Garage Door Insulation Guide

The garage is often the largest uninsulated section of a home, and insulating it can result in large long-term savings on your energy bill, especially if garage is used like a workspace or if there's a room directly over the garage. Spending less is the most obvious benefit, but not the sole one. Keeping the garage cooler in the summertime and warmer in the winter can make doing work in the garage a far more pleasant activity, as well as make entering to your car considerably less painful. Insulation willl also reduce street noise should you be in a loud area.

Insulating a garage door is easily done by purchasing a a pre-made insulation kit. These kits will contain all you need to install the insulation on your own, if however you don't feel up to the task, it's possible to employ a professional. Insulation kits typically fall in the price range of 80 and 200 dollars, based on if you've got One or two doors that need insulation. There are many major types of kits to contemplate:

Fiberglass

Foil (Single or double layered)

Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)

Before looking at these kinds of insulation, you should comprehend the concept of the R-value. The R-value of a material is a way of measuring how much it stops heat transfer. For insulation purposes, the higher the R-value of the material, the more insulating it is.

Fiberglass

Fiberglass kits usually boast the greatest R-value ratings. Owens Cornering is probably the most popular fiberglass insulation manufacturer, and their garage door insulation kit offers an R-value of 8, and is considered easy to install. However, this kit is designed for 8 panel garage doors. 10 panel doors are quite common, which means you may need to leave some panels uncovered, or buy an additional kit just to cover the rest of the panels. Many could also consider the fiberglass aesthetically unappealing.

You'll find more information on the Owens Cornering website, including an installation video, and professional installation services.

Foil

Reflective foil kits can be found in both single and double layered varieties. It is made of layers of polyethylene bubbles enclosed by sheets of aluminum. The single layer providing an R-value of around 4.6, and the double layer an R-value of about 6. Foil insulation is acceptable for garages without sections built-in to the door, as it covers the entire door. It is easy to install and has a fairly good R-value rating, however some may find the reflective surface unattractive.

Expanded Polystyrene

EPS kits contain panels made from Expanded Polystyrene, surrounded by High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS). Though they have an R-Value of about 4.5, many find them much more sleek to look at than fiberglass or foil. The laminated surface also makes them both durable and straightforward to wash. Some popular EPS kits are sold by FoamPanel and Matador. Matador kits can be obtained from their official website, and FoamPanel kits, like other kits mentioned on this website, can be purchased from Texas Garages.

Places to buy:

Online

Owens Cornering

Matadoor

Texas Garages

Traditional

Garage door insulation kits should be sold at most home nearby home maintenance stores including Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, etc. Most of these stores have an online presence as well.

Some things to keep in mind

If you have several garage doors, you'll generally want to buy 1 kit per door.

While these kits should not add enough wait to the doors to cause any issues, if your springs are worn-out, you may want to replace or repair them.

Wear gloves when you use fiberglass. Touching fiberglass with bare skin and lead to itchy skin and inflammation.