Benefits of Garage Door Insulation
Garage door insulation helps keeps cold and heat out of your garage and helps maintain comfort inside the home. This saves energy on heating and cooling which lowers your utility bills.
Whether you work in your garage during the heat or cold keeping your garage a comfortable temperature saves energy.
The wall between the garage and the home isn’t always a perfectly insulated barrier. That means during the summer and winter the heat and cold in the garage can affect how much energy it takes to stay comfortable inside your home.
Garage door insulation, attic fans, and insulation for your garage walls and under the roof will help!
Insulating A Garage Door
Whenever you combine the benefits of insulated garage doors with an organized garage, you will have endless possibilities.
Insulated garage doors are no longer considered to be a vital thing in cold climates. They offer a lot of great benefits for all homes. Below are a few:
- Creates a stronger garage door
- More energy efficiency if the garage is attached
- Climate control in the garage
- Less noise in your attached home
In older days, insulated garage doors were hardly seen. Wooden garage doors were the norm and steel garage doors were a single layered, cheap alternative for those who couldn’t get wooden ones. Things have really changed.
Click to read: How to keep a garage cool
Insulated Garage Doors and Climate Control
If you often spend most of your time in the garage than what it takes to leave your car and go inside, then an insulated door needs to be on your shopping list. Modern garages often tend to serve as not only a parking space, but a craft room, rec room, workshop, and a showplace for your cars and much more.
Based on the time of year and your climate, you may want to heat or cool your garage to make it more comfortable. Your garage is one of the biggest rooms of your home, so why not maximize the use.
If you cool or heat your garage, then you need an insulated garage door to minimize heat transmission through the door and keep your costs for cooling and heating lower. Whenever you combine the benefits of insulated garage doors with an organized garage, you will have endless possibilities.
Energy Efficiency of an Insulated Garage Door
Insulated doors have a lot of benefits for attached garages. The insulation in the home reduces transmission of heat into your garage, and the insulation within the garage door limits that transmission even more. If your garage door isn’t insulated, then that is a barrier that keeps your cool or warm air in, and one less barrier to get money from your wallet.
Even if the garage door is insulated, if there aren’t proper door seals in place, then you may be costing yourself money. The most common seals are the threshold, bottom, and weather stripping. These insulating devices are inexpensive and simple and can provide comfort and save your money.
Less Noise in your home
If you have an attached garage and a living space above or next to the garage, then insulated garage doors will offer noise buffering. Just like insulation keeps in the cold out and the heat in, insulation also keeps the noise out as well. If you live next to a noisy neighborhood, then you should consider an insulated door.
Stronger garage doors
Your garage door strength will depend on the rigidity and strength of your construction material and how it was constructed. For instance, a single layer steel door isn’t as strong as an insulated door with triple or double layer construction.
The double layered garage door is normally made of galvanized steel with polyurethane or polystyrene insulation on the inside. Even though it is called a double layer, it actually contains a third layer of plastic or vinyl on the inside for cleaning ease and looks.
The triple layered garage door will sandwich insulation between 2 layers of wood or steel. The outer layer can be created to match your home, and the inside is smooth. The higher R-value and highest soundproofing come with this strong garage door option and it is the ultimate insulated garage door.
What is the best insulated door?
When it comes down to the door, it depends on your taste and your needs. If you are wanting the benefits of economy, energy efficiency, low maintenance, and design, then you need a steel door. Steel doors have endless design options and are great for insulating.
If youare looking for a traditional option, then wooden doors can be custom designed to fit your style. Even though by wood it is better insulated and has better soundproofing than steel. Multilayered wood construction provides decent insulation by sandwiching polystyrene insulation between 2 different layers of wood.
If you are wanting a raised panel door or something besides smooth designs, then insulation may still be maintained between wood with added wooden elements added to the outer skin of the door.
What is the best insulation?
There are 2 types of insulation: polyurethane and polystyrene. Polyurethane is an injected foam type of insulation that bonds to the garage door. It is similar to the cheese in grilled cheese. It is in there, but it is bonded to the outer layers. Polystyrene is a rigid block that is placed in between the layers of your garage door. It is similar to the meat on your hamburger, it is in there but it isn’t attached to anything.
Polystyrene is less expensive but polyurethane is a better insulator as it has twice the R-value. It also makes your door much stronger. When you use a polyurethane foam with wood or steel, it will chemically bond to the door and creates a more rigid and stronger structure.
How important is the R-value?
The higher that your R-value is, the higher the resistance for heat flow. R-values when it comes to insulated doors will normally run between 5 – 10, with some being as high as R-17. Whenever people think of R-values, they think of keeping heat out of or in their home, depending on the season and what their climate is like. You need to consider your lifestyle such as how you will use the garage, climate, where its located etc. for your R-value to be picked.
If you plan to control the climate in your garage with an air conditioner or heater, the insulated garage door that have higher R-values will be vital. This will be the case if your plan to use the garage as a rec room, craft room, or workshop. The higher that the R-value is, the lower the cost will be to cool and heat the garage. Remember thatyour garage door is the largest opening in your home, it is simple yet often overlooked.
If you happen to live in a very cold or very hot climate, your garage may be attached to your home and higher R-values will contribute to the efficiency of your area, but to your home as well.
Your higher R-values will also contribute to quieter garages and a quieter home. This is great if your garage is attached to your home or if you happen to have bedrooms above the garage.
Radiant Barrier Garage Door
Radiant barrier garage door insulation works to reflect the energy of the sun the same way it does in attics. In many cases garage doors don’t have room for thick sheets of foam board insulation and radiant barrier garage door insulation is a better fit. It can reflect up to 95% of the radiant heat that’s trying to get into your garage. This is especially effective if your garage door faces south or west. The more direct sunlight your garage door gets per day, the more effective radiant barrier garage door insulation is.
Installing the radiant barrier garage door insulation consists on settling on a product, cutting the sections to fit, cleaning the inside of the door, and applying the radiant barrier. For longer durability some homeowners choose to add aluminum tape to increase the lifespan of their radiant barrier insulation.
Insulated garage doors are for all climates
Depending on where you live and how you use your garage, you need to consider an insulated door. One last thing that you should think about is how well the door will be sealed.
If you happen to have a new door with a high R-value, but there is a gap under the door, then you are losing a lot of the benefit of the insulation. Ensure that your garage weather stripping is attached and in good shape and ensure that the gaps between your garage door panels are sealed completely when the door is closed.
Phoenix Valley Garage Door Insulation
If you want to keep your home cooler and get more use out of your garage insulation is the key. Insulating your garage ceiling, walls, and garage door will make it so you can use your garage during the heat of summer and cold of winter. It also makes it so your home stays more comfortable as heat isn’t infiltrating through the garage walls into the living areas. If you are interested in having garage door insulation in Phoenix contact the insulation experts at Barrier Insulation.
Call Today – 602-499-2922