Reducing energy loss | Tips for insulating your garage

Insulating a garage door is a monumental thing particularly if you spend a lot of your time there. Perhaps you've got band practice, or you love making upgrades to your vehicle every now and then.

Comfort is not the only drive to having a well-insulated garage. You'll also enjoy the thrill of having a low energy bill each month. So if you're wondering where to start with the insulation process, then here's a working guide to assist you in that.

Start with the roof 

Hot air rises upwards, so if your roof is not a good insulator, you'll be losing energy at a very high rate. Go for insulating roofing panels with layered protection to ensure that you don't lose as much heat. Pressure bonded polystyrene layer makes a pretty good and durable insulator.

You could also go for a fire resistant roof panel to take care of any misfortunes that may occur. Such roof panels don't catch fire easily when it starts, and this gives the firefighters enough time to arrive and extinguish it. You can easily identity them from their fire rating written on the panel.

Insulate the door

You can get kits designed specifically for insulating the door from your local store. Fiberglass batt, reflective barriers and even foam are some of the many option you've got. All you need to ensure is that the insulation fits perfectly on the door. You'll be better off cutting your insulation after measuring the panel sizes along the door, rather than cutting all panels based on a single measurement. The panel sizes may change. You'll then need to add adhesive to ensure the door remains firm.

However, calculate your costs first, in some cases, it may be a lot cheaper to replace the whole door with a modern, insulated one as opposed to insulating it yourself.

Seal the walls

You'll also have to seal the walls so as to ensure that no fumes or gasoline smells seep into your home. Any cavities between your garage wall and home walls need to be sealed tight. You can dab silicone calk on the cavities before smoothing it out.

Simply placing your insulation material over the walls would not be as effective. The sealing makes it a lot harder for heat to find its way out of the garage. You could also go for fiberglass or rock wool insulation material for the walls. Have a professional fit this for you because it's very easy to make a mistake.