Hot Garage Ventilation

Dear Tim,
I have a detached 2 car garage (garage doors facing south) with a fenced in brick layered back yard that gets sun (end unit townhouse) from the east and south. My back yard gets extremely hot and I'm sure a lot of the heat is keeping me from being able to cool off my garage. What type of ventilation fans might be best for my situation? The garage area is 20x20x9ft and the attic is about 1400 cubic feet. This was the only article I found about garage ventilation and their scenario seems much different than mine.

Thanks for any help.

Regards,
Ted

Dear Tim,

Would a roof turbine vent be effective for cooling my garage? The garage is open up to the roof, so there's no insulation in what would normally be attic space. I have a highly insulated garage door newly installed that has turned the garage into an oven, and am looking for ventilation options. Is a roof turbine sufficient, or would sidewall ventilation fans be better?

Thanks,

Matt

I live in St. Louis and many of the neighbors on our street keep their garage doors open partially in the summer. Is this a benefit of some sort? Nobody really has a good reason for doing it and it doesn't look good.

Dear Tim,
It seems like every comment I've read on this topic have hit home with me in one way or another. I have a good size, 2 car garage that was originally connected to the house across a breezeway. The buildings were connected in the sense that the garage roof eave extended to the house, providing roof cover for the otherwise unenclosed breezeway. The garage doors face west and although there are many large trees in the neighborhood, none in a position to provide shade to the garage. Because of this, the garage gets unbearably hot as soon as the weather turns warm (which it does pretty early in Oklahoma). Plus, a few years ago, at my wife's insistence, we enclosed the breezeway, which has worked out pretty well, except for the noticeable increase in radiant heat from the garage - even with the connecting doors shut. I've thought of adding insulation to the metal garage door, but after reading this article and comments, I'm pretty well convinced that I'll need to put in some sort of forced air ventilation system, if I want to have a humanly tolerable workspace. Any other suggestions besides the ones I've already read in this column?

We live in Florida in the Daytona Beach area with a west facing garage door. Unfortunately in our planned development garage doors are painted dark brown.
We go north for the summer so the door remains closed for about 6 months. The heat buildup is such that we worry about leaving a car, bicycles etc. in the garage. We are installing a thermostat controlled fan this year. How large and how many vents will we need for incoming "cooler" air? The garage has a hip not a gable roof and a small attic space above.
Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

i hve same problem as matt. my east facing attached 2 - car garage is open to the underside of roof. what kind of fan or rans would help keep cool in summer?

BILLWEIKM

Hi Tim,
My house suffers from a hot attic which has ridge vents and soffit vents
and sits in direct sun all day.Plus my garage faces the west.
I found this garage vent that vents into the attic. The makers of this vent claim that it will provided enough ventilation to lower the temp. in the garage and attic at the same time by moving "enough air to pressurize a typical attic relative to the house forcing the superheated attic air out the attic vents, which may include gable vents, ridge vents, dormer vents,.." Here is the link http://www.rewci.com/gfgacovesy.html
your opinion will be greatly appreciated.

problems with hot garages are usually overcome by lining the inside of the door(s) with a radiant barrier material, which has to be tough and lightweight.
It must be able to stand the stresses of movement and light enough to not interfere with the roller mechanism.

Such a product is called RBS and supplied by Horizon Energy Systems at www.savenrg.com and www.savenrg.com.au
In hot climates the best material for insulating the ceiling is again a Radiant Barrier Material

I have a 20 x20 garage which I have insulated the ceiling and decked with 1/2" plywood. I also have a 16' insulated garage door. I noticed after I insulated the ceiling that the summer heat has no where to escape to. My attic stairway opening is roughly 24 x 52 with no insulation on top of it. I was thinkiking of cutting an opening in it and covering it with 2 16 x 20 air return grilles so that the heat would have some where to go. I also have a gable vent with thermostat.

Jeff

My attached garage has only the garage door. Will it help to keep the garage cooler if I keep the attic access panel open during the summer so the hot air vents into the attic and out the roof vents?
Should I also keep the garage door up a little to let the air flow in?

My hot water tank is in the attic that gets extremely hot here in Little Rock, AR , depleting the oxygen necessary to keep the gas pilot on.
The reputable company that services my plumbing suggested i keep my attic door a few inches open and install a fan to force air circulation.
Is there a way to keep the attic door open 4-6 inches attachjed to the latter or the gararage ceilinG.
Thanks

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Looking to put a shutter type exhaust fan on my garage I am building. The garage is 28x36x12 high with a 14x20 room in one corner which will lower the cubic feet of space somewhat. Do you think a 2000 cfm fan will do it. The garage will be fully insulated including the 10 foot garage doors and ceiling.

The garage door insulation is a great idea as well as a garage ventilator. QuietCool ES line of Garage fans operate on less power than a CFL light-bulb, and produce 1500 cfm of airflow with a very acceptable noise level. They are also built with a 2 hour fire rated damper to keep the roof of the garage space within code for that rated area. They will make a huge difference in not only the temperature of the garage space, but also aid in removing fumes, and odors that seem to linger in garages.

I bought a house that has an enclosed garage that was made into a large bedroom. My problem is, they left a large window on the interior wall. One side of the window is in the bedroom and the other side is in the living room. I really need some ideas on what to do with this window. Please help!
Thank you, Tami Beard

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