This is Cotton outside ... and your heating bills go through the roof (along with the hot air). So you put insulation in the attic, do all weather protection for windows and doors, and tell the children to wear a sweater.
Forget something? How about this aggressive garage door that explains the massive surface area on the side of your house? Its large, flat door, which probably has not been updated for years. This means that it is inefficient, porous and allows your valuable heat (or air conditioning) to run like no other discovery in your home.
If you have updated and purchased a new garage door in the last 5 years, you probably remember this thing called “R-Value”. This is the value given to garage doors, which indicates its ability to withstand strong winds and retain heat (or cooling) through its internal insulation. The higher the R-Value, the more “isolated” and energy-efficient the garage door. Values can range from about R3 to R18, on average about 4-7. This insulation is usually a polyurethane insulation material, injection foam or polystyrene compound, which increases thermal efficiency.
But what if you cannot afford to upgrade your current garage door and still enjoy the benefits of quality insulation? Well, these days there are so-called “Insulation Kits for Garage Doors”, which correspond to almost all residential garage doors. They are easy to use kits that allow you to upgrade an existing garage door to save money, a protective screen on the elements. It makes sense when you consider that the garage door is usually the largest area of your house that is not isolated.
A garage door insulation kit is usually made for an 8 foot garage door or a 16 foot garage door. Kits are usually made of polystyrene, which is a very good insulator for this, which will give you the equivalent of an R-value of about 5.
If you are trying to keep your home warmer in winter or cooler in summer, do not lose sight of the huge door in the garage. A simple, fairly inexpensive investment to isolate a garage door will keep your expenses for many seasons.
