Garage conversion - insulating the door

CptKernow

Family are away over xmas so am planning to crack on with converting the garage into a luxury man cave. It is too small to easily fit the car in, plus my bikes are worth as much as the car...

Anyway, I have it all planned with the exception of how to deal with the roller door. I was initially going to knock up a stud wall in front of it with a section I could pull out. However, I'm now feeling more inclined to just have a temporary solution for the winter - but not sure what this would be.

Any suggestions, permanent or temporary would be appreciated. Thanks.

trek_dan

Use galv metal stud. Goes up in seconds and is pennies.

fenix

Surely you want the garage kept cool though ? If you're turboing in there - the cooler the better.

If you aren't then I see your point.

stueys

I've got an insulated sectional garage door on mine, works really well but is probably an expensive way of achieving what you want. If you aren't worried about opening the door then just fixing something like celotex insulated board to the back of it would work well.

cld531c

Id leave it as is - sometimes I need the door open even with two fans in winter!

slowbike

Biggest issue is heat transfer - garage can be flippin cold in the winter - heat is lost through draughts. Whilst we may want it cold for turboing - we don't want it freezing! The easiest way to insulate is going to depend on what you've got - but for me - the simplest way was to mount an old duvet inside the door - it didn't totally prevent draughts but did reduce them - plus, because it's temporary, it's easy to get around/remove when you need access.
The Up & Over doors are worse, because they require so much space it's difficult to mount anything separately, so you have to mount it on the door itself - never did work out something sensible - ended up replacing with a roller door - which meant more room to hang bikes!

Matthewfalle

if you want it to be a cave why are you insulating it?

#confused

Phil Fouracre

Converted mine! Removed the door, fitted ‘normal’ steel security door and blocked and rendered the remaining opening. Insulated all with Cellotex and fitted a dozen led downlights, magic :-) almost forgot, plus heating and music!!

webboo

We had the up and over door changed to By fold doors. However there is now no droughts due to the better sealing which seems to cause a bit of a condensation problem with all the heavy breathing.

CptKernow

Thanks for the suggestions. Will look into what might work (and not break the bank!)

I need it warmer in there as I want to store bikes - my two best bikes take up valuable space in my office at the moment. If I put them in the garage all my steel bits start rusting over the winter.

Can't see the problem with it being a bit warmer - I have a fan and have used the turbo in there in the summer without dying. It isn't joined to the house there is another external door too.

Would be nice training somewhere that isn't almost as dank as it is outside...

sloppyschleckonds

CptKernow wrote:

Would be nice training somewhere that isn't almost as dank as it is outside...

Spain

slowbike

rust is due to moisture - the colder it is, the drier it is ...

on the floating caravan we had 2 options - ventilation or sealing off and de-humidifier. We went mostly with the later.

CptKernow

Slowbike wrote:

rust is due to moisture - the colder it is, the drier it is ...

And, IIRC, the dew point is also a factor... I.e. the damp won't condense if it is warmer

bompington

Slowbike wrote:

the colder it is, the drier it is ...

You've never been to Scotland, have you?

slowbike

bompington wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

the colder it is, the drier it is ...

You've never been to Scotland, have you?

Ah - well, obviously there's a tipping point

step83

Rollers wont be very easily to insulate so I would focus on other areas if you do want to. If you have eve space in the garage thats a prime candidate for a form of roof and hatch setup, plyboard the underside and you can drop either foam block or rolls of insulation in, instant heat trap, same principle can be applied to the side but you will obviously loose space.

Roller doors though I'm sure have a better seal than the usual up an over affair but you can add to it with a rubber lip/seal around the edges and base which should also kill the bulk of the moisture.

Does the garage have power?

trek_dan

CptKernow wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions. Will look into what might work (and not break the bank!)

I need it warmer in there as I want to store bikes - my two best bikes take up valuable space in my office at the moment. If I put them in the garage all my steel bits start rusting over the winter.

Can't see the problem with it being a bit warmer - I have a fan and have used the turbo in there in the summer without dying. It isn't joined to the house there is another external door too.

Would be nice training somewhere that isn't almost as dank as it is outside...

If the damp is coming up through the floors or walls (assuming an older external garage with no DPC) insulating may well make this worse by removing the ventilation...

ridgeway_swiss

I can only think of a draught excluder curtain, the type you some times see inside a pub door in Winter. Basically it's heavy felt cloth, perhaps 2-3 layers made up as a curtain that could be removed after Winter. I reckon it would keep your garage quite a bit warmer.

itboffin

one very simple solution is heavy curtains

horizon

If you've got a brick or block framed opening, you could get rigid insulation sheets (eg polystyrene or rigid urethane) cut very slightly oversize and friction fixed into the opening. They're rigid enough not to need any more fixings (maybe some gaffe tape). 50mm of rigid urethane (eg Celotex, Eurothane Recticil, Kingsoan) will make a massive difference and can easily be lifted out if needs be.