Insulating Garage Doors

Insulate Garage Doors to Save on Home Energy Bills

By Mark J. Donovan




For those who have attached garages or garages under a home’s living space, it is very likely that a lot of heat is leaving your home via the garage doors. In general garage doors are poorly insulated, if they are insulated at all.

Fortunately, there are a few simple choices you can take to properly insulate garage doors. These simple steps, described below, will prevent the lost of heat during the winter months and cool air during the summer months, saving you significantly on your home’s energy bills.

Insulating Garage Door Options

To properly insulate garage doors there are two basic avenues that you can take.

First, there are garage door insulation kits available, however they can be difficult to find and they typically will require some DIY hand customizing. The second and easier approach is to buy some foam sheathing insulation material from a local home improvement store and customize it yourself with a carpenter’s knife, straight edge and a tape measure.

To insulate garage doors with foam sheathing, cut the foam sheathing insulation material to size, such that it can be placed into each garage door panel. Then attach it to the garage door by using double-sided tape. It is that simple.

An alternative material to foam sheathing insulation is reflective foil insulation. This stuff works great for preventing heat transfer, and again, you can cut this to size to fit in between the garage door panels.

Reflective foil insulation is both a vapor and radiant heat barrier and can be purchased in a variety of forms. Reflective foil insulation typically comes as a thin sheet of plastic with a reflective foil backing.

Insulating Garage Door Seal

Some types already come with a 1″ adhesive backing to allow for easier application.

Insulating garage doors is a great way to save on your home’s energy bills, so consider taking an hour out of one of your weekends and insulate your garage doors.

For more information on building a garage addition see the Garage Addition Bid Sheet from HomeAdditionPlus.com. The Garage Addition Bid Sheet includes an extensive questionnaire (Request for Quote) that a homeowner can provide to prospective general contractors and subcontractors for bidding the garage addition. In addition, the Garage Addition Bid Sheet also includes estimated costs and time intervals for constructing a garage addition as well as a list of key home material manufacturers. Finally, the Garage Addition Bid sheet includes an extensive set of helpful tips and advice on making sure the garage addition is built properly and on time and budget.

Related Information


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