Energy efficient home choices are skyrocketing in popularity these days. One major energy efficient choice you can make for your home is to install an energy efficient garage door. Having an energy efficient garage door can help regulate the temperature inside your garage. Because your garage door is the largest door to your home, you can potentially be losing tons of energy there. As a result of a more regulated temperature inside your garage, you’ll see more stable temperatures inside your home. During the summer you won’t have excess heat seeping in to your home from the garage and during the winter months you won’t be losing heat from your home into the garage. Not only can this make you and your family more comfortable, it can also result in some major savings on your utility bills!
The main way to make your garage door energy efficient is to have it insulated. There are three main types of insulated garage doors. An insulated door can provide several benefits in addition to keeping in heated or cooled air. It also makes your garage door stronger, helping to prevent damage to the door in case of a storm or if your garage door gets hit by a car or children playing near it with bikes or motorized toys. Having an insulated garage door also provides extra sound proofing.
When researching and shopping for insulated garage doors, you’ll frequently see the term “R-value” used. A garage door’s R-value conveys the door’s ability to slow down the transmission of heat. The higher the R-value, the slower the transmission of heat. This translates to less cold air leaking into your garage (and eventually your home) during the winter and less heat coming in during the summer. If you’re looking to drastically cut back on the amount of energy wasted through your garage door, you’ll need to look for a high R-value.
You’ll also find that there are two main types of insulation used for insulating garage doors called polystyrene insulation and polyurethane insulation. Knowing the difference between the two is key in determining the best fit for your home and your needs. Here is some more information about the three main types of insulated garage doors.
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Vinyl Back Insulated: With a vinyl back insulated garage door, the door is filled with sheets of polystyrene insulation. For the part of the garage door that is exposed to the garage, the insulation is covered with a material that resembles thick wall paper. This provides a barrier between you and the insulation. Vinyl back insulated doors have an R-value between 6-7. These doors are the most common and are the most economical choice. They’re also still relatively light weight. Although vinyl back insulation is economical to install, there are a couple cons. This style offers a fairly low insulation value and the vinyl backer can be damaged and would require repairs or replacement.
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Steel Backer Insulated: Steel backer insulation is identical to the vinyl back insulation except for the barrier that is installed between your garage and the insulation. With this style of insulation, the door is built with an additional layer of steel on the side of the door facing the interior of the garage that completely covers the polystyrene insulation. This makes the door very durable, but still fairly light weight. The R-value for steel backer insulated doors is 10-12. These doors are tough and durable, but can be slightly more expensive to install than the vinyl backer doors.
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Steelback Polyurethane Insulated: These doors are built just like the steel backer insulated doors, but instead of using panels of polystyrene for insulation, these doors use polyurethane. Polyurethane insulation is injected inside the shell of the door as a liquid. When the polyurethane liquid makes contact with the air, it begins to expand and solidify and fills all the spaces inside the garage door. The insulation hardens and bonds to all the inside surfaces of the door. This type of insulation provides the highest R-value, coming in between 18.2-19. These doors are tough and durable and provide the highest insulation value, but can also be incredibly heavy and they cost the most to install.
As you can see, there are many benefits to having your garage door insulated, and there are several options for you to choose from. At Covenant Garage Doors, we pride ourselves on the highest level of customer service in our industry in metro Atlanta and if you’re ready to insulate your garage door, we’ll customize a solution just for you. We’ll come to your home and discuss all the pros and cons of the various types of insulated garage doors and do a thorough inspection of your existing garage door. With cooler winter temperatures just around the corner, now is the time to insulate your garage door and keep your utility bills lower this winter. For more information on insulated garage doors, call us today!