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Can Cracking the Garage Door Keep Your Home Cooler in Texas Heat?

As many Texas residents prepare for another hot week, experts weigh in on whether cracking the garage door can help keep homes cooler.

Published July 28, 2025 at 3:51pm by Alexis Simmerman


Several areas of the Lone Star State are in for another hot week. Central Texas is expected to be hot and dry through Thursday, with highs in the upper 90s the first half of the week before creeping into the triple digits for the latter part. Rain chances return Friday and linger through the weekend.

The shift from July to August is unlikely to bring much relief. The Old Farmer's Almanac predicts Austin's hottest days of the year will continue through mid-August. In other words, it's hot — even for Texans.

Desperate times call for creative measures, and many are searching for ways to cool their homes without racking up high bills by blasting air conditioning. One such strategy involves leaving the garage door slightly cracked open, with the few inches of space allowing the garage to vent and thus helping lower temperatures in the rest of the house.

What are the pros and cons of cracking the garage door? Here's what to know about the "cool" trick.

Does cracking the garage door help with heat?

Garages can be much warmer than the rest of homes due to poor insulation. But improving the insulation of an existing building might be impossible — especially for those renting homes.

So, people have instead resorted to improving the circulation of air in the garage space.

D Bar Garage Doors, a garage door company, affirmed some people's theories on the benefits of venting the garage space.

"Cracking the door will indeed benefit and alleviate the heat that builds up. But having a well-maintained, properly insulated garage should be your top priority," D Bar Garage Doors experts said.

Air circulation is not a replacement for properly insulating spaces to combat the extreme heat in the summer. Ventilating your garage this way can have other unintended safety consequences, like break-ins and critters.