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Save on energy with insulated garage door
By James Dulley, Special to the Times
Published September 8, 2007
Q: Vertical cracks are developing in my steel garage door. I want an insulated door with windows. What's your recommendation? A: It is certainly more comfortable to work in the garage when your fingers are not cold in winter and sweat is not running in your eyes in summer. Since the garage door is practically an entire wall, a leaky uninsulated one can make it nearly impossible to keep the garage comfortable. The vertical cracks in the door are probably caused by inadequate support across the width of the door. This allows the door, particularly a two-car size, to flex in the opened position. Over time, fatigue cracks form. Choose a door with horizontal supports on the indoor side to eliminate the flexing and the cracks. Even if you do not work in your garage, installing an efficient garage door makes sense. Attached garages have one or two common walls with the house. Reducing the heat loss (winter) or heat gain (summer) from the garage door will reduce losses from the common house walls. An insulated steel garage door is a good choice. Some, with several inches of urethane insulation, have insulation values as high as R-18. If your house is old, this probably is higher insulation than the house walls. The best garage doors also have an indoor steel skin covering the insulation with a thermal break between the indoor and outdoor skins. Generally, select a garage door with small decorative windows. These look good, and if they are high on the door, they make it difficult for a thief to see indoors. Either double-pane glass or acrylic plastic work well. If you need more natural light, install a tubular skylight in the garage ceiling instead of larger windows in the door. This is particularly important in hurricane-prone places like Florida. The Federal Alliance for Safe Homes says that approximately 80 percent of residential hurricane damage starts with wind entry through garage doors. The doors are one of a building's weakest points because they are big but lightweight, and they tend to be at the corners of the house, where wind pressure and suction are greatest. Wind-borne debris can smash garage windows. The door may buckle or be ripped off its rollers. Then, hurricane-force winds can enter the garage and cause tremendous damage in the house. You can find retrofit kits with a removable pole that attaches to the garage door and to the floor and ceiling. U-shaped metal brackets attach horizontally and vertically to the door. Long-stemmed rollers will hold the door in its tracks so the door won't pop out of its track if it flexes in high winds. Don't attach plywood to the inside of the door in an effort to add support. That can make the door so heavy that the motor or the track is damaged and can void the warranty. In addition to high insulation, airtightness of the door is important. There can be a total of more 100 feet of joints between the panels and around the door. The seals around the door are similar on most garage doors consisting of a fin along the sides and top and a bulb at the bottom. A shiplap or tongue-and-groove joint between the panels creates a good seal. It also locks the panels together for more strength when the door is closed. The best ones also have a narrow flexible compression seal strip between the panels. If you have children, select a door with pinch-resistant panel edges. These are designed so that, as the door closes and the panels come together, there is no gap. Times Homes and Garden editor Judy Stark contributed to this report. James Dulley is a mechanical engineer and do-it-yourselfer. Send questions to James Dulley, The Sensible Home, St. Petersburg Times, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45244. Visit his Web site at www.dulley.com to tour his energy-efficient home, post questions for other readers and find other information. - - - Hit the clicker These companies offer garage doors. All numbers are toll-free. - Amarr Garage Doors: 1-800-503-3667, www.amarr.com - Clopay Building Products: 1-800-225-6729, www.clopaydoor.com - Overhead Door: 1-800-929-1277, www.overheaddoor.com - Raynor Garage Doors: 1-800-472-9667, www.raynor.com - Wayne-Dalton: 1-800-827-3667, www.wayne-dalton.com
[Last modified September 7, 2007, 10:36:45]
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