Does insulating a non-insulated garage door really make a difference?

If you’ve recently spent some time doing up your garage to make it into a more comfortable environment year-round, you’ve no doubt invested in wall and ceiling insulation, and now you’re wondering whether you should also make the effort to insulate your non-insulated garage door.

You could insulate your non-insulated garage door…

There are ways to insulate a non-insulated garage door, and it’s not a project that will break the bank, the two most common methods will cost you between $75 and $100.

You could use a mineral wool blanket kit, that you’ll find at your local renovation material store. The kits come with flexible mineral wool rolls, like in the picture, with a reflective plastic film.

You could also opt for polystyrene insulating panels, you should be able to find kits in most chain hardware stores. But remember, polystyrene is very flammable, therefore if you choose this option, you must cover it with another flame retardant material.

Other options are also available, but you must always remember that your garage door has been calibrated to a specific weight and that you must have your garage door system recalibrated to reflect any additional weight.

But...

The only real benefit to installing insulation on a non-insulated garage door is that it will reduce noise. Unfortunately, insulating a non-insulated garage door will not stop the cold from entering the garage, this is because there is no thermal break between the exterior and interior sheet metal sections of your garage door.

So, should you bother insulating it?

Well, that all depends on your intentions: If you’re simply wanting to reduce noise made by your garage door then yes, by all means, go ahead and invest $100. However, if you were hoping to increase your thermal insulation from 0 to R5 or R6, that’s not going to happen unless you purchase a new, well-insulated garage door.

If you’re looking to buy a new, well-insulated garage door

Contact us at 519-326-5888 and let us know what you’re looking for. We’ve got tons of experience in the industry and understand that the long-term durability and performance of a garage door depends not only on the quality of the parts, but also on the quality of the labour. If you would prefer, we can even make a house call.

Once we know a little more about your needs, we can send you a detailed, customized quote via email.

If you have no idea what style garage door you would like, have a flick through our image gallery, or play around with our Design Centre tool.