Off Topic: Re: Sealing Roll Up garage Door for Winter

Cost of natural gas the fact that I can no longer stand the winter cold the way I used to has me doing a major shop renovations. 1000 square foot uninsulated block building with only the ceiling insulated. Heating bills are almost a $300.00 CDN to keep it at 52 degrees F. in the colder months. I'm in the process of completely insulating the walls but a major source of heat lose and draft is around my so called insulated roll up garage door. I know I can refit the door and etc. but we have done that before and it'still not that air tight. I'm wondering about building an external sliding door to block the cold and wind. I have also thought of doing it on the cheap by dropping a large tarp down in front of the door but it would probably freeze and make getting my snow blower out or vehicles in for repairs when needed a real chore.

If anyone one on this newsgroup has had any experience with the same type of problem I would appreciate knowing what they did to lessen the heat lose and drafts without sealing the door completely making un useable in the winter months.

Thanks in advance

Jimbo

Reply to
Jimbo
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"Jimbo" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@golden.net... | Cost of natural gas the fact that I can no longer stand the winter cold the | way I used to has me doing a major shop renovations. 1000 square foot | uninsulated block building with only the ceiling insulated. Heating bills | are almost a $300.00 CDN to keep it at 52 degrees F. in the colder months. | I'm in the process of completely insulating the walls but a major source of | heat lose and draft is around my so called insulated roll up garage door. | I know I can refit the door and etc. but we have done that before and | it'still not that air tight. I'm wondering about building an external | sliding door to block the cold and wind. I have also thought of doing it on | the cheap by dropping a large tarp down in front of the door but it would | probably freeze and make getting my snow blower out or vehicles in for | repairs when needed a real chore. | | If anyone one on this newsgroup has had any experience with the same type of | problem I would appreciate knowing what they did to lessen the heat lose and | drafts without sealing the door completely making un useable in the winter | months. | | Thanks in advance | | Jimbo

My garage door was just the aluminum panels, uninsulated, and I eventually got some of that mylar coated styrofoam and glued pieces in place to create reduce the loss. In addition to slowing heat loss, the foil also lightens up the garage a good bit. It was hard finding a glue that would stick to the styrofoam and still handle the flexing of the door panels, though. I haven't bothered doing it ye,t but I want to get some rubber strip or tape and install it over the joints such that there is a little ripple between the pieces when closed and open, so that when partially open the stuff won't pull off. I've also adjusted the closure settings and tracks of the door so that it closes more tightly against the door frame. Our weather here in the Pacific Northwest is relatively mild for winters, so I'm not in a big hurry to do more. I'm not sure if you could get some of that weather-stripping foam from the store that would seal the door frame because of the sliding that usually occurs, but I have seen a vee shaped seal that might do the job. Back up the adhesive with staples, it doesn't tend to work too well over time and too much cycling.

Reply to
carl mciver

If you have major air leaks, and you're describing it as "so called insulated", I suggest having it ripped out and replaced with a _good_ one. Working on a crapped out door is a waste of money and time, IMHO. Building an external sliding door is going to cost a significant fraction of replacing the door, and then you have to keep the external sliding door slideway clear so you can actually open it during the winter. One more thing to shovel and scrape...

Sealing the opening in a manner that still lets you use it is best done with a good door - I know that it was a major pain trying to keep my opening sealed before the door was installed. Getting a tarp to seal well enough to make any difference is a major operation, and then you have to undo that every time you want to open the door. Not good. Rolling a tarp over the door without sealing the tarp just changes the direction of the drafts slightly.

I put a 10x10 foot R17 Overhead door brand door (thermacore, commercial, the thickest one) into my Vermont shop - just about $1100 US installed, last year. It's actually insulated, and it actually seals. Well worth it, IMHO. Just a happy customer, YMMV, etc.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

Reply to
James Arnold

The music group I play guitar with recently had to change rehearsal locations. Since the other guys live in apartments, my place was the logical choice. My garage is part of the house. It connects to my basement & is half underground. However the garage doors are uninsulated which equals sound transparent.

The doors are recessed on the outside, so I made some panels to slide in with a tight fit. 3/4" MDF and a stud frame on 16" centers with fiberglass insulation. I was going for sonic insulation, but it keeps the heat in really well, too. It has been sub-freezing here lately and the garage isin the high 50's -low 60's (F). About 30 degrees F warmer than it used to be.

The panels are heavier than hell, though.

Hope this helps.

Reply to
John L. Weatherly

Lots of good ideas

Thanks

Jimbo

Reply to
Jimbo

I've got one rather simple idea that may be worth considering if the primary problem is air leakage around the perimeter of the door.

Regular foam weather-stripping between the panels of the door is usually adequate to seal those gaps and the weight of the door on a good quality gasket at the bottom usually works ok, but the sides and top are generally quite difficult to seal well.

My thought would be to use inflatable gaskets for the sides and top. You could attach a perhaps 1" square casing along the top and sides on the outside of the door about 3/4" back from the door surface. Attached to the casing in the gap attach a fairly thin wall rubber tubing that when inflated to perhaps 10-15 PSI will expand to about 1" in diameter. When inflated this should seal tightly along the door surface and when deflated should pull back enough to allow free movement of the door.

If you have an automatic opener on the door this could be fully automated with one of the pneumatic "micro switches" where the last bit of travel of the opener that tries to snug the top of the door after it is already down would operate the switch and inflate the gasket. When the opener starts to open it will release the switch well before the door starts to move up and will give the gasket time to deflate.

I would think with some ingenuity this setup could be built for not more than $100 with most of that being the valve if you can't scrounge one.

Pete C.

Jimbo wrote:

Reply to
Pete C.

Just be careful that you don't build a pneumatic press. I'd imagine something like this could do some real damage to the door or the track.

Shawn

Reply to
Shawn

True, presumably you'd be using a separate regulator from your compressor since 120PSI would certainly not be good. I'd start with 0PSI and increase it until I saw good gasket contact all around and stop at that point.

With the load right at the edges near the track I'd think you can safely apply a couple pounds of force, after all the wind load across the entire door surface during a good storm will exert a pretty substantial force.

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

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