Game Room Doors
Insulating Your Garage Door – Why It’s a Good Idea
Have you ever even considered insulating your garage door? If you haven’t, you should. Do you have your washer and dryer connections in your garage? Do you use it for a game room or gym? Is it your work shop? Do you come and go through your garage door several times a day? Think about all the air you are transferring between your carefully insulated living space and your garage where the air is like a blast furnace in the summer and like a meat locker in the winter. Installing insulation on the inside of the door will dramatically effect the temperature in this often neglected hole in your line of defense against the elements.
There are two main types of insulation to choose from in addressing this problem area. Both are simple and effective.
The first product option is a rigid foam product, Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) laminated with an impact resistant material on the out-facing side, which also allows for easy clean up with a damp rag if the panels get dirty. To install a foam garage door kit you need to cut the foam planks to fit the width of each panel of your garage door, keeping in mind that different panels may be slightly different (or even radically different) sizes, so it is important to measure each panel separately, before cutting to size. With rigid foam, it is best to use a straight edge and a utility knife to score the panel deeply and then just snap along the scoring. After cutting to size, insert the foam panel behind the horizontal rails separating the rows of panels in your garage door. Since the panels are kerfed, or slotted, on one side, they bow easily in that direction. Keep the kerfed side toward the garage door, so the smooth, laminated sides will face out. Just insert one edge behind either the top or bottom railing and flex the panel gently until you can insert the other edge behind the second railing.
The second option is double-sided, radiant barrier coated bubble material which is sold in handy kits complete with screws and aluminum tape for easy installation. There are two typical methods of installing this type of garage door insulation.
The first method is simply to unroll a section of the radiant barrier bubble material as wide as your garage door and then attach it to the door by screwing the radiant barrier to the metal ribs dividing the rows of panels on your garage door. It is necessary to cut to fit around any hardware on the inside of the door. Two screws at each end, three along the top and bottom of each panel across the row and one in each vertical rib of the door will keep the radiant barrier firmly secured. This is the quickest method and provides a slightly stronger insulating effect since none of the metal ribbing is left exposed on the inside of the door.
The second method will take a bit more measuring and cutting and thus more time, but produces a nicer effect. For this application a section of the double bubble radiant barrier is cut for each individual panel of the garage door. These sections are then tucked into each panel’s facing and taped in place with aluminum tape along each end, but not the top or bottom. This produces a window pane effect which some home owners find preferable and is only slightly less efficient at reflecting radiant energy.
Those are the two methods. Some home owners prefer to use both products, since the foam insulation gives more bang for their buck in winter while the radiant barrier wins out in the summer. Regardless of which product, or combination of products, you choose, you will see a difference in the ambient temperature of your garage and make your family’s lives just a bit more comfortable.
©2010
A.S. Walker
About the Author
A.S. Walker works for Energy Efficient Solutions http://energyefficientsolutions.com.
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