stripping and door adjustment, you can slow the flow of air.  Not much point in insulating the door if the area of the gaps totals the size of a small window.  Is it a sectional door?  You may be able to insulate between the rails and the front wall, although if it shows the HOA might object.

The problem is that the bracket that hold the door in place, holds it .5"-1" away from the wall on the top and sides. I'm surprised we don't have more bugs in our garage, because they can easily fit through. Are there 1"-wide weatherstrips for doors?

Besides insulating, you really want to caulk every crack and seal any gap that can allow airflow from your garage to your home.  The exhaust from your car is not good to breath . . . and if it's as drafty as you say you're definitely getting some of that exhaust coming inside.

Now that you mention it, I wonder whether we could caulk inside the garage, where the garage ceiling meets the outside wall, because it really does create a breeze so there must be air getting through somehow.

Would hanging a blanket or quilt help?

I'd go for a home-made Roman blind arrangement of quilts on the garage door itself, or failing that, on the garage-to-house door.

We have a curtain at the top of the stairs to block cold air from coming up the stairs. It was there all winter, so our costs last year include that already :(

[Greg]

If the gap is around the car-door of the garage, you can get plastic strips with a rubber flap built in from garage door stores (yes they exist) or like the home depot link below.  For a 1-car-garage door, you would probably need (3) 8' or 10' pieces, depending on how they sell them.  You install them outside around the surface of the garage door "jamb" with nails (after cutting to length) which are usually provided.  The trick is to close the car-door, and you place the gasket strip with the flexible flap just touching the vertical surface of the door, then nail it on.  This is assuming a roll-up door not a swing door.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100353490?productId=100353490&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=100353490&ci_src=17588969&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-100353490&ci_gpa=pla#.UjCs6ryKAaw

If the problem is the person door, use acrylic spray foam (low expansion) or grey foam "backer rod" in a size bigger than the biggest gap, which you simple shove into the gap.

Hope this helps.

[Rebecca Stapler]

If the gap is around the car-door of the garage, you can get plastic strips with a rubber flap built in from garage door stores (yes they exist) or like the home depot link below.  For a 1-car-garage door, you would probably need (3) 8' or 10' pieces, depending on how they sell them.  You install them outside around the surface of the garage door "jamb" with nails (after cutting to length) which are usually provided.  The trick is to close the car-door, and you place the gasket strip with the flexible flap just touching the vertical surface of the door, then nail it on.  This is assuming a roll-up door not a swing door.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100353490?productId=100353490&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=100353490&ci_src=17588969&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-100353490&ci_gpa=pla#.UjCs6ryKAaw

If the problem is the person door, use acrylic spray foam (low expansion) or grey foam "backer rod" in a size bigger than the biggest gap, which you simple shove into the gap.

Hope this helps.

YES! This does help!! It's a roll-up door. This is going to make a HUGE difference. Then I'll tackle whether or not I need to insulate it.

Oh, just one question -- do you attach it to the door or to the wall?

Off to  find a good deal on the weatherstripping ... 

[Zaga]

The stuff Greg recommended was truly a godsend for us.  It nails into the wall next to the door.  There is also a roll of stuff that nails to the bottom of the door and seals the crack between the door and the ground.

The other thing is we glued and nailed pink foam insulation to the inside of the door, because the door was super old and leaky.  We actually blocked the windows with foamboard because they were the worst offenders.

Here are some links to pics of our door.  You'll see that it's still in pretty bad shape, eventually we will replace it, but this is a huge help for now.  In particular our master bedroom is above this garage, the insulation and sealing made a HUGE difference!  Try and see if your landlord will take a bit off of your rent for doing this work.

Oh yeah, it was about $150 total for this on a 1 1/2 car garage door a few years ago.

Pink foamboard, it's ugly but it works!
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp24/zaga21/chair.jpg

You can see the weather stripping on the side and a bit on the bottom:
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp24/zaga21/Bench.jpg

Sorry, that's all the pics I have right now.  But really, this was a super easy project, it can all be done with a knife, handsaw, and hammer.

[Greg]

Yes, you attach it to the narrow edge of the doorway opening, at a right angle to the door surface.  It probably comes with directions.

[Rebecca Stapler]

The confusing part of this is that I looked at my garage door from the outside and it has weatherstripping there. Yet, the light still shines through to the inside of the garage. I guess it's not big enough, or maybe I should augment it with another barrier on the inside? I'll take a pic and post when I get home.

[yolfer]

Had my hopes up that this might be a Game of Thrones thread. I'll see myself out.

Me too! Plus, I saw it was in the DIY forum so I was very interested to see if someone made their own dragonglass dagger or something!

[Greg]

Stan, if you have weatherstripping already, it might be worn out or not in the correct position, and needs to be removed and moved closer to the door.  This could be caused by the door being replaced.

Alternatively the door tracks can be moved closer to the door frame, but that requires a fair amount of skill and/or gumption.

[eyePod]

Do you mind looking ghetto?

Duct tape and bubble wrap.  BAM!  Also use bubble wrap on most windows if they aren't new.  I could swear that mine aren't even double-paned.