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Is your garage door insulated? Many people are not aware of insulated garage doors or are unsure if their own doors have insulation. But this innovative type of garage door can block the transfer of heat, making your garage more comfortable and energy-efficient, among many other great benefits. Learn more about why your next garage door should be an insulated one.
How Do Insulated Garage Doors in Houston Work?
Garage doors help to keep the elements out and create a comfortable climate inside your garage. But just how much they reduce the heat transfer and protect the indoor environment depends on the type of garage door and the materials used. Garage doors with built-in insulation offer the greatest level of protection and control.
All garage doors are measured for their energy efficiency and given a rating for their thermal resistance value, called an R-value. The higher the R-value of your garage door, the more energy-efficient it is. An energy-efficient door helps to keep your garage warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
The recommended R-value depends on how your garage is used. If the garage is unattached, and simply used for parking cars and storage, a low R-value may be just fine. However, for attached garages and garages used as an extension of the home, such as a workshop or play area, a higher R-value is recommended.
Benefits of Insulated Garage Doors
Insulating your garage door can provide many benefits for your garage and home:
- Energy efficiency: If you have an attached garage, the garage door is often the main entrance into the home, and can be the source of major heat or air conditioning loss. Even if the garage isn’t climate controlled itself, it provides a climate envelope around the entrance to the home and can affect the efficiency of the home too. With an insulated garage door, you’ll experience better climate control, lower energy costs and increased comfort.
- Sound dampening qualities: With insulation, garage doors have a much quieter operation as the insulation dampens the sounds of the metal mechanisms and makes the door more solid. You’ll also hear less noise from the outside with an insulated door.
- Stronger garage door: With polyurethane-insulated garage doors, the injected foam actually bonds to the metal of the door, making it stronger and more resistant to dents and damage. An insulated door also protects the mechanism from extreme temperature changes, helping to prolong the lifespan of all of the parts, and saving you some maintenance headaches.
- Added protection for your car and belongings: Extreme temperatures are hard on your car and any other stored items in your garage. An insulated garage door will prevent some of the wild swings in temperature, keeping out the extreme heat and cold. Protecting your car from temperature extremes can help it run more smoothly. Minimizing temperature extremes can also protect other stored equipment, tools, and items like paint and lawn chemicals.
- Increased garage usage: If your garage is prone to extreme hot and cold temps, not only do you question what’s safe to store there, but it’s not likely much time is spent in the garage. With better climate control, however, the garage could become an extra room of the house — to use as a workshop, playroom or hobby room. It just might become your family’s favorite place to hang out.
Types of Insulated Garage Doors
Most garage doors today are constructed from metal, and there are two main types of insulated garage doors, based on the type of insulation used:
- Polystyrene-insulated garage doors: Polystyrene is the same as the styrofoam used as protective packaging or for disposable coffee cups. It also makes a great insulating material. You’ll often see polystyrene insulation sold in solid sheets or blocks, as after-market kits designed for adding insulation to an existing garage door. Polystyrene insulation makes a garage door much more energy-efficient than an uninsulated door, but not quite as efficient as polyurethane-based insulation.
- Polyurethane-insulated garage doors: Polyurethane is a spray foam filler often also used in home entry doors. It provides superior protection in steel insulated garage doors. The foam is injected into the garage door panels, between the two layers of steel, and fills in all the nooks and crannies much better than the panels of polystyrene can. The foam also makes the door stronger and more resistant to dents. It provides better sound insulation as well. Generally, if you purchase pre-insulated garage doors from the manufacturer, they will use polyurethane foam insulation.
Are Insulated Garage Doors Worth It?
Many homeowners look for ways to increase the energy efficiency of their garage and home. And as the garage door is the biggest source of heat transference in the garage, it’s an obvious place to start. Whether it’s worth it or not to install an insulated garage door depends on the details of your garage and how it is used. For the most part, an insulated garage door is a good idea for most homeowners.
Adding insulation to an existing door can help a little, but it’s difficult to truly seal your garage door completely to keep out the elements. Additionally, due to the nature of the way garage doors move, added insulation can crack, flake and pull apart over time — meaning you’ll have to re-insulate your door over and over again.
However, purchasing a pre-insulated overhead door is often worth the expense, because the quality of the insulation will offer much better climate protection, and last much longer than other forms of insulation.
Today, many garages are attached to the home and are used for more than just a place to park the cars. From safe storage areas to serving as an extension of the home, garages are becoming an increasingly important part of the house, and a high quality insulated garage door can help protect your car, stored belongings and the energy efficiency of your home as a whole.
Request an Estimate Today
An insulated overhead garage door can save you money on your energy bills, protect your belongings and create a more comfortable garage. If you’re interested in learning more, contact Halo Overhead Doors today. The team at Halo cares deeply about our Houston-area community, offering the best in customer care and knowledgable service. We’ll help you find the best insulated garage doors for your home, and our expert technicians do the installation for you. Request an estimate today to get started on your next garage door!