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The Best Insulated Garage Doors
We tell you the benefits of the best insulated garage door types
The increase in demand and sales for insulated garage doors has been tremendous in the last few years. Now that garage doors with really good all round weather sealing and superb insulation properties from double skinned panel constructions are readily available, the older type one piece up and over and side hinged garage doors look pretty useless in comparison, letting vermin, dust, leaves, rain and of course cold air in on all sides and in many cases making your garage cold and filthy. Which ones are best to look at for insulation?
Sectional Garage Doors
These vertically rising doors split into several sections (usually 4 on a standard height door) and are constructed in 40 - 67mm thick foam filled, insulated, double skinned steel panels. They are about the best choice for an insulated garage door for normal domestic type use. The U values achieved can be very good if installed BEHIND the garage structural opening and also installed correctly, with consideration given to the floor levels for the best seal possible and a complete overlap at the sides and head to act as a thermal break. Far too often small compromises in the width and more often the height will mean that you have a door fitted with insulated panels providing insulation up to say 7 feet high and then a single skin layer of steel fascia fitted above to make up the gap to the lintel. While this works fine for sealing the opening it does not give the maximum benefits for insulation, so always consider this if insulation of your garage is your primary objective. Hormann, Carteck, Garador and SWS all offer either purpose made sizes or additional insulated fascia panels where required. They also have a very wide range of standard sizes to offer, so look carefully. Hormann have been the first manufacturer more recently to offer a further upgrade option in their ‘thermoframe‘ system, potentially improving the insulation value even further - up to 20% more efficient. Of course for places where insulation is even more critical we can always offer a choice of 80mm thick insulated commercial specification sectional doors as they are all made to order. These doors are used for cold stores primarily so will be at the top end of what is achievable in insulating any aperture.
Roller Garage Doors
The term ‘insulated roller garage door’ is widely used but can be misleading as it is almost impossible to get a proper and accurate U value rating on a roller shutter garage door constructed from an average of 24 curtain slats, all technically produced with a small uninsulated gap inbetween each of them. Whilst there is a definite benefit from having these insulated slats, not only for strength but also for some decent insulation, the roller door will have very different insulation values depending on many varying factors. Rubber or brush type weatherseals in the guides or on the head fascia, a full hood cover for the roll and how much overlap the door slats have to the sides and the head of the opening will all contribute to how good the final insulation will be, but do not expect an accurate U value to present to your architect or building inspector. Be aware some cheaper type roller garage doors do use considerably thinner slats than others so do be aware of what you are being quoted for with this type of roller door, as they can be misleading in their performance and specification.
Trackless Overlap Doors
These are a very recent addition by comparison to the other doors but use a simple principle which is very well executed. 2 insulated panels are lifted by counter weights at either side and by using a thick steel cable. The door panels lift up and slide into the garage one above the there but without the use of any tracking at all. The panels are suspended and provide the full drive through width between the side frames and weight boxes whilst the height is also kept near to the full height as possible. Most importantly however these are insulated panels and with the use of mechanical bolts in the top theses doors are also very secure. The door panels are 40mm thick and constructed from double skinned steel sections with a CFC free insulating foam core providing strength as well as insulation. The door panels do not pass through the frame opening so can utilise the large weather seals either side and across the top to full advantage.
Side Hinged Doors
Traditional timber side hinged doors with the right sub frame stops and a good tight fit will actually give quite a good insulation value as timber itself is a very good insulator (think of all the log cabins inside the Arctic circle), all depending again of course on the type and thickness of the timber used. GRP (fibreglass) is also relatively good as well with the same criteria. Recently however Carteck Doors (Teckentrup in Germany) and Hormann released a range of insulated side hinged garage doors, all made to order as standard, with a factory fitted aluminium fixing sub frame and with double rebated edges all round with built in rubber seals. The actual door leaves are constructed using their high quality sectional garage door panels which are 40mm thick, foam filled, double skinned steel. The result is a pair of strong, insulated side hinged doors of high quality, available in a variety of designs, colours and sizes with many double glazed window options. The side hinged doors are definitely a very good option for any garage or outbuilding where the use is mainly for a workshop, office, gymnasium, bike store, playroom or similar, and whilst the insulation may be key to your choice, remember a double skinned steel door construction gives a great opportunity to add in some serious locking to provide proper security.
Up and Over Garage Doors
Up and over garage doors have one basic flaw when it comes to insulation and that is that the whole door panel itself has to move through the sub frame when opening and closing and therefore has to have a descent gap all around the perimeter in order to operate. Generally most up and over doors do not offer very good insulation but some effort can be made with optional insulation packs to add insulation boards to the rear of the panel for example. Again, some of the timber doors by their very nature will also give insulation, although it helps if the door is fitted with a steel sub frame with built in weather stripping and a descent door stop on the head frame. The underside of the door where there is always a gap can be dealt with any number of different rubber and brush weather seals available for the door or the floor. They will never be as good as the above options but can be made to be OK for use in the relatively temperate climate in the UK.
Personnel and Pedestrian Doors
For all of the above there is now pretty much a matching personnel door to go with the garage door. Many of these doors are manufactured in the same factories using the same panel designs and colour ranges.
To conclude if you really do want to make your garage as insulated as possible then look at the double skinned sectional doors. LPU40, GSW40 and others, all with the 40-45mm thick panels and try to make sure the door is fitted completely behind the garage opening. The Overlap is another great option and doesn't have the tracking mechanism to worry about so keeps your garage clear inside which considering the potential use might be one of the key factors. These doors are very smart in their operation too.
Call or email Samson Doors for all the latest prices and technical information on insulated garage doors
