Insulating a Wood Garage Door

[allanholton]

Folks-

I have a wood garage door that was installed about five years ago. Good quality and installers did a solid job.

The seals (bottom, side, top) are working with no gaps and are tight.

It is solid wood and so I have a question about insulation.

I have seen various solutions and kits for insulating metal doors (inserts, etc.) but have not been able to find solutions/examples for wood doors. I've attached a photo of the door.

Any suggestions from the experts and aficionados in this forum?

Thanks,

Allan

 

[duneslider]

Do you really need to insulate the door? The rvalue of a wood door like that is much higher than a steel door and even if the wood is getting cold it doesn't radiate the heat/cold like a steel door does. Also, its most likely the glass that is radiating the cold and not the wood door, so even insulating the door will leave the glass letting in a lot of cold. garage doors usually only have single pane glass. Although, a nice wood door might have a double pane insulated glass panel. I just question whether adding insulation to the wood door will change things much.

 

[Yankeefarmer]

With those big windows I don’t think insulation will make a huge difference, but they say every bit helps. If you want to do something, consider attaching 1” or so thick insulating foam panels to the wood panels.

 

[65ranchero]

And if the windows are in fact single pane glass you can cheat and do a " make your own " interior storm window .
As I wrote this, I went back to review the picture and now I see what looks like interior window film.
That will help

 

[allanholton]

Thanks all for your replies, thoughts and suggestions.

Yes, after it was installed I realized that the windows were probably not the best idea from a heat-in-winter perspective. I stuck some window film across and it did help a bit.

65Ranchero-I hadn't thought about making my own storm window...creative idea. I will look into that as well.

Allan

 

[ybnormal]

With those big windows I don’t think insulation will make a huge difference, but they say every bit helps. If you want to do something, consider attaching 1” or so thick insulating foam panels to the wood panels.

zooming in I can see where he put a layer of cling wrap over it.
as I'm sure you know, they sell those insulating door panels with pre-applied glue panels in a kit at Lowe's

 

[allanholton]

zooming in I can see where he put a layer of cling wrap over it.
as I'm sure you know, they sell those insulating door panels with pre-applied glue panels in a kit at Lowe's

I'm not familiar with these panels...any particular SKU at Lowes you can point me to?

 

[ybnormal]

https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=garage%20door%20insulation

this is the one I've seen

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Insulfoam-Common-1-25-in-x-1-6875-ft-x-8-ft-Actual-1-25-in-x-1-6875-ft-x-4-5-ft-Garage-Door-Insulation-Kit-1-R-4-8-Faced-Polystyrene-Garage-Door-Foam-Board-Insulation/50244957

you could use this reflective stuff by screwing it to the door with wood screws and fender washers, just cut it to size

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Reflectix-R-21-33-3-sq-ft-Unfaced-Reflective-Roll-Insulation-16-in-W-x-25-ft-L/1014123

 

[PoorUB]

As for insulating the doors, some better foam insulation simply screwed to the door with fender washers under the screw heads would help.

You could even go over the windows, but it will look strange from the outside. You could paint the foam flat black where it shows through the windows.

I might be tempted to toss a coat of white latex primer on it to dress it up on the inside.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-C...oam-Board-Insulation-Sheathing-20WE/207179253

 

[dkmc]

All 3 of my older wooden OH doors have the foil faced foam board glued and helped with a few screws to the inside. Did it years ago. Simple, cheap. They have expanded metal over the windows on the inside as well, and should have the plastic "storm window" kits on the outside but I never remember them in fall.

 

[kelpaso1]

In my last garage I just glued 1 inch foam insulation to the door panels. Made a world of difference. Had to adjust the spring a little tighter for the extra weight.