The garage door is an important element in your home. It’s the door that needs to function smoothly each and every time, it’s also the door that needs to be children-safe, and in case the garage is part of the house and communicating with it, the garage door is responsible with the increase of your energy bills during winter time.
Are you worried already? Well, if you’ve got one of the latest models of garage doors, you don’t need to worry, as they are very well insulated from the factory already. If your rough opening was properly done and the door properly installed, it’s not going to affect the R-value at all. The real problem is with older doors, which aren’t that energy-efficient, therefore they need adjustments in order to match the current needs of decreasing the energy consumption. This is where the garage door insulation kit plays a major role. Such kits are available in home and garden stores and they can be installed easily, thus allowing you to still keep your old garage door you like so much.
What Is The R-Value?
The R-value is a parameter that indicates the thermal insulation level of a door or window. The bigger it is, the better. It shows how well your garage door is capable of facing the cold season, the strong winds, heavy snow or very low temperatures. The r-values of garage doors are within the R3 – R18 range, a typical door having an r-value between 4 and 7. This is obtained with the help of an insulating material, some polyurethane or foam that is injected within the structure of the door, giving it thermal insulating qualities. Over the past few years, consumers started to become more aware of this index, therefore they are trying to improve it by choosing materials with better insulating properties, by replacing their old windows and doors with new ones, which feature double glazed glass panes, or by making their own thermal curtains and draperies.
Quality Insulation For Old Garage Doors: Is It Possible?
If you don’t know what the r-value of your garage door is, chances are that it’s too old, so you could use a special insulation kit to improve it rather than to throw it away and buy a new one. Such kits offer a high-quality insulation, and they are available in two variants: the 8 foot single car garage door and the 16 foot two-car garage door. Most garages are built for either one or two vehicles, so you have the most chances to find a suitable one for your garage door. The material used for manufacturing these kits is polystyrene, a very good insulator, which would allow you obtain an R-value of 5 for your old door. Taking into consideration that this is a fast and easy method of preventing thermal exchanges at your garage door level, which you can buy and install by yourself, it’s no wonder that so many people are using these kits for avoiding heat loss. The other solution is to pay a professional to insulate your garage door. In case you are a single lady with no technical aptitudes, you may want to have this job done by somebody else. Otherwise, there’s no reason why to pay more money, when you can do this job by yourself with maximum efficiency and safety and with lower costs.