Save Money with an Insulated Garage Door

Thermally Efficient Garage Doors for the Modern Homeowner

When you consider the fact that the garage opening is the single largest break in a home`s structure, you will realise that unless it is adequately protected from the effects of the cold weather then there will be a real problem. To counter this problem, an increasingly large number of homeowners are turning to insulated garage doors.

Available on the market are a vast range of insulated garage doors that will provide differing levels of insulation according to both budget and operating type. An insulated door is generally constructed from 2 skins of either steel or aluminium with a foam filled core. The most effective way of installing the insulation is to use expanding foam. This is poured in between the 2 door profiles during the manufacturing process. The foam expands to fill every void thus providing an extremely energy efficient door panel. This process not only provides insulation to the door but also creates a very rigid door panel due to the fact that the insulation is very hard once it has expanded.

Although there are many different types of insulated garage doors, the most popular types in recent years have been the roller garage door and the sectional garage door.

This type of garage roller door is an ideal solution to preventing heat loss from the garage for the homeowner that is looking for a door design that will allow the garage roof space to be used for storage. Many homeowners also specify this type of door as their number one choice because they do not want tracks and runners etc to extend back into the garage. The design of roller garage doors means that when open the door rolls up into a compact box that normally sits behind the lintel.

The drawback is that the door is limited in thickness to 18mm. Any thicker and the door roll would become too large to fit into most spaces. A result of this means that most high quality insulated roller garage doors can only achieve a U value of approx 5w/m2k.

Whilst this is still pretty good and certainly better than the alternative of a single skin door with no insulation, it is still not super efficient.

Insulated sectional garage doors are an excellent product for the homeowner looking to make real savings by stopping heat escaping from their home.

Designed differently to a roller garage door, an insulated sectional garage door can be as thick as 45mm. The added thickness of the door panel allows the sectional door to achieve a U value of as low as 1w/m2k.

With this type of garage door installed, there will be a real barrier to the elements. This is because the door panels are hinged together and retract back into the garage as the door opens. This does mean that the garage ceiling can no longer be used for storage. However, when you consider the money saving factor because of the reduction in heat bills, it is plain to see why insulated sectional garage doors are fast becoming the most popular choice.