Summer is a time for fun and relaxation, but it’s also a time when your home gets extremely hot. You may wonder if it’s a good idea to leave the door open during the summer months. There are pros and cons to both options, so it’s important to examine them carefully to make an informed decision.
Only leave your garage open if you’re working in it or are close by. There are some benefits to keeping your garage open in the summer, like better ventilation and lower energy bills, but the dangers far outweigh them. Leaving your garage open invites pests and leaves you vulnerable to burglars.
Most people leave their garage door open to let it cool off because of hot weather. However, there are better options for keeping your garage temperature in check. In this article, you’ll find out why it’s not a great idea to keep your garage open in the summer.
What Are The Benefits Of Leaving Your Garage Door Open During The Summer?
While leaving your garage door open during the summer is typically not advised, there are some benefits to it. For instance:
- Letting your garage cool off and ventilate. Nobody enjoys pulling into their garage and feeling like they’ve just driven into an oven. Leaving the garage open is indeed a good idea.
- It’s great to let toxic fumes get out. Having your car in the garage and storing things like your lawnmower, paints, lubricants, fuel, chemicals there too can produce toxic fumes and gases. Those can make their way into your living space and pollute the air if you don’t let them out.
- Saving energy with increased airflow. Leaving your garage open is also a great way to save energy and money during summer. The air flowing into your garage can help cool it down and allow you to cut costs on the cooling system.
Regardless of these benefits, you should never leave your garage door open unattended for a long time. If you need to air the space out or let a breeze in, it would be better to open a window.
How Can You Control The Temperature During the Summer Without Keeping The Garage Door Open?
You can explore better options to help you control your garage temperature during the summer. Options like opening up windows, weather-stripping, and insulation are relatively easy and inexpensive.
Open Windows
Instead of leaving your garage door open, you can use natural ventilation to keep your garage cool. By opening your windows, you increase the air circulation inside your garage and prevent it from feeling too hot.
Weather-stripping
Weather-stripping is a relatively simple process that can help regulate your garage temperature during the summer heat. You can install weather-stripping in your home to seal air leaks around your garage doors or windows to keep cool air in and any heat out.
Find any openings near your garage doors and windows and apply weather-stripping. This is sure to make a significant difference in the temperature during the summer.
Insulate the walls and ceilings
Most garages become unbearably hot in the summer because they have poor or no insulation in them. You can control your garage’s temperature by properly insulating the walls and ceilings. You can do it yourself or simply hire a professional for it.
What Are The Cons Of Leaving Your Garage Door Open In The Summer?
Some dangers involved in leaving your garage door open in the summer are:
It Lets In Bugs
When you leave your garage open and unattended in the summer, bugs and insects take that as an invitation to become your housemates. Birds, rats, squirrels, mice, feral cats, raccoons, snakes, birds, bats, and other small animals will also find their way inside.
You can expect that when they get comfortable, they will surely wreak havoc, destroy your valuables and infest your space. Worse still, once they settle in, they become really difficult to get rid of.
You can try setting traps, fumigating, and sealing your doors to get rid of them, but you should know the first step in preventing such a situation is shutting your garage door against the unwanted creatures in the first place.
Invites Burglars
An open garage door is a temptation for thieves. Burglars seeking easy targets are quick to notice open doors and will readily go in for a steal.
This means that while you’re inside enjoying movie time with your family or even texting friends on social media, someone could be outside observing your careless patterns, invading or planning their next invasion at your home.
Next thing you know, the thief has carted your tools, car battery, lawnmower, sports gear, bicycles, and other valuable items away.
Also, most people use their garage door as the primary access to their house and usually forget to lock or intentionally leave the door open, leaving open access to their house. This opens you and your family up to further harm from thieves.
You can avoid this by being more security-conscious and ensuring you shut your doors before heading inside.
If You Have Central Heating And Cooling, It Will Let Out Your Air
If you have an air-conditioning system installed and turned on in your garage, leaving your garage door open will force out cool air and ultimately interfere with your air conditioner’s efficiency.
It is highly recommended that you close all windows and doors when the air conditioner is on. This will keep the cool air inside the room and keep the temperature moderate.
Is It Safe To Keep Your Garage Door Open In The Summer?
It is not safe to keep your garage door open in the summer, except you are working inside the garage or close by. Another danger in leaving the garage door open fires.
Your garage is one of the most likely rooms in your house to result in a fire accident because you likely have flammable liquid like your engine oil, electrical connections, and other petrol-powered tools or machinery in there. When those things are combined with saw dusters and paper recycling can increase your home’s fire hazard.
Although it may seem sensible or expected to leave your garage door open in such a situation, it’s more dangerous to have your garage door open if there is a house fire because it lets in oxygen instead of cutting it off from the fire.
This means that an open garage door can make the small fire much, much worse. Best to always lock it.