Garage door insulation....

[Glenn J]

Hello,
Before we bought out house, the previous owner installed 2 new insulated Coplay garage doors. These doors are the "single" insulated type. I've seen that some of you have installed insulation via the inside pannels. I'm thinking of adding a second layer to the already insulated doors. Will this do anything or is it just overkill? I'll try and post a picture later so you folks can see what the door looks like....

Glenn

[Brad B.]

There is probably diminishing returns as far as insulation. I will measure the thickness of mine tonight.

[Brad]

Ok, my garage door has 2" thick foam insulation. I doubt that any more would improve things. There are plenty of other energy leaks to be concerned with!

[JohnN]

I have an insulated door from Clopay as well. I'll second Brad's observation - I think any more insulation there would be overkill.

What I'd do is get some of that expanding foam insulation, and hit any cracks or holes that might exist. That, and making sure the rubber weatherstrip under the door is intact, should keep you well insulated.

[Glenn J]

Thanks for the tips guys! They were installed about a year ago and the fit is great. All the weather stripping is new and tight. What a difference the insulated doors make. It doesn't get as cold as I imagine it would if the doors were not insulated.

LOL! Yeah, I should probably worry about those drafty old windows in there instead! Once spring rolls around, I'll take some pics of the garage and post them here!

[High Noon]

You have to worry about putting to much weight on the doors, the springs are rated for the load it left the factory with. And yes the door won't open with just a few more pounds on it. I know, I added insultation{A/C duct board} to mine when I put A/C in my garage.After I was done the garage wouldn't go up. First the guy came and put more tension on the spring, then 3 days later the spring broke. Then we weighed the door and he installed 2 springs and I have been fine ever since. They won't sell the springs to you cause of liabilty reasons. Home depo did not carry mine.

[Glenn J]

Good advice...I never even thought of that!

I think I'm going to leave them as is and jsut get some weather stripping for the windows. We picked up one of those "oil filled" electric heaters at the Home Depot for $25 when they had their 40% off sale. I'm interested in keeping the garage warm becuase the bedroom is right above it....Oh, and to keep the cars warm too! Let's not forget about that!

[Brad B.]

I replaced the leaky old casement windows in my garage with glass block. It actually improved the lighting situation and reduced noise as well as offering better insulation. Not that expensive, either.

(sorry for the lousy pic. It's really much brighter than it looks.)

[High Noon]

Hey Brad,

Glass block is tough to break. What kind of floor is on your garage? Did you coat it with anything?

[Glenn J]

Wow! Those look good Brad! How hard was the installation?

[High Noon]

Hey Brad,

LOOKS GREAT and Glass block is tough to break. What kind of floor is on your garage? Did you coat it with anything?

[Brad B.]

The installation was pretty easy. Just rip out the old frame and start laying the modular brick with joint cement (grout). They have different size bricks to make the sizing work out to an inch or two and then you stick in a filler piece and your done. Took a day to do all the demolition and a day do put the new blocks in.

The floor is smooth concrete. One side is a polyeurothene and the other is a two-part epoxy. I had the two sides of the garage done at different times. (Original and then the expansion a few years later.)

I tried to do the floors myself a few years ago with a couple different products offering "pro results". Don't believe it. Get it done by a pro. You will be much happier in the end.

I am anal about doing things right and my best efforts only lasted a few months before they started to deteriorate. I etched, primed, etc.

Here is an idea what the floors look like.