These days, you’ll be more aware than ever of your home’s energy efficiency. There are plenty of ways that you can lose heated or cooled air from your home, whether it’s through your front door, windows, or even your attic. However, have you ever considered your garage door?
If you manage your garage door’s energy efficiency, you’ll be amazed at how much energy you’ll save. It’s the largest door in your home, so you’ll lose a lot of air if it’s not installed and treated correctly. Here’s how to improve your garage door’s energy efficiency and save on those bills.
The Importance Of Energy Efficiency
As a homeowner, you want to ensure that your home is as energy efficient as possible. With energy prices rising, you’ll need to keep conditioned air in your home rather than letting it escape. You’ll already know many of the tricks to do this, such as replacing windows and doors to be energy efficient and insulating your attic to keep air from escaping that way.
However, you do need to consider your garage door too. If the garage is connected to your home, then any air that you’re cooling or heating in your home will move into your garage and potentially be lost through the garage door too. That leads to excessive energy costs, and of course, that is something that you want to avoid as much as possible.
As well as this, you’ll also want to consider garage door insulation if you’re using your garage in other ways. While some homeowners will use them for just storing their car, others will use them as workshops, living areas, and more. As you’d imagine, you want to be able to manage the temperature in your garage in these cases, so you’ll need to make the garage door more energy efficient.
Keep Up On Maintenance
The first thing you should do to make your garage door more energy efficient is to keep up on repairs with it. A garage door that isn’t cared for won’t be able to keep in your home, so it’s vital to inspect it regularly for any holes, bends in the track, gaps in seals, and so on. These will stop the door from fitting properly in the doorway and let that air out.
Plus, it’s a good idea to maintain your garage door, as keeping on top of maintenance will always help in the long run. It’ll help save on repair bills in the future, so it’s another way of saving money. There are several steps you need to take in order to ensure that your garage door is in the best possible condition:
- Do a visual inspection of the door to see if any cosmetic damage needs to be addressed. That can be dents, scratches, etc.
- Check the photo eye sensors and auto reverse functions to ensure they’re working as required.
- Check the track and rollers to ensure they’re in shape and are letting the door move freely.
- Clean and fix the hardware on the door. That should include the brackets and hinges that hold the door in place.
- Take a look at the weatherstripping, as this will do a lot to keep conditioned air in. If it’s worn out or damaged, you can replace this yourself.
- Check your springs, cables, and pulleys for damage.
Install The Correct Garage Door Opener
It’s not just your garage door that will impact your garage door’s energy efficiency, it’s the garage door opener too. It can have more of an impact on energy efficiency than you’d think.
This is because different openers are designed to open different types of garage doors. For example, if you’re using a garage door opener that isn’t rated to work with your garage door weight, then it will have to work harder to get it opened. That means it’s going to use more energy in the process. As such, it’s good to see whether you’re using the right garage door opener. You can talk to your local garage door expert, as they will be able to advise you on this.
Insulate Your Garage Door
Finally, insulating your garage door is one of the best ways to make it more energy efficient. You can buy kits from your local hardware store or have a garage door expert handle it for you. If your garage door doesn’t have insulation, you’ll see that installing it isn’t too difficult.
If you’re looking to replace your garage door, you’ll see many different options out there that already come with insulation. They are well worth considering, as that insulation will greatly prevent air from escaping your home when you don’t want it to.
When To Call An Expert
As you can see, you can do a lot of the work yourself here when you’re looking to make your garage door more energy efficient. Sometimes, you will need to call on an expert to come and handle the work for you. For example, if you’re looking to replace the garage door entirely, you’ll need a garage door fitter to handle this. They will be able to advise on the best door for you and help you find one with the right insulation for your needs.
Also, it’s always a good idea to call on an expert to help you if you’re unsure of the best steps. They’ll know what you can do to ensure the garage door is as insulated as possible to keep that air in and the energy bills down. Now you know how to improve your garage door to keep energy costs down and make your home as energy efficient as possible. If you need help, call a garage door repair expert to give you a hand. You’ll soon see the difference that it can make.