Many of us might think garage door insulation is negligible. In fact, when scrutinizing your monthly increased energy bills you would realize that your garage doors could be the main culprit apart from the electronic appliances you use every day. Insulated garage door will not only save your energy bills but also help the world to tackle climate change. Garage door is not the junk part of your house, it acts as an airtight seal, keeping you and family away from excessive heat gained in summer and warm in winter, not to mention it also acts as a barrier blocking bugs and insect infestation to your lovely house. Given the fluctuations of weather in these days, insulated garage door would have an important role to play.
A garage door equipped with good insulation can create less noise pollution to the surrounding neighborhood as well as protecting your vehicle from exposure to harsh environment conditions. An insulated plain metal or wooden garage door of course has higher durability in comparison to normal wooden doors. As a general rule, an insulation material works by squeezing itself between the door panels, turning a normal plain metal or wooden barrier into a weather resistant, soundproofing door.
Door insulation is determined by the R values or thermal resistant to heat flow that is applicable to particular insulation material or composite thickness. Generally, the higher the R value the greater the insulation power. If considered you have good insulation of walls, roofs and floors and you are living in one story house plus a low house ceiling, perhaps, you should probably opt for a medium R value of insulation. Of course, you would not want to pay more for higher R value of insulation, given that you already have well-insulated houses. Typically, R value of 5 is applicable to moderate climates and 10 in colder areas.
Two ways of insulation options available: foam-filled slats or reflective coil insulation. As for foam-filled insulation, polystyrene (PS) or polyurethane (PU) foam is available in the market. Polystyrene foam is extensively used in sail board manufacture and they have low mechanical properties; therefore they are low cost in comparison to polyurethane counterpart. Polyurethane foams, on the other hand, exhibit moderate mechanical properties; for instance, they are the good thermal insulation and good acoustic absorption material. The insulation method described consists of plastic coatings on both sides of the foam panel, forming a body with durable door slats.
Another type of insulation that is similar to this kind is called GRP (glass reinforced plastic) insulation if fiberglass panels instead of plastic foam are used. GRP garage doors are called maintenance-free doors due to its ability to firmly glue with door panels if good plastic resin is used when compared to foam-contained doors. However, avoid using any caustic, abrasive or acidic cleaners when cleaning your GRP doors. GRP doors are particularly well suited to be installed at coastal areas in comparison to simply plastic-coated wooden and steel doors.
Reflective coil insulation is practically used in hot climate areas. They are the heat reflective surface that keeping your garage away from excessive heat gained. This reflective surface could be aluminium or vinyl-coated foils. Insulation of this kind consists of two layers of either foil as mentioned attached to a core insulated material.
Besides the door insulation as discussed above that is important, bottom seal of garage door is also important. A strong plastic slat that is covered at the door bottom could keep your garage from excessive wind, and insect infestation. When doing the door insulation, you would have to measure the size of door panels and check if there a draft coming in when finished the procedures of insulation.