Garage Ventilation Question

[badluck24/7]

Been in the current house going on three years. The garage never cools down even during California winter. This summer has been the worst. There doesn’t appear to any type of built in ventilation. I believe my last house had vents and house before that had the ugly spinning globe above the garage. What are some options to vent the garage? Should I be considering a different fix first?
Inland Empire, track home, built 30 years or so, tile roof, attached garage, garage walls poorly dry walled, exposed trusses in garage. I looked online and found conflicting information so I figured I’d ask the RDP experts and get more conflicting information.

 

[TPC]

A small swamp cooler with a tstat.

 

[2Driver]

Exposed trusses…so you look up and no ceiling, your looking at the underside of the roof through the truss work?

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Have a roof vent installed.

Or have an attic style fan installed to draw air through the garage. QuietCool, the whole house fan people also do garage fans.

Or insulate and add a mini split.

 

[Bigbore500r]

Install a fan on a thermostat to vent out your gable vent or roof vents. Of course....if you don't have vents, put some in!
Insulating the underside of the roof does wonders. And if the walls aren't insulated, tackle that.

That should get you handled

 

[SoCalDave]

^^This^^

I recently went through this on our house in Lakewood. Ripped out all the old pegboard, installed insulation in the walls and re-drywall. Installed 1.5" foam board on the garage door or they sell kits for this as well. Ceiling was open truss so I installed 2" foam board (the higher R value stuff) directly over the roof beams. Lastly installed a solar powered exhaust fan and intake (gable vent mounted low to the east wall) and things are much better.

QuietCool 40-Watt Hybrid Solar/Electric Powered Roof Mount Attic Fan with Included Inverter for Nighttime Cooling AFR SLR-40 - The Home Depot

QuietCool Solar Attic Fans are the best in the industry offering the largest panels at an affordable price. This fan features a 40-Watt solar panel, a preset thermostat, an ultra-energy efficient DC motor,

www.homedepot.com

 

[azsunfun]

open the door.

 

[SoCalDave]

open the door.

Two key words...Inland Empire

 

[azsunfun]

Two key words...Inland Empire

depends really what he's trying to do, work on cars, man cave? did'nt say

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Two key words...Inland Empire

If the weather isn't great, he must not be paying enough in taxes.

 

[DRYHEAT]

If the weather isn't great, he must not be paying enough in taxes.

He’s in California he’s paying way more than he should have too.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Like @SoCalDave said, insulate and install a couple of those vents near the ridge on the back side. The other option that works well is a powered vent, and run it on a timer. Have them turn on at the coolest time of the day. The tile roofs hold the temperature longer, so you're fighting that as well if you have no insulation above you.

 

[azsunfun]

on a serious note. if you have a side door, you can open that and crack the garage door foot or three any breeze should cause a cross breeze, give it a try.

 

[yz450mm]

Just remember that if you go with negative pressure ventilation, the air to replace it has to come from somewhere. Do you have a man door or window? The most economical way to cool it off would be a small evap cooler running with the main door cracked to allow the hot air to exhaust out of the space. If you don't have an opening for a cooler, then you could have a window or door cut in, or even a direct opening for a side draft cooler.

Or, insulate the roof and install a mini split with heat pump.

 

[81Sprint]

When i had my house built, I did an insulated garage door, and full upgraded insulation in the exterior and interior walls as well as between the floors. Also add ceiling fans to move the air. When its 110 in Vegas i can hang out in the garage with door closed and its comfortable, doing that as i type this. Same goes in the winter, I did add a 50 amp electric heater to take the chill off after the door has been opened. I would start with insulating it and how it is, also a wall mounted swamp cooler would help, buddy of mine has one and its cold in his garage in the middle of summer.

 

[TrollerDave]

Ventilate and insulate. You got to try and keep the heat out. And what heat does get in, you have to remove it somehow but you need make up air.
Are the rafters in the garage open to the rest of the house attic? I assume the garage door faces south?
You should probably check local city/county building codes to see what is even acceptable.

 

[Gelcoater]

Have a roof vent installed.

Or have an attic style fan installed to draw air through the garage. QuietCool, the whole house fan people also do garage fans.

Or insulate and add a mini split.

Mini split or the cheaper alternative.

About $400 and change.
Game changer for this IE local.

I did learn, cutting that hole in the wall, my west facing garage wall has zero insulation.

Fortunately that wall is siding on the outside.
It might be time for new siding, and some kick ass insulation.

 

[TrollerDave]

I have a south facing 2 car garage with the house on the back wall and 8’ drywall ceiling. When I moved in the East and west walls were just bare framing with stucco on the outside. I added wall insulation and drywall and it made a difference. It still gets warm, but it is noticeably cooler.

 

[77charger]

A small swamp cooler with a tstat.

I use a portacool here in az it’s the 120 size does pretty good.

 

[DRYHEAT]

If you are in a fairly dry area in the inland empire I would do a big ass swamp cooler. Even though the humidity is up a little bit in Havasu I’m still getting a 25° temperature drop with mine, but it’s not gonna work if you’re dewpoints are consistently over 55°

 

[SoCalDave]

I have a south facing 2 car garage with the house on the back wall and 8’ drywall ceiling. When I moved in the East and west walls were just bare framing with stucco on the outside. I added wall insulation and drywall and it made a difference. It still gets warm, but it is noticeably cooler.

If any sun is hitting either door it will get hot. HD sells a garage door insulation kit or do like I did and buy 3 sheets of 1.5" foam board and cut it to size, fit it in, tape the joints and done...easy peazy...

 

[DLC]

Home depot has a 12000 and 18000 mini split on sale in stock ready to go! Hot and cool!

get this and then over winter get your roof vents and insulation and some drywall going!

get the door insulated also

 

[TrollerDave]

If any sun is hitting either door it will get hot. HD sells a garage door insulation kit or do like I did and buy 3 sheets of 1.5" foam board and cut it to size, fit it in, tape the joints and done...easy peazy...

I did that as well. I didn’t notice much of a difference. I’m sure it helped but not as much as I hoped.

 

[gqchris]

Mini split or the cheaper alternative.
View attachment 1034615
About $400 and change.
Game changer for this IE local.

I did learn, cutting that hole in the wall, my west facing garage wall has zero insulation.

Fortunately that wall is siding on the outside.
It might be time for new siding, and some kick ass insulation.

I have the same thing in mine. I relocated my office to the garage to make way for a nursery. It works out well enough to take the edge on the hot days. I have exposed Truss and no drywall. I did put some of that reflectix over the garage door windows.

 

[badluck24/7]

Exposed trusses…so you look up and no ceiling, your looking at the underside of the roof through the truss work?

Yes

Have a roof vent installed.

Or have an attic style fan installed to draw air through the garage. QuietCool, the whole house fan people also do garage fans.

Or insulate and add a mini split.

That was my initial thought but then I realized there are no vents in the eaves or roof for it to draw air from.

Install a fan on a thermostat to vent out your gable vent or roof vents. Of course....if you don't have vents, put some in!
Insulating the underside of the roof does wonders. And if the walls aren't insulated, tackle that.

That should get you handled

I read something online about installing the “wrong” type of vents could lead to condensation and moisture being being trapped on the underside of the roof. I assume that’s for different parts of the country and not California.

 

[badluck24/7]

^^This^^

I recently went through this on our house in Lakewood. Ripped out all the old pegboard, installed insulation in the walls and re-drywall. Installed 1.5" foam board on the garage door or they sell kits for this as well. Ceiling was open truss so I installed 2" foam board (the higher R value stuff) directly over the roof beams. Lastly installed a solar powered exhaust fan and intake (gable vent mounted low to the east wall) and things are much better.

QuietCool 40-Watt Hybrid Solar/Electric Powered Roof Mount Attic Fan with Included Inverter for Nighttime Cooling AFR SLR-40 - The Home Depot

QuietCool Solar Attic Fans are the best in the industry offering the largest panels at an affordable price. This fan features a 40-Watt solar panel, a preset thermostat, an ultra-energy efficient DC motor,

www.homedepot.com

Sounds like I‘ll be doing similar.

open the door.

See SoCal Dave’s response!

depends really what he's trying to do, work on cars, man cave? did'nt say

Trying to keep the wife happy. The laundry area is in the garage. I did try the man cave but wasn’t worth it and yes I service our vehicles in the garage.

Like @SoCalDave said, insulate and install a couple of those vents near the ridge on the back side. The other option that works well is a powered vent, and run it on a timer. Have them turn on at the coolest time of the day. The tile roofs hold the temperature longer, so you're fighting that as well if you have no insulation above you.

Thanks

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Yes

That was my initial thought but then I realized there are no vents in the eaves or roof for it to draw air from.

I read something online about installing the “wrong” type of vents could lead to condensation and moisture being being trapped on the underside of the roof. I assume that’s for different parts of the country and not California.

the vents in the eaves wouldn’t work to cool the garage anyway. You’d be pulling from air too high up. Your garage does not have low mounted vents on at least 1 side?

 

[bk2drvr]

My FIL put three 14” wall mounted fans in his 3 car garage in Henderson and it’s really nice. Mounted up high and oscillating. It makes being in the garage very bearable.

 

[Bigbore500r]

the vents in the eaves wouldn’t work to cool the garage anyway. You’d be pulling from air too high up. Your garage does not have low mounted vents on at least 1 side?

The setup would be to exhaust up at the eaves, and ideally air to be drawn in down low elsewhere. Would need some low vents for sure

 

[2Driver]

I think anything will be an uphill battle until you drywall in the ceiling and throw so insulation up there. The radiant coming down will trump your efforts unless the underside of the roof deck was sprayed with insulation. just my 02.

 

[highvoltagehands]

I don’t know much about this subject but when i had my house reroofed with concrete tiles the contractor accidentally received 20 sheets of plywood with metal foil on one side. We installed those over the garage cause thats where the storage is. When i go into attic today, even when the garage is hot and rest of house is cool, the area above the garage is still cooler than the area above the rest of house.