Is your garage door increasing your electricity bill?

You may think your garage door is the exact same as everyone else’s garage door on your street. How different can they be, right? When the R-values or RSi of two doors are exactly the same, shouldn’t you be getting the same kind of electrical output and value for your dollar as everyone else?

Actually, the answer is no! By taking a closer look at your door, you may notice that it isn’t fully equipped with the best kind of top-performing weatherseals and thermal breaks. This means that you could be losing a lot of heat to the outside, which just wastes energy and racks up your electricity bill.

When the time comes to invest in a new garage door, there are a few things you MUST know before making your final purchase. Here is what you need to know about the specific parts of your garage door that can reduce your electricity bill and save you on monthly expenses.

What you need to know about wood end blocks

Wood end blocks? Really? Yes, it’s necessary! A lot of manufacturers use section end blocks to keep the insulating metal pieces in place on your door. This helps to keep the hinges fastened, weatherstripping is also added.

In North America, most garage door manufacturers cut steel to about 26″ (or 66 cm) wide, to match the length needed for a door. They typically just use basic steel end caps to close the metal ends. But this is a huge downfall for thermal bridging, as it transfers heat directly out of the metal or into the garage.

At Garaga, there’s a new and improved way of doing this! We use a different type of injection to make each section of the door individually. Wooden end blocks are used to close the ends of the section, rather than steel caps, because wood does not transfer heat like steel does. This is a great way to prevent outside temperature from coming inside, making it a wonderful thermal break. This is the key to decreasing the cost of your electricity bill each month!

Joining the sections of the door

A popular method used to join these two sides of the metal sheets together is by using a metal staple, which is often inserted without glue. Again, this is a less than ideal method of fastening the sides as it can conduct heat and completely bring the weather from the outside to the inside of the garage.

So it’s Garaga to the rescue again! We use a triple-contact PVC weatherseel that connects the two sheets of metal, and it is completely impervious to outside influences. This way, no exterior metals are touching the inside, and therefore there is no thermal bridge!

Adding weatherstripping

Have you looked at the weatherstripping around the outside of your door? If you live in North America, the odds are it is made using a lower-grade PVC material. This is prone to hardening during freezing conditions, rendering it useless.

Garaga uses a much more flexible PVC material, which has granted it as arctic-grade, as it stays flexible even when temperatures reach as low as -15˚F (-25°C).

Weatherstripping at the bottom

Don’t forget, there’s weatherstripping at the bottom of the door too! This one can also get really un-flexible during freezing weather conditions and temperatures. This is one of the most crucial spaces where you want good weatherstripping to prevent outside cold from coming inside. Garaga uses a TPE (Thermal Plastic Elastomer) weatherseal that can stay flexible even when the temperatures reach -52°F (-62°C)! It doesn’t get much colder than that!

It’s time to remember…

Keeping your garage door as energy efficient as possible is the best way to save on your electricity bill and make for a more effectively insulated door.

While the R-value is important to the door, it isn’t the only component that makes up a good quality door. You are welcome to do more research and ask more questions about how a door is manufactured so that you can better understand the parts involved. With the help of this guide, you should now know exactly where to look to see if your door is made of quality materials.

When you’re ready to take the next step, you can contact us toll-free anytime at 705-322-0136 to speak to friendly and knowledgeable representatives. We can help you figure out the best choice for your specific needs. Want a free quotation? We can send one to your email!

If you’re in the area, we encourage you to visit our showroom, where we have the latest models and types of doors available. If you’re on our website, you should try out the Design Centre to design your very own garage door. You can get more ideas by taking a look at our image gallery too!