Garage Door - Air & Bug Sealing

On this episode Matt is using his current garage as a testing ground for some garage upgrades that he is hoping to employ at his new house!
The goal is to have a similar level of control over his new garage, which will be conditioned by it's own mini-split unit, as he will have over his conditioned living space.

The garage will be completely air sealed from the main house, and with the help of these new garage door tracks, ThermoTraks, his garage space will be air sealed as much a s possible. Tag along as Matt talks about his new ThermoTraks, as well as a number of other garage door upgrades!

Huge thanks to our Show sponsors Polywall, Huber, Dorken Delta, Prosoco, Rockwool & Viewrail for helping to make these videos possible! These are all trusted companies that Matt has worked with for years and trusts their products in the homes he builds. We would highly encourage you to check out their websites for more info.

[jwsystems]

I will never put in uninsulated garage doors again. I installed Clopay "Classic Steel" 16x7 door with no windows with 18.4 R-factor and what a difference it made! My door faces west and the hot Texas Panhandle sun would heat up the garage in the afternoon to a mini oven before with the old insulated steel doors. After I installed the doors, I can go out in the garage in the afternoon and do some actual work in the garage as long as I haven't opened the door all day. I'm 100% believer in insulated doors!

[Taz]

Hi Matt! I just finished watching about your garage door sealing. One thing not to forget about that exhaust for the garage most fumes lay low to the ground reason for that you must step down into a garage from a living space, and so if you install the fans at a higher elevation you're going to cause the fumes to pull up before it leaves your house. You got to install that fan low to the ground in order to take all the fumes and exhaust out of your garage wall. So, that fan reduces your air sealing quality by putting that fan in, as you may know, those dampers don't close tight and you lose your air conditioning you lose your heating in your garage just a thought. Thank you for having such a great Channel I built two houses myself and I learned a lot of techniques while I was building my second one on the lake at Lake Hopatcong New Jersey. I Incorporated some tips of yours and it saveed me a lot of time and effort! Take care!

[Jackson-T]

I'm right there with you Matt. My garage doubles as my workshop. It has full insulation (same as house), Clopay R18 doors, and a 24K mini split. I have adjusted the garage door tracks numerous times and now have it air tight and perfect. My only trouble spots are those notorious critter corners where the door, frame, and concrete intersect. I've got those gaps down to about pencil-sized hole and can probably live with that. Here's a tip: run the vinyl flap molding all the way down until it touches the cut it short. BTW, the Clopay 3-layer insulated doors are fantastic and well worth the cost if you spend as much time in the garage as I do. On a hot 100 degree summer day, the outside of the doors are scalding the inside is barely warm.

[blacktalonalan]

I just replaced the drive belt on my Chamberlain unit. The $84 belt had a lifetime warranty! They shipped it at no charge. I watched the YouTube video - done!

[stevewilson]

I just bent my rails like these expensive ones. Garage is tighter now. Thanks for the tip!

[Gsnyder]

I replaced the original wood garage door on my home about 20 years ago with an insulated steel door, and I think it has made a big difference. I will say, whoever installed this door did a great job because the door is still surprisingly weather resistant. I do like the idea of the new door tracks you showed, that is a neat idea.

[TheHappyHaole]

I remember that 70s app my dad carried on him for when we left the garage door open, but we called it a leather belt! Never forgot to close it again.

[looncraz]

We were out of power for days due to the Texas Snowpocalypse ... having a battery backup for the garage door was just wonderful. Used it a dozen times (had to make many trips for supplies, fuel, etc... and leaving the only AWD car I have in the snow and ice didn't make sense).

[paulstaf]

I am in Dallas and installed an insulated garage door years ago. I have a window unit that cools my garage during the worst of the Summer and the insulated door makes a BIG difference.

[paprupapru]

The lift master with the camera and the my IQ app is awesome for a garage door opener and thank you for showing the upgrades on the weatherstripping for the garage you couldn’t of made this video any sooner because I was just working that issue today thank you again Matt

[jlanemiller]

Side mount is the way to go! Super quiet, super sleek. Love the myQ app especially during the construction process to allow me to know everything is safe while I’m not there. In my new construction garage we have 2- R10 insulated garage doors 18’x9’. ZipR9 on walls separating garage and living space. Motion sensor exhaust fans. Living in a cold climate with no heat and no cavity wall insulation yet the garage stays at 56° or higher even on the cold nights. It’s also a 1300sqft garage with 11’ ceilings. A warm garage is always nice to pull into or for those house projects

[scorpio]

I can confirm that an insulated door does make a significant and noticeable difference to the comfort and quiet of a garage, even in a temperate climate.

[jezza]

I stuff foam pipe insulation inside the bottom seal on my garage door. Makes a better seal from the added rigidity and compression.

[Prorex]

I have a shop with commercial 10’ door and I got the uninsulated and then bought blue 1/2 poly foam and cut out and filled each pocket very tightly. Actually angled the tops and bottoms of each piece to slide in the groves. I put 2 pieces for every square, so I get a full inch of R value. It helps a TON as I keep my shop temperature controlled. It just looks ugly with the blue squares, but I’ll fix it eventually. Lol.

[lightbillable]

You will love the side mount Liftmasters with automatic dead bolt locks. very quiet and totally secure with the dead bolt locking

[-CJ]

@Matt Risinger Hello. Thanks for the video. Looks like I am a few years late to reply. Just saw this video. Anyway I just moved into my Newley built home back in September 2023. We since had the brand new basic metal single panel 2 car garage door removed and replaced with the same looking door but it’s insulated. It’s metal on both sides. The nice thing it did was provided better sound proofing. We also removed our ceiling mounted garage door motor and went with a side mount jack opener. Also very nice. The bedroom above the garage area no longer has to has to hear the loud chain and loud door noises. The heavier door does not rattle all over inside the tracks.

What we did see that was a negative. Within a couple days after the install. When we went into the garage and opened the door. We saw water dripping from the inside of the door. When we went to close the door water was squirting from all around the window panels. Yes we have windows across the top of the door all the way across. Anyway we were shocked about this. When we looked at our humidity and temp gauge in the garage. The humidity was around 80%. Since we have a more sealed in garage door. The moisture was building up significantly in the garage. This went away with the use of a dehumidifier. We do not have a MiniSplit in our garage. This water and humidity build up went away. We are now down around 40. Of course the days it rains is when the dehumidifier runs. Since it’s winter the cold air sucks moisture out or dries things out. So the dehumidifier barely runs. The reason this all happened is because the air gets trapped more inside the garage. What will really be hard is come summer. When the humidity will always be high. We live in South Carolina where it’s humid.

We do have some small openings around the bottom of the door where the outside brick and the door trim meet. So that lets air or humidity into the garage. We do have a large ceiling fan on the ceiling in the garage. We have no idea what we will experience come summer. Hopefully we don’t find that the heat will also get trapped inside the garage now that we have an insulated door. We totally didn’t think this part out or expect this. We for sure will need to run a dehumidifier to control the humidity. We just hope that we can also somehow keep the heat from building up or being worse than it would have been with a basic metal non insulated door. I know that many of you would say install a MiniSplit. But we just do not want to have to do that.

[RickDowdin]

Haas is vender that makes the best garage doors on the market, (my opinion). I installed 2 steel back sandwich doors on my home, and noticed a huge difference in temps throughout the year. The insulted doors will help maintain whatever the temperature is in the garage. And they are a very durable door, they do not dent as easy and you won't have to worry about the vinyl/foam insulation tearing or puncturing.

[jeffirick]

When I was stationed in Germany a couple years ago, our garage had a really nice door made by Hörmann. It was quiet (my wife's favorite characteristic), sealed well, looked good, and had good functionality. They're available here (manufactured in Illinois) and worth considering if you haven't already decided on a door.

[ksoman]

Good stuff. You can use VOC sensors to trigger the exhaust. It'll help with your efficiency goals and also trigger based on actual air quality instead of just motion and false positives of motion. Thanks for your videos as always.

[richincody]

Fellow Pittsburgher now living in NW Wyoming just outside Yellowstone. Strong westerly winds here most of the time and my garage doors face west. Installed Clopay insulated doors that are also “wind rated.” Very happy so far. Also have 2 Chamberlain openers with My-Q. Installed mini split in garage for heating and cooling after watching your videos. Thanks for all your advice-I used much of it in my new build.