Garage Door Designed to Save Energy
When choosing a garage door, energy efficiency might not be the first thing on your mind. However, there's no reason why shouldn't have everything you want from a garage door in terms of style, function, and efficiency while also helping out the environment. With all the options out there, it's become a lot easier to find energy efficient garage doors in a snap. Even without doing a total overhaul, homeowners can find many ways to choose a door that maximizes energy while lowering bills. Here are just a few things to keep in mind when you search for the perfect energy-efficient door.
Insulation and Layering
The first step to making sure your door is energy-efficient is making sure it's insulated. This means using double or triple layer doors to keep the heat in and the cold out. Using double layer doors and padding them with polystyrene or polyurethane foam is a great way to save money in heating or cooling bills, especially when your garage door is attached to your home unit. It's also important to make sure that your garage door opener isn't using excess energy and running up your heating bill. When choosing an opener, focus on purchasing a model with a low power standby mode, preferably of 4 watts or less.
Sealing
Most homeowners already know how to seal, weatherstrip, and weatherproof their homes for the colder seasons. However, it pays to give the same amount of thought and attention to the garage, plugging up any leaks or places where cold air might be able to sneak through. This especially applies to your garage door, where there's plenty of room for stray air to come in, especially at the base of the door's lowest panel. A great way to prevent leaks is to invest in a rubber seal or draft stopper to stop the wind from getting in.
Material
Choosing the best material for insulation goes a long way when it comes to protecting your garage from the outside elements. While wood, vinyl, and aluminum aren't the best choices for heat absorption and insulation, steel can prove a great option if installed in double or triple layers. Composite wood is also a great option that has insulating benefits built right in. Even if you're dead set on choosing a material that doesn't have the best insulation properties, installing a double layer and padding it with polystyrene will help your door save heat and energy at the same time.
Passive Solar Energy
Keeping your garage warm can be time-consuming and expensive task. It's also extremely energy-inefficient. In addition to keeping your door insulated and plugging up all leaks, it's a good idea to invest in solar energy panels to attach to your door to naturally increase the flow of usable energy to your garage. Using the natural heat of the sun, each panel allows energy to flow into your garage unit on its own. Attaching the panels is also a fairly easy project that can be done at home using only a few basic tools.