We often get questions, normally in Arizona’s peak summer/winter seasons, about garage insulation. “Will insulating my garage make it more comfortable?” “Will adding insulation to my garage save me money?” “Is garage insulation worth it?”

​For Arizona homeowners adding insulation to your garage is an unnecessary home upgrade because adding insulation to your garage will not save you money on bills.  Yes, insulating over your garage will lower the temperature of your garage and of course, if you have rooms bordering your garage or above it then that garage wall should be insulated.  Insulating the wall that separates the room and the garage will protect that room from being effected by the garage’s temperature and 100% of the homes we have performed energy audits and thermal camera scans on do have insulation in the adjoining walls.

If insulating your garage is more about comfort and less about savings then we completely encourage it! If you’re one of those people who enjoys working in the garage then insulating the space might be a good idea. Insulating the garage will help you keep the warm or cool air inside without it escaping and being influenced by the outdoor temperature. In fact, we have even put swamp coolers in garages to really circulate the air in the garage.  Evaporator coolers are the most cost effective way to cool the garage but if you want to fully condition your garage with a ductless mini split, we recommend fully insulating the walls, ceiling and garage door panels in conjunction with installing min splits.  We have installed mini splits without insulating the garage and it becomes much harder to keep the conditioned air in the garage if it is not insulated and the mini splits needs to be grossly oversized.  

Some homeowners will insulate their garages during construction because they know that they’d eventually like to turn it into a bedroom years down the road. This is a fine idea as long as you’re using insulation that will not deplete over time like microfiber or spray foam. 

Imagine this: you come home after a long, busy day. On your way into the house, you pick up the mail from the mailbox, and rummage through the letters until you pick out your utility bill. As you begin to open it, you start thinking about all the energy you've spent in the last month, how often you ran your AC, how often you left the refrigerator door open, how many lights you forgot to turn off...

 When you finally open up your utility bill, are you paying a number you feel happy with? Do you feel that you are sacrificing home comfort for a lower utility bill? 

At Green ID, we offer home energy audits to help homeowners save money and improve comfort to the fullest extent. But there's more you can do on your own! Here are 5 tips to help save energy in one of the most important rooms in any home: the bedroom!

1. Turn off lights and electronics before bed
You might think it’s convenient to charge your phone and laptop while you sleep, but often it only takes a few hours to fully charge most of your electronics- meaning the rest of the night, your electronics are just wasting energy. 

Make sure you turn all of your lights off before bed, too. If you like to keep lights on while you sleep, you can invest in a multitude of helpful products like night lights, energy efficient bulbs, or timers, so that you never use more energy than you need to.

2. Keep closet doors closed
Your AC unit works harder to keep bigger areas cool, and keeping your closet door open adds extra square footage to your room that your AC will try to cool. A bedroom closet almost never requires cooling, so close those doors and feel your bedroom start to cool down faster!
3. Keep curtains closed

A huge portion of a home’s heat gain comes from the windows. Use window treatments such as sun shades, window film, or heavy curtains to block out sunlight and help keep your room cooler.

4. Clear the area around air vents
Air vents and registers aren’t able to efficiently push air around the room if they are blocked. Locate all of your vents and make sure they are clear of furniture, curtains, and other objects for 12 inches on all sides.

5. Use the ceiling fan
A ceiling fan can make your bedroom feel up to 4-6 degrees cooler without ever turning on the AC. Just make sure to turn it off when you leave! Fans create a wind chill effect, meaning they are able to cool down people, not rooms.