The R factor for garage doors is a way to measure the doors thermal value, the claim is that the higher the factor number is then the better its insulating properties are. Garage door manufacturers are trying to do away with the R factor and replace it with the U factor, which we have known was coming because of all the companies that have been fighting over who has the highest R factor number. The U factor tests the amount of energy lost whether hot or cold of a window, wall or door, the lower that the U factor number is then the lower the amount of energy that is lost through the garage door.
Testing The Garage Doors For Proper Insulation
About forty years ago a garage door company called McKee Door tested a 10 x 10 insulated garage door with no weather seals on it, and they came to the observation that it had the same loss of energy as if there was a 12 inch hole in the middle of the door. Having weather seals is a huge part of purchasing an insulated garage door, unfortunately the overhead garage door companies do not offer any kind of seals that come anywhere close to that of an entry way window or door.
Customers as well as the overhead garage door dealers are getting caught up with these fictitious R factors and urethane/polystyrene the customers are the ones that are suffering. The consumers are now just basically being sold nothing but a bill of goods. This sort of problem is similar to the same kind of hype that was caused by the pinch-proof doors and the tax credit, this hype flooded the consumer market for several years.
Insulated Doors And Conditioned Air Space
A well insulated garage and a conditioned air space play a big role in having a garage with a space that will insulate your garage in the same way as that of your house. Imagine if you were to come home in the cold winter weather and park in the garage and shut the door behind you therefore trapping the cold in the garage, then as the temperature outside rises the the garage is still cold. The same thing happens when it’s hot outside if you come home, say it’s 100 degrees outside then a few minutes later you step into the garage and now suddenly it’s 114 degrees.
Without providing a conditioned space to help balance out the temperature of the garage then you really haven’t accomplished anything at all.
Neighborhood Garage Door Services of The Bay Area in California wants you to realize that if you are thinking about upgrading or replacing your old garage door to a new steel sandwich style garage door, then do so for those reasons named and not for the fictitious R factors. So before you spend thousands on making your garage into a conditioned space think about how often you actually intend to use that space for a living style environment.
