How to Winterize Your Garage

Ahhh….winter. The number one reason why people move to Florida.

This article will look specifically at how to winterize your garage. One of the best ways to deal with winter weather is to prepare beforehand.

When I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania, my parents would watch the weather forecast for the first sign of frost. They knew there was a lot of work to do to prepare for winter.

In hindsight, they should have started much sooner.

So how do you winterize your garage? Preventing cold air from seeping in is one of the biggest factors when getting your garage winter-ready. Such as:

Insulating the garage door and walls
Caulking around the garage door
Install a weather seal
Waterproof your garage floor
Set up a heater in the garage
Lubricating your garage door

We’ll talk about each of those in a little more detail and, in some cases, link to detailed how-to articles that I’ve already written. And remember, just because you don’t live in a cold climate doesn’t mean that you don’t have to worry about winter.

It’s a good idea to get your garage ready for the winter, no matter where you live. The best way to do that is to figure out how to keep the cold air out.

Duh, right?

There are a couple of different steps that you can take to help winterize your garage, such as insulating the door or installing a weather seal under the door. Thankfully, most are easy enough for the average homeowner to do themselves.

Insulating Your Garage Door

Let’s start with insulation.

The walls of our home are insulated to help keep it (and us) warm in winter.

The same goes for your garage, except your garage door is the single biggest non-insulated surface in most homes.

Without any insulation, your garage could drop down almost to the outdoor temperatures. If it gets down to below 0 °F and stays there, it can be bad news for anything you’re storing in your garage.

One cheap way to add insulation to your garage is by installing an insulation kit with foam board insulation panels. For a DIY solution, you can buy a giant foam board and cut it to size to fit in between your garage door’s panels.

I installed the Matador garage door insulation kit in my garage, and it definitely had a significant impact. Check out my article to read about my results and a step-by-step look at the installation process.

Insulation works on a variety of garage door types, such as:

Wood and panel doors
Flat doors
Steel garage doors

Insulation is rated using an R-value metric, which is its capacity to hold in heat. The better their R-value, the less heat they let escape when installed.

Your garage door should have an R-Value between R-6 and R-9. Actively cooled or heated garages should have a garage door with an R-value of R-13 or higher.

However, there is a point where you get diminishing returns.

Insulation with an R-value of 6 isn’t twice as good as insulation with an R-value of 3. Nevertheless, try to go for the highest R-value insulation within your price range.

My garage door insulation kit costs around $100 each, so it’s a good bang for your buck.

However, if you have an old garage door, replacing it with a new garage door (with insulation) well help add value to your home.

Weather Stripping & Caulking

Another easy way to protect your garage from the cold is to replace the weather stripping under your garage door.

It’s an easy process that only takes about an hour or so.

Most garage doors come with a seal on the bottom and weather stripping on the sides. The ones that come with your door are usually made of cheap rubber that deteriorates quickly.

In my case, mine needed to be replaced after only a few years.

You pick up new seals and weather stripping at your local big box hardware store like Lowe’s or Home Depot, and on Amazon.

When the door shuts, the seal helps form a barrier that will keep the heat in the garage instead of letting it seep out from the bottom of the door. It also helps keep water out of your garage when it rains.

After that, you can caulk around the garage door, both inside and outside of the garage. Simply caulk up and down all sides of the garage door where the door frame meets your walls to close any little holes where heat can seep out, and moisture can seep in.

It is a simple process that you can do in only a few minutes.

Invest in a Space-Heater

If your garage gets down below freezing, it’s definitely worth investing in a space heater for your garage.

Sure, it helps make your garage more comfortable, especially if you spend a lot of time working in there. However, it’ll also help keep your tools, electronics, and other machinery in better shape.

Most smartphones and electronics start having issues around 24 °F (-4 °C). Short-term exposure is usually fine, but I would be careful not to store sensitive stuff in extreme temperatures for long periods.

Your tools don’t like the extreme cold temperatures either. Lubricating oils made from mineral oil also start breaking down around 24 °F (-4 °C).

A space heater works best if you’ve already insulated your garage door and walls first. Otherwise, that heat will just escape through your garage door and walls.

The kind of heater you buy will depend on the size of your garage and how much money you want to spend on it. Don’t feel obligated to buy the most expensive. Smaller heaters are usually just as effective in a garage for less money.

For more info on which heater will work for you, check out my buyer’s guide to finding the best garage heater.

If it’s too cold for you, chances are it’s too cold for your stuff.

Insulating your Garage Walls

One of the best ways to winterize your garage is to keep it from freezing in the first place.

Insulating your walls will help keep the heat in from all sides, rather than just from your garage door. While insulating your garage door helps, heat can still escape from the walls.

This isn’t a quick-fix process, but it makes a huge difference!

If you have wood-stud walls, you should buy your insulation depending on the width between studs. Most studs are either 16″ or 24″ inches apart, and insulation is sold in those widths.

In my case, this was by far the biggest project I did in my garage because I was trying to insulate my concrete block walls.

I framed, insulated, and drywalled my concrete block garage walls. It was a big project. However, it made a massive impact on the temperatures inside my garage and its overall look.

There weren’t many people on the Internet doing the same thing to their garage, so I took lots of pictures to help document the process.

Take a look at how I did it in these articles:

Protect Your Garage Floor

Winter is especially rough on your garage floor.

When we park our cars inside, all of that snow, ice and road salt drips off your car, collects in pools, and starts to break down your garage floor.

That’s why I recommend some sort of protective epoxy coating on your floor. I’ve written a more detailed article about the pros and cons of epoxy garage floor coatings, so be sure to check it out.

This is another scenario that you want to do earlier rather than later. Once cold weather hits, the harder it will be for this to dry and seal.

Lubricate and Winterize Garage Doors

Most of us think that our garage doors will just work whenever we need them to, but it takes a bit of maintenance.

It’s a good idea to lubricate your garage door at least once a year no matter where you live, but that’s especially important if you get harsh winters where you live.

Follow my easy guide showing how to lubricate your garage door. It’s a quick, five-minute process that anyone can do.

What Temperature Should I Keep my Garage in Winter?

Another way to help winterize your garage is by keeping it at a consistent temperature so that it doesn’t freeze from the outside temperature.

The best temperature to keep your garage during the winter depends on where you live. Still, a general rule of thumb is between 40°F for inland states and around 65°F for coastal states.

If you’re curious, I go into more depth in my article discussing the garage temperature compared to the outside temperature in winter.

Conclusion

We’ve discussed how to winterize your garage for the upcoming cold months. The biggest factor is insulating and keeping the warmth in and keep the cold weather out.

Be sure to get a head start on this by doing these steps while it’s still warm out. That way, it will be an easy shift into winter without worrying about your garage.