Why the Insulation of Your Garage Door Matters

Carriage House Garage doors

When you’re buying a new garage door for your home or business, it’s sometimes tempting to go with the cheaper option. But what if you were aware of all of the benefits of garage door insulation? Would you upgrade to a door with a higher R value? What type of insulation would you choose? Let’s dive into that a little bit and give you some information about why insulation matters.

 

THE BIGGEST AREA OF HEAT LOSS IS YOUR GARAGE

 

inside garage door

It’s a proven fact! With an insulated garage door, you can increase energy efficiency and ensure that you’re not paying extra for your heat in the winter. Not only does insulation help from preventing heat from escaping, but it also prevents hot air from getting into your garage during the warmer months.

 

Quieter garage door = happy family & happy neighbors

 

neighborhood

Okay, I will admit, this isn’t a proven fact. But it makes sense, right? If you’ve ever come home to a sleeping baby and had to quickly close the man door to your garage so that the noisy garage door won’t wake up the baby, then you know what I’m talking about! You also wouldn’t want to be those people in the neighborhood who have the loudest garage door on the block. Insulation can help with this! Studies have shown that insulated garage doors are about 3 times quieter than non-insulated garage doors.

The R-value is what is used to measure the transmission of heat

 

brown garage door

If you’re shopping for garage doors, you’ll want to know what “R-value” means. The R-value refers to the transmission of heat. Garage doors with a higher R-value have a slower transmission of heat. Which ultimately means you will have less warm air escaping your garage door when it’s cold outside and less heat trying to get through your garage door in the summer time. The R-value (ranging from 6.3 to 20.4) can be determined based on the material/type of insulation and the thickness of the door. Again, if you’re going to reap the benefits of an insulated door, you will want to look for a mid to high range R-value.

Poly-what?

 

There are two main types of garage door insulation – polystyrene and polyurethane. Both are great, but it’s good to know the difference.

Polystyrene is what you’ll typically find at your major retail stores. Rigid panels of polystyrene are put in between the steel. While this is more energy efficient than a door without any insulation, it’s still not quite as efficient as a door insulated with polyurethane.

Why is that? Polyurethane is a foam that is injected in between the steel layers. Because it is foam, and not rigid panels, it reaches all those gaps that the polystyrene cannot.

Both Polystyrene and Polyurethane are great choices for insulating your garage door. But if you want the ultimate energy efficiency, you’d want to go with Polyurethane.

 

Polystyrene insulation
polyurethane insulation

At Barron Equipment & Overhead Doors, we have a wide selection of doors that have low R-values to high R-values, as well as doors insulated with Polystyrene and Polyurethane.

In fact, for the months of January and February, we are having a promotion on all of R 9 and R 18.4 doors!

 

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For more information, give us a call today!