Why insulate the garage door?
Insulating garage doors brings about the following advantages:
- Thermal comfort
An insulated door has increased thermal regulation that protects the door from extreme weather changes. This makes the garage habitable during freezing winter and hot summer seasons.
- Low energy consumption
Garage door requires electric energy to move. This may increase the bill if the door is not insulated. Therefore, insulating your door helps in reducing the energy bills.
- Noise reduction
Door insulation acts as a noise barrier. This makes insulated doors ideal for homes.
Steps for Garage door insulation
The following steps are effective in door insulation process:
Measure the door panels
Panels are part of the garage door that is indented from the grilled frames. In order to get the right size of the panels take the measurements from the inside part of the door. In this case, make use of a standard tape measure to get the dimensions of each panel. Use the measurements to determine the size of insulation material to buy.
Determine the insulation material
There are two major types of insulation materials that you can use to insulate the door. Polystyrene foam is ideal for doors of the garages located in areas with extreme weather conditions. This insulation material is strong and rigid available in large sheets. It is important to choose the one with the highest R-value provided it can fit in the space to be insulated. Reflective foil is the second type of insulation that works great on the doors. This type is ½ inch thick and comes with polyethylene foam present in between the aluminum foil. Note that spray in and fiberglass batt insulation materials are not recommended for the doors of the garage.
Cut the insulation
Measure the right size of the insulation for the door panel, mark the measured dimensions with a pen then cut them out using a utility knife. Trim off the excessive parts of the larger side if any, in order to have the right insulation size.
Fit the insulation
Once you have cut out the insulation for each panel on either side of the door, place them to fit on the indented door panel. However, if your door has extended door frame, ensure that the insulation material is tucked well into the frame. Remember to trim off the edges as need be.
Fix the insulation to the door
Fix the insulation piece firmly to the door using aluminum foil tape. You may choose to use the double sided tape to fix the insulation on each panel. Note that you do not need to use the tape if you have successfully tucked the insulation on the metal frames.