Do I Need An Insulated Garage Door?

Why Do I Need To Prepare My Garage Door For Winter?

With Fargo comes extreme weather. And with extreme weather comes a battle with energy efficiency and comfort. Discovering the proper insulation for your home can make a world of difference in both the degree of comfort and the amount of money you fork out each month on energy.

However, for many homeowners, they fail to give an ounce of thought to how much their garage door factors into this battle. With that in mind, let’s explore the answers to a question all homeowners need to start asking themselves: do I need an insulated garage door?

Energy

Most energy saving tips focus on the inside of the home: insulation, windows, and HVAC. And because garages aren’t considered living space, the construction standards are different. As a result, more gaps and air leakage is allowed.

And insulated garage door help dramatically in regulating the temperature exchange between your garage and the extreme temperatures lurking outside. While you are likely thinking about how this affects your energy bill and temperature regulation during the winter months, insulation isn’t temperature biased.

An insulated garage door works its magic during all seasons and temperatures. It’s talent resides in simply regulating the current and desired temperature of your home.

Comfort

As we mentioned above, Winter isn’t the only season that provides undesirable weather conditions. The extreme heat emitted during a scorching summer day has the ability to quickly crank up the temperatures inside your home. Whether you want to remain cozy and toasty or fresh and cool, the right garage doors can help maintain the temperature you desire.

Weather Stripping

A worn, dry, and faulty weather seal is one of the quickest ways to present yourself with a drafty, snow-filled garage.

Check to see if your weather seal needs to be replaced. If it is old, tattered, and/or falling off, it is time to replace. If not, we recommend adding silicon oil along the strip. Silicon oil will keep the weather strip from freezing and sticking. Additionally, add this oil to the tracks, hinges, and rollers. Tip: Don’t use WD-40. WD-40 is not a true lubricant.

Durability

In addition to added comfort and better energy efficiency, insulated garage doors are more durable than their uninsulated brothers and sisters.

Why? Firstly, today’s insulated garage doors are designed with steel or aluminum frames. These frames are filled with solid-core insulation, which is then sandwiched between single, or dual, steel panels. This style of construction creates a lightweight, energy efficient door that’s less likely to dent than older, uninsulated doors.

By contrast, older garage doors tend to be designed with thin steel sheets wrapped over the panel frames. With no insulation, these panels are far more susceptible to dents, breakage, and scratches.

Additionally, cold weather has the ability to warp metal components, and heat can drastically stress vinyl and acrylic door panels. These extreme temperatures can also affect negatively effect lubrication, springs, and the drive mechanism of your garage door. That being said, uninsulated garage doors significantly lower the lifespan of your garage door

Noise

I’m sure we have all experienced the ‘garage door heard around the world’. While noise reduction isn’t the most important factor in choosing your garage door, an insulated garage door tends to be much quieter than an uninsulated garage door.

When it comes to a noisy garage door, more common factors, such as broken springs, lack of lubrication, crooked components, and worn weather stripping, are the first culprits to look for, lightweight, uninsulated doors tend to make more noise than heavier, insulted doors.

Types of Insulation Available

Polyurethane

  • Provides the best thermal resistance per inch of thickness, twice that of polystyrene
  • In addition, because it adheres to the walls of the door, it adds strength and sturdiness to its structure. Based on bending resistance tests, it is two times better than polystyrene.
  • As a reference, polyurethane is the insulation injected into house entry doors.

Polystyrene

  • In a 3 layer type door, the insulation is slipped between the two steel walls of sandwich-type doors.
  • In a 2 layer type door, the insulation is placed on the interior side of the door.
  • As a reference, polystyrene is used to make disposable coffee cups and protective packaging material.

If you have any questions regarding the energy efficiency of your current garage door and/or are asking yourself, ‘do I need an insulated garage door?