Garage - Insulating the Door

We use our garages for everything except maybe parking our cars that is. Garages are great to have because we can get so much use out of them. They give us an extension of our home to work on hobbies like wood working or automotive care or even just a place to hang out to practice the drums, play pool without crowding in the small living room area of the house. But unless your garage is insulated you probably don't spend much time out there. Lets face it a garage that isn't insulated against the elements in the summer can be hotter than Death Valley and by the same token a garage in the dead of winter can be cold enough to freeze your tootsie to the cement floor. Even if you only intend to park your car in the garage you may still want to consider the real benefits of insulating your garage against the elements that can drain the energy from your home and wreck havoc on your energy bill.

You can probably just tell from going from your insulated home into your garage during the various seasons the difference insulation can make. Your home may get warm without air conditioning to cool it or down right cool without the heat running in the dead of winter, but it is nothing compared to what a garage lacking insulation can be like.

Since this is a huge source of energy loss considers what you would need to do to insulate the area. Your probably looking at a garage with the framework exposed which means no drywall sheeting which in turn means no insulation between the drywall and the outside wall. That heat wave you can feel standing near the wall during the summer is a huge source of energy going out your wall. If your garage is attached to your home that means the heat is being pulled from your home into the garage and going directly outside from there.

Obviously to insulate you need to add drywall and insulation to the walls, but you may also need to change out your windows if you have any in your garage to make them energy efficient windows.

The next biggest source of energy loss is the garage door. If you think about it your garage door is large enough to take up a good portion of your home and when it opens and closes it allows a lot of hot or cold air in and out. Garage doors can come in a wide variety of materials including steel, wood, aluminum, vinyl and composite and each will have its own insulation benefits but a garage door with added insulation will give a greater R factor- the value used to measure a doors insulation abilities.

If you insulate your garage completely and properly the energy savings you see will probably pay for themselves in a short amount of time and make your new garage a great overall investment.