new garage door worth it?

[tim vadas]

I have wooden garage doors on a two car garage. One half the garage is sealed off as my shop, with heating. I bought a fiberglass insulation kit for the doors, and the sections of insulation just hang on the back of the panels with plastic clips. I've glued these on with liquid nails, but they still fall off once in a while, and portions hang down when i open the door. I put up a rubber seal around the outside edge of the door too to try to seal air leaks a little better (not sure it does much).

The doors are 30 years old, and the lower panels are very warped and starting to rot in the corners of the panels. I've kept them painted and they're stable enough, but will rot through eventually. I'm trying to decide if it's worth replacing it with a steel insulated door.

They would probably look a little nicer. Would they really be better for heating (they advertise as R-13)? would they seal at the edges better than the wood door?

[Frank Pratt]

They are capable of sealing very well, but you've got to get a good door with good seals & take the time to set it up properly. Even with a north wind blowing on my north facing door, I can detect no draft.

[John K Jordan]

I have wooden garage doors on a two car garage. One half the garage is sealed off as my shop, with heating. I bought a fiberglass insulation kit for the doors, and the sections of insulation just hang on the back of the panels with plastic clips. I've glued these on with liquid nails, but they still fall off once in a while, and portions hang down when i open the door. I put up a rubber seal around the outside edge of the door too to try to seal air leaks a little better (not sure it does much).

The doors are 30 years old, and the lower panels are very warped and starting to rot in the corners of the panels. I've kept them painted and they're stable enough, but will rot through eventually. I'm trying to decide if it's worth replacing it with a steel insulated door.

They would probably look a little nicer. Would they really be better for heating (they advertise as R-13)? would they seal at the edges better than the wood door?

I put three insulated garage doors in the back room of my shop. Purchased from a place called Overhead Doors I found out this by accident when I couldn't get the color Ii wanted in the residential door: the industrial models of the same door have heavier gauge steel, are thicker with better insulation, and they were cheaper. The designs on the industrial models were more limited. Their installer was pretty good but I tweaked them after he left for a better seal. The seals are now perfect, even though I had sloped the floor across the width (on purpose). I installed garage door openers myself. I have heat and air in the shop and the insulation in the door feels fine.

In our house built in '88 were two 9' wide wooden doors on a 2-car garage. They were really showing their age after 30 years so we replaced them with one insulated 18' wide door. Had to install a new beam for the span but it really makes for a nice opening. (Had to build in a little on the sides too.)

To seal all the doors they use two things: a big compressible rubber tubular seal on the bottom and narrow flexible edge and top seals on the outside. The door track is adjusted so the doors press tight against the outside seals at the very end of the closing. The cost was less than I thought it would be.

JKJ

[Paul F Franklin]

If your installation allows, swinging carriage type doors seal much better than any roll up or california door because they close tightly against the seals, compressing them like a standard exterior door. Roll up doors must slide against the seals. That makes it hard to get a good seal and harder to keep a good seal as they tend to wear more quickly because of the sliding forces. You can get electric operators for carriage style doors as well.

I replaced my old wood door with a thick steel insulated door (roll up) and it made a noticeable difference. My shop isn't in the garage, but I do finishing out there, and I can heat the oversized 2 car garage with a 5000 watt electric heater easily. The garage walls and ceiling are insulated as well.

[Mike Kees]

Tim they will be far better for heating. The insulation is eurathane foam.

[Rob Luter]

I replaced a set of old wood (MDF) doors with insulated fiberglass. It made a big difference. In addition to being well insulated, they seal very well around the entire perimeter.

[tim vadas]

It's good to hear people have good experience with the insulation benefit. I'll talk to the installer about the types of edge seals they can put it. Part of my worry too is that my shop was built around the existing garage doors. There's not a lot of room on the inside edge (the wall down the center of the garage leaves about 2 inches adjacent to the door), and the floor is built up fairly close to the door. I expect they can do it, but it won't be any easy install like most and i'll probably pay a little more.

[Derek Meyer]

My house is 16 years old, with an attached, insulated 2 car garage. When we built the house I had the middle-grade garage door installed from Overhead. It was insulated and I thought it did a good job.

3 years ago we had an accident (involving an icy driveway and a non-working backup camera) that resulted in us needing a new garage door. This time, I opted for the top-end model with the most insulation they had. The door looks similar, but it does a significantly better job of keeping the heat in during winter and out during summer. Had I known then what I know now, I would have bought the top end door at the start.

Derek

[Jim Andrew]

When in the building business, noticed that on the brand overhead doors, if you ran an extension cord out the garage door, and shut the door, the door would bend at the base, just a little bulge around the cord.

[Rob Luter]

It's good to hear people have good experience with the insulation benefit. I'll talk to the installer about the types of edge seals they can put it. Part of my worry too is that my shop was built around the existing garage doors. There's not a lot of room on the inside edge (the wall down the center of the garage leaves about 2 inches adjacent to the door), and the floor is built up fairly close to the door. I expect they can do it, but it won't be any easy install like most and i'll probably pay a little more.

I used an Overhead Door franchise. The estimator suggested that they can work with nearly any size opening and have solutions for clearance issues. I'd have a couple potential sources take a look, measure you up, and submit an estimate.

[Lee Schierer]

I replaced our steel garage doors a few years ago with insulated doors. It made a significant difference on the temperature in our garage both winter and summer. We got two quotes for the same doors from two different "Overhead Door" companies and the price difference was significant for the same doors. The dealer from across town gave a better price than the place just 2 miles away.

[mike stenson]

It's good to hear people have good experience with the insulation benefit. I'll talk to the installer about the types of edge seals they can put it. Part of my worry too is that my shop was built around the existing garage doors. There's not a lot of room on the inside edge (the wall down the center of the garage leaves about 2 inches adjacent to the door), and the floor is built up fairly close to the door. I expect they can do it, but it won't be any easy install like most and i'll probably pay a little more.

I had doors installed in what was originally a carport last month. I had about the same clearance to one of the walls (that I've since removed, and that was a lot more difficult because of the door track), and the installer didn't have an issue with it. The way the brackets are installed really seems to allow a lot of flexibility in that regard.

[kent wardecke]

There was nothing wrong with my steel door other than a sent my wife didn't like. She replaced it with a better Insulated door with windows. It's nice I would have kept that old door for another 20 years. That said the new door is nice. The windows really help to keep the place cheerful