Garage Door Insulation Guide » Weather Seals

Insulation: Warmer Home, Lower Bills

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:09:27 +0000

Each time winter comes and it gets cold outside, most of us start thinking that we are again going to need more money for our monthly bills. This is the point where some of us get creative and try to figure out new solutions for keeping the heat inside and the cold outside. The keyword here is insulation. Insulate your windows, your doors, your patio and your garage and you’ll have a cheaper winter.

If your garage is common with the rest of the house, its insulation is important, because the heat exchange through the connection door is a factor that contributes a lot to your increased energy consumption for heating your home. The main energy hog of an old garage is the door. Garage windows are usually small and many times there are no windows at all, so the thermal exchange takes place through the garage door. If your door is old, then chances are that its insulation is not very efficient.

Your Garage Door Insulation and the R-Value

Latest models of garage doors, since 7-8 years ago, started to include the r-value of the insulation in their technical specifications. R-value is a clue of how well your garage door protects the interior of the garage against cold and how efficient it is in preventing thermal exchanges on its surface and all around it, on the edges. The higher the r-value of a door, the better its insulation. Common garage doors have an r-value between 5 and 7. Such doors come with a polyurethane insulation or with a special insulating foam injected inside their structure. This is how such doors feature a good thermal efficiency without you needing to do anything else to insulate it better.

Older Garage Doors Can Have Good Insulation Too

If your garage door is old, that’s not necessarily a reason to replace it, in case it’s still solid and good. The key to paying less for good thermal protection is to get a so-called “garage door insulation kit“, which is easy to install and relatively cheap. Such kits are usually suitable for any residential garage door, allowing its refurbishing into a well-insulated one. Kits can be for 8 foot one car garages or 16 foot two car garages, they are usually made of polystyrene and they can provide an average r-value of 5. It’s not the best one can get, but it’s surely more than decent for only a fraction of the cost of a new garage door. It makes sense to buy such an insulating kit, because nobody loves to throw money on the window. Insulating windows and doors should be the priority of each responsible homeowner or family head. Ignoring the benefits of insulation could be fine, but in this case you’d surely have to bring in more money to compensate for the bigger energy consumption in your home.

Garage Door Weather Stripping

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:29:06 +0000

Not all garage doors are alike, that’s a fact. Doors that were made 20 years ago used the technology of that time, which means they don’t offer the comfort and facilities of modern garage doors, which feature excellent phonic and thermal insulation, automation, sensors, timers, and who knows what else. However, owners of older models of garage doors don’t find it too convenient to go for a replacement, first of all because of the cost and then because of all the hassle a garage door replacement involves. It’s surely nice to have a better insulation, so you can keep a constant temperature inside your garage without having to pay a fortune for, it, but there are other helpful methods such as garage door insulation kits or weather stripping. You can do this right by getting a thermal leak detector and use it to track down power-draining drafts. Such detectors aren’t very expensive, I think Black and Decker has some for as little as $50. Some home and garden stores may provide rental services for such tools, so you don’t need to buy it, just rent one for a weekend and do your job, then get it back to the store.

Weather stripping is the cheapest and the easiest to install. Moreover, it’s easy to replace when it gets old, so it can save you a lot of money on long term too, not only on short term. As there are many models of garage door weather stripping, it is important to see which one your door has, so you can buy the same type, otherwise you risk that it doesn’t fit. Some weather strip kits include top and side seal, like this Frost King SG30WH Frost King Plastic Garage Door Side and Top Weather-strip kit which is designed to seal and cushion overhead garage doors and which compensates for uneven concrete, thus sealing out drafts and dust. Size also matters. This one, for instance, is available in two sizes: for one car garages and for two car garages. Color is another factor that matters: brown garage doors ask for brown sealing kits. You can’t install a white weather strip on a dark garage door, because it won’t look too nice.

The garage door threshold is another important part of the garage door insulation puzzle: as it is exposed to wear, it needs periodical replacement. Such a threshold prevents water from rain to enter your garage, as well as dust, leaves, insects or snow. Garage door sealing thresholds are easy to install, as they usually are sold together with a powerful adhesive that helps you fix it firmly in position.

Maintaining the garage door weather stripping in good shape is the key to a cleaner air inside your garage and to lower electricity bills. This is even more visible in case you don’t use your garage only for keeping your car inside, but also for your DIY projects or hobbies.

Types of Weather Seals for Garage Doors

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:53:54 +0000

Sealant kits are an easy way for improving the garage door insulation with very little money and with a bit of work. If you aren’t a technically challenged individual, installing the sealant can be a DIY project. Some twenty years ago, when windows and doors weren’t weatherproof, people had to find ways of insulating them against bad weather such as storms, heavy rains of strong winds. This is how the simplest and cheapest weather seal appeared.

Felt

Cheap and easy to find, good insulator, felt became quickly very popular. It’s cut in long strips which are then glued to the door frame, thus eliminating the gaps, if any. The main drawbacks of this solution are that it’s ugly and it’s not durable, so it needs to be done again each year or every couple of years.

Adhesive backing foam tapes

Soon, manufacturers realized the opportunity and made people’s insulating job even easier, by producing those foam tapes with adhesive backing all of us probably know from our childhood. This time, even a child could have insulated his door and windows with no hassle, just by cutting the tape to the desired length and press it against the door frame. However, this type of sealant is also fragile and needs replacement every two years or so. In the case of garage doors, which are frequently operated, such foam stripes may not work at all, because they’d need replacement several times per winter, which makes them a less ideal solution.

Special Garage Door Insulation Kits

When it comes to garage doors, heat losses occur not only through the door bottom, but through the entire door surface, because it’s made of metal and not properly insulated. This is valid for older door models. Modern ones are excellent from the start and don’t need such additional kits. However, this is a discussion about insulating older doors, so this is what we have:

Reflective foil garage door insulation kits: the reflected foils are already cut to the door standard sizes: 8′, 9′, 16′ and 18′ width by 7′ height. Reflective kits can provide an R-value of up to 6, which is a good protection factor.
Threshold and door bottom seals: these can be installed as they come or as an addition to reflective foils or fiberglass panels. Very energy-efficient, these seals are used to offer good protection to strong winds.
Foam panels: made of expanded polystyrene, these panels provide an excellent thermal insulation and an efficient sound barrier, which makes them a great choice if you live in a very noisy area.
Fiberglass insulation: thin and featuring outstanding thermal insulating properties, fiberglass is perhaps one of the most modern materials used to preserve the temperature inside the garage at a constant level with as little energy costs as possible.

Insulation kits are usually delivered with detailed installation instruction, but most manufacturers and stores offer the installation service at affordable prices, so if you don’t feel like doing it yourself, you can have professionals do it for you.