Are you in the market for an energy efficient garage door? If so, you should know that garage door technology has come a long way over the years, and whether you opt for a wood, steel, fibreglass, or vinyl door, there are energy-efficient models available. Keep reading to learn more about energy-efficient garage doors and what you should know before purchasing one for your home.

Why go energy efficient?

Here are four great reasons to invest in an energy efficient garage door for your home.

1. You spend a lot of time in your garage
An energy efficient garage door will help keep your garage warm in the winter and cool in the summer. This allows you to use the space as an extension of your own home. This is convenient if you have a tool bench or craft area in your garage, if you’ve converted the space into an office, man cave, gym or other type of room, or if you have a  room above your garage.

2. You want to keep your car warm in winter
It isn’t much fun getting into a cold car. Having an energy-efficient garage door, and therefore a warmer garage, helps make getting into your car more comfortable during the winter.

What’s more, keeping your car in a warm space may help extend its lifespan. Cold temperatures can cause motor oil to thicken, which makes the engine harder to turn over and consequently puts added stress on the moving parts. Cold temperatures also make your battery work harder. In a worst case scenario, your battery won’t be able to generate the oomph needed to start your car. Learn more about how the cold affects the items stored in your garage.

3. You’re trying to lower your energy bills
Do you find it costly to heat your home during the winter? If so, you should determine whether your garage — and by extension, your garage door — is a significant factor.

In a situation in which a garage is uninsulated, cold air will easily pass through the adjoining entryways, vents and walls. This makes your heating system have to work harder in order to generate adequate heat to maintain a comfortable temperature in your home. Increasing the insulation in your garage and installing the right type of garage door will solve this problem.

4. There’s a living space above your garage
If there’s a room above your uninsulated garage, you may find it challenging to keep it comfortably heated in winter. The cold air in the garage will inevitably rise up through the floor, thereby making for a less-than-cozy living space.

How’s a garage door’s insulation measured?

There are two values for measuring a garage door’s thermal efficiency: R-value and U-value. In a nutshell, R-value tells you how effective a given insulating material is at preventing heat loss, and U-value tells you how effective the entire door assembly is at preventing heat loss. Both values are good indicators of a door’s thermal efficiency.

U-values are arguably the more precise index, but this metric is less commonly used by garage door manufacturers. It’s far more common to see garage doors promoted with their given R-value.

The higher the R-value, the better the door’s thermal efficiency. For a well-insulated garage, Creative Door recommends a minimum value of R-11.

With U-values, it’s the opposite: the lower the U-value, the better the door’s thermal efficiency. U-values range from 0 to 1.

To learn more about R-values and U-values, read our comprehensive article on the subject.

What garage door type offers the best insulation?

Garage doors can be single-, double-, or triple-layered in their construction. As you might expect, single-layer garage doors are the most scantily insulated, and double-layer doors, which use polystyrene insulation, are the next step up.

Triple-layer doors, which use polyurethane insulation, provide the highest level of energy efficiency. Polyurethane is a liquid foam insulation that expands as it’s injected, filling every gap in the door’s construction. It has twice the R-value per inch over that of traditional types of insulation.

The garage door material used also plays a role, though not as large of one as you might expect. Materials such as steel, aluminum, fibreglass, and vinyl aren’t naturally insulating. However, garage doors made of these materials can all have high thermal efficiency so long as they’re triple-layered and insulated with polyurethane. Wood, on the other hand, is naturally insulating. However, unless it’s overlaid with steel, it isn’t the best option in cold and wet environments, as it retains moisture and can be subject to warping and rotting.

Energy-efficient garage doors in Western Canada

At Creative Door, we offer a wide selection of energy-efficient garage doors in an array of styles, colours, and materials. Browse our online catalogue to find the one that’s right for your home, then contact us at one of our eight branch offices across Western Canada to get a free quote.