How to insulate iron gates. Do-it-yourself garage door insulation: polystyrene foam, mineral wool, polyurethane foam

Motorists traditionally spend a lot of time in the garage, caring for their "iron horses". However, in winter it is extremely uncomfortable to do the usual work, and sooner or later the owners face the question of warming. This measure allows you to solve the problem radically, since heat escapes very quickly through the door leaf (and usually steel sheets). Garage insulation not only creates comfortable conditions for its owner, but also allows:

• start the car faster in severe frosts;
• extend the life of rubber parts;
• prevent the appearance of condensate in the internal cavities of the machine;
• create the desired temperature in the vegetable store, which is often combined with garages.

The possibility of insulating garage doors depends on their design.

Which gates can be insulated

Most gates have hinged doors, which are steel sheets welded to a metal frame. Insulation of such gates is mandatory, since they practically do not retain heat. It is not difficult to do this, the simple design of swing gates allows the use of materials of any thickness.

Overhead and sectional garage doors are very popular these days. As a rule, they are factory-made. The door leaf or individual sections are sandwich panels. From the outside they are covered with sheet steel, and from the inside they are already insulated with foamed polyurethane and do not need special measures for additional insulation. Do-it-yourself lifting gates are insulated in the same way as swing gates. The thickness of the insulation for them should not go beyond the dimensions of the frame. The same rule applies to rollbacks.

Roller shutters are not subject to insulation, as their design is designed for a certain thickness.

When choosing a material for insulation, it is necessary to take into account its weight. The weighting of the leaves can lead to the fact that the mechanism by which the gate moves begins to work worse over time and gradually fails.

The most popular insulation materials

A good insulation should have low thermal conductivity, then a sufficiently thin layer can significantly reduce heat loss. The following materials are most often used to insulate garage doors:

All foams have qualities that are indispensable for the insulation of garage doors - low thermal conductivity and hygroscopicity, fire safety, chemical inertness.

How to insulate garage doors

Before starting work on insulation, it is necessary to check the operability of the ventilation in the garage. In the process, do not block the ventilation holes with insulation. Normal operation of ventilation contributes to a decrease in humidity and the timely removal of gasoline vapors and exhaust gases.

We will analyze in detail how to insulate garage doors on their most common design - swing.

Surface preparation

Carefully inspect the inside surface of the door leaf. Large areas affected by corrosion are cleaned with an iron bristle brush. If rust has covered most of the steel sheet, it is more convenient and faster to work with a drill or grinder with a special round nozzle.

After thorough cleaning of rust and degreasing, an anti-corrosion primer is applied.

Fabrication and installation of the crate

As a crate, wooden blocks or an aluminum profile are used. Fasten the crate to the gate frame. The material for the crate is cut to size. Wooden bars are impregnated with a double action composition - from fire and decay. The elements of the batten are attached to the frame of the sashes with screws of suitable length. All fittings on the door leaf - locks, ventilation holes, are trimmed with a crate around the perimeter.

Waterproofing and laying insulation

Before you insulate the gate in the garage, you need to observe some of the subtleties of handling this material. Of all its varieties, it is better to stop at basalt wool from a well-known manufacturer. Before laying cotton wool, you should take care of waterproofing so that the material does not absorb moisture. Good results are obtained by coating the inside of the gate with bitumen-polymer mastic or finishing with self-adhesive material such as Izolon.

After all the metal parts of the gate are covered with waterproofing, the insulation is cut into pieces of such a size that it exceeds the distance between the bars of the crate by several centimeters. This is done so that cracks do not appear, since mineral wool caking over time.

It is most convenient to cut the insulation like this: lay out a sheet of fiberboard on the floor, roll mineral wool over it, measure it and force it with a sharp clerical knife.

A vapor barrier film is stretched over the mineral wool and attached to the bars with a construction stapler. After the vapor barrier, the already insulated swing gates are ready for final finishing. Facing is made with plastic or wooden clapboard, corrugated board, OSB sheets. The facing material is attached to the bars with screws with a press washer.

Laying insulation around the perimeter of the gate

Gate leaves very rarely adjoin closely to each other. Usually a gap is formed between them, allowing the gate to be freely closed. To prevent heat leakage through these slots, various seals are used. As a rule, they are a self-adhesive strip with a rubber or foam rubber seal. This seal is not suitable for insulating the lower part of the gate. For these purposes, there are special brush strips. They are attached to the bottom of the gate with self-tapping screws.

After all the cracks are closed, the insulation of the garage door can be considered complete.

Self-insulation of garage doors - video

Reading time ≈ 8 minutes

The garage is an excellent option to protect the car from precipitation, but it will not save you from sub-zero temperatures without proper thermal insulation. Since the bulk of the heat leaves through the garage door, we will dwell on how and with what to insulate them from the inside with our own hands, as well as methods, step-by-step options and photo examples.

Why insulate garage doors?

Some motorists believe that if the vehicle is under a roof and protected from precipitation, then creating any other conditions for storing the car is simply inappropriate. However, when insulating garage doors, the following goals are pursued:

• gates are the part that has a direct connection with the external environment. As a rule, the material of their manufacture is metal. Through it, in winter, heat goes outside, and in summer it penetrates inside;
• often garages are used as workshops. The same car repairs are carried out inside this room, and in the cold it is not very comfortable to do this;
• thermal insulation of the gate allows you to smooth out temperature fluctuations, which eliminates the formation of condensate, both on the internal elements of the garage and on the car. If the garage is properly insulated, then the car is less exposed to the harmful effects of corrosion.

However, this does not mean that the garage should be as warm as in the living room. For example, if the garage is heated, then when a vehicle enters from the street, it will instantly fog up, the humidity will increase, as a result of which the car will be in a warm-humid fog all night. Such conditions will negatively affect the condition of the body elements.

Which gates need insulation

Most often, garage doors are made in the form of a hinged structure that needs to be insulated. A corner or profile pipes are used as a gate frame, to which a sheet of metal is attached. Since steel is a very good conductor of heat, the lack of insulation does not prevent it from leaking out of the garage. Sometimes swing gates are equipped with a gate, which significantly reduces heat loss if the garage is often opened and closed.

Today, the most common door designs are up-and-over and sectional. The canvas is made of a sheet of metal on the outside and foamed polyurethane on the inside. Such a design already from the factory is endowed with the necessary thermal insulation and is able to effectively retain heat.

Sometimes up-and-over gates are made independently. This design, like the swing, does not have any insulation, since the material is bare metal. If the garage is equipped with roller doors, then their design simply will not allow for insulation.

The choice of insulation

Today there is a fairly wide selection of heat insulators. Each of them has both advantages and disadvantages, based on which you can choose the most optimal option.

Mineral wool

The material has been popular for decades. There are different types, of which basalt wool is considered the best. It is not only a good insulation, but also perfectly protects against noise. Mineral wool is produced in the form of rolls and mats.

Since mineral wool should not come into contact with moisture, many are of the opinion that it is not suitable for insulating garage doors.

Styrofoam

One of the most common heaters. It is cheap and long-term operation, is not affected by insects and fungi, and is easily cut. The light weight of the sheets allows you to mount it yourself.

However, it is worth considering that the foam requires protection from direct sunlight and mice, and the garage must be equipped with ventilation so that there is no accumulation of condensate. Penoplex has properties similar to polystyrene, but its cost is much higher.

glass wool

It is cheap to insulate a garage with glass wool, which is the only positive quality of this material. Otherwise, you need to work with it very carefully and be sure to use protective equipment. Otherwise, problems with the skin and organs of vision are possible. Glass wool also requires good protection against moisture, because when wet, its thermal insulation properties are lost.

polyurethane foam

The insulation is resistant to external influences. The material expands after application and fills all the gaps well, has good adhesion to the metal. Thus, do not be afraid that condensation will accumulate under it.

Also, polyurethane foam refers to non-combustible insulation. However, its application requires special equipment, which indicates the need to contact specialists.

How to insulate garage doors step by step

The procedure for insulating the garage door from the inside with your own hands consists of several stages. Let us dwell on each of them in detail, as well as on proven methods of thermal insulation.

Preparatory work

Having chosen the material, prepare the surface of the gate from the inside. To do this, they carry out an inspection and, if corrosion is detected, they get rid of it with a special metal brush to the grinder, after which they treat the metal with a primer and paint. Then all the cracks are sealed with mounting foam. Thus, it will be possible to avoid cold bridges.

When the surface dries, they are treated for the purpose of waterproofing, for which they are suitable:

• bituminous mastic;
• vapor barrier;
• isolon 2 mm thick.

When using extruded polystyrene foam, waterproofing can be omitted.

Manufacturing of crates

In order for the thermal insulation to be securely held on the gate, as well as for fixing the finish, it will be necessary to mount a wooden frame from bars with a section of 40 * 40 mm, which are fixed along the inner perimeter of the gate. Wooden elements for the crate must be well dried and pre-treated with an antiseptic.

The crate is mounted as follows:

Thermal insulation with foam

Considering how and with what to insulate the garage door from the inside with your own hands, as well as methods and options for step-by-step actions with photo examples, you should first deal with foam insulation:

You can learn more about the thermal insulation of the gate with foam plastic from the video.

Thermal insulation with mineral wool

Mineral wool, although susceptible to moisture absorption, is still used to insulate garage doors. Preparatory work is similar to that described above.

When mounting the frame, the cells should be made 5-10 mm smaller than the dimensions of the material so that the plates can be laid tightly.

Mineral wool is placed between the elements of the crate and fixed on the sides with fasteners. A plastic film is attached on top of the insulation. At the end of the procedure, the cladding is mounted.

Not all car owners have a garage, but most of them dream of one. Not all happy owners of the garage have it insulated, but most of them, who have ever felt the charm of insulation, dream about it. And behind the seeming complexity of the warming process is a sequence of simple actions that any normal man can reproduce. In this article, car owners are invited to find out how from the inside, since they are the main source of general heat loss.

Why insulate garage doors?

Motorists can ask a quite reasonable question: “Why, in general, insulate the gate, and the garage itself? After all, this is a room for the periodic appearance of a person in it, and the car is under a roof and is protected from natural influences. In words, everything seems to be so, but it is necessary to sort it out in order. What are the arguments for insulating garage doors?

• The gate is the largest part of the garage in terms of area, which connects with external, not always favorable, natural conditions. It is through the gate that the maximum heat transfer occurs: in winter, the necessary heat tends to break out, and in hot summer, unnecessary heat penetrates into the garage.

How heat "leaks" from the garage door can be clearly seen on the thermogram

• Very often, garage owners organize workshops in them so as not to do the necessary carpentry or locksmith work at home, a lot of car repair operations can be done in the garage, and this involves a long stay in it. Therefore, the insulation of the gate is simply necessary.
• Garage insulation makes the temperature regime softer, without sharp fluctuations, and this saves from moisture condensation both in the garage and on the car, and especially in its hidden cavities. In properly insulated garages, car bodies are less susceptible to corrosion.

Another fundamental question is to insulate the gate from the outside or from the inside? Building science recommends insulating capital walls from the outside, and covering the insulation layer with plaster. Gates are a completely different design. Firstly, they need to be movable to open and close, and secondly, they perform a protective and anti-vandal function, which is best done by a metal sheet. Therefore, it is advisable to insulate them from the inside.

What types of garage doors need to be insulated

Most garage doors have a hinged design, which, of course, is simply necessary to insulate. The basis of such gates is a frame made of shaped pipes and steel sheet as an external finish. The very high thermal conductivity of steel is known, so we can assume that such non-insulated gates do not represent any barrier to heat leakage. In swing gates, the presence of a wicket is fundamental, which greatly reduces heat loss during frequent movement of people. Therefore, if the garage is still at the construction stage, then it is necessary to order with a gate.

Lift-and-swivel are very fashionable now and overwhelmingly factory-made. Their web or sections are sandwich panels made of sheet steel on the outside and polyurethane foam on the inside. This design already has the necessary thermal insulation properties and does not require additional measures for insulation. These types of gates, at the request of the customer, can also be equipped with a gate, which must be done.

There are handicraft up-and-over gates, but in this case their insulation will not fundamentally differ from swing gates, since they are based on the same frame and steel sheet.

Roller doors cannot be insulated due to the peculiarities of their design. Yes, and they can be called garage doors with a very large interference, since they are inferior to all the others in terms of thermal insulation and anti-vandal properties.

The choice of insulation

Insulation is a material that has a minimum thermal conductivity. In building science, thermal conductivity is evaluated by a special indicator - the coefficient of thermal conductivity. And the smaller it is, the more likely this material is to become a heater.

In the presented table, its upper part is heaters, and the lower (from No. 16 onwards) building materials that need to be insulated. The insulation layer greatly slows down the transfer of thermal energy and the thicker this layer is, the better, but at the same time the principle of reasonable sufficiency is observed. For garage doors, a layer of insulation of 5 cm will be enough.

In the modern rich selection of various building materials, there is a huge number of heaters under different names. It is very difficult to navigate them, especially for an inexperienced person, but in fact there are only a few main classes, some of which are suitable for insulating garage doors, and some are not.

Mineral wool

Mineral wool is a wonderful heat-insulating material that has proven itself very well in construction. Under this name, there are actually three subspecies of insulation:

• Glass wool, consisting of the finest glass fibers (5-15 microns) with a length of 15 to 50 mm. It has the required low thermal conductivity of 0.03-0.05 W/m*°K, a wide range of allowable temperatures from -60 to +450°C, good elasticity and strength. When working with it, always wear protective equipment, since the smallest fibers break easily, dig into the skin and enter the respiratory tract. The hygroscopicity of glass wool is moderate.

• Slag wool obtained from metallurgical production waste - blast-furnace slag. The fibers are thin - 4-12 microns, and the length is less than that of glass wool - about 15-16 mm. The thermal conductivity of this material is somewhat higher than that of glass wool 0.040-0.050 W / m * ° K, but quite acceptable. It is better not to use it to insulate a garage, as it is very hygroscopic and at the same time has an acidity that adversely affects the metal.

• Stone wool obtained by melting rocks of volcanic origin. In structure, it is very similar to slag wool, but it has better heat resistance and does not have acid aggressiveness. The thermal conductivity of stone wool is 0.03–0.04 W/m*°K. Phenol-formaldehyde resins are used as a binder in some types of this insulation, therefore, when heated, it can release phenols into the surrounding air, which are extremely harmful to humans. The hygroscopicity of this material is high.

Basalt wool is the most demanded among all porous heaters.

All types of mineral wool are highly hygroscopic, so their use for insulating garage doors is limited, since moisture will condense in the insulation layer, reducing the thermal insulation properties of this material. Glass wool is dangerous to work with, slag wool has residual acidity, therefore only stone basalt wool is applicable, provided that vapor barrier films are used.

Styrofoam

Foam plastics are called a fairly wide class of synthetic materials, which have in common their foamed gas-filled structure, and the basis is some kind of polymer. It is by the type of this polymer that foams can be classified.

• Polystyrene foam - it is he who is most famous and looks like sintered gas-filled balls. Such foam is an excellent insulation and is used most often. Designated as PSB or PSB-S. In this class, the most interesting is extruded (extruded) polystyrene foam (EPS), which has the best strength, negligible hygroscopicity and resistance to ignition. For garage door insulation, EPPS is one of the best choices. In retail chains it can be called: Stirex, TechnoNIKOL, Penoplex, URSA XPS, etc.

• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foam plastics - used in construction for heat and sound insulation. Panels from it are rigid or elastic. This is an excellent material, similar to XPS, which has increased fire resistance. According to international standards, it is marked as PVC. It is less common in retail chains than PSB or EPPS.
• Urea-formaldehyde Styrofoam (CFP) - widely used for thermal insulation. Its advantage is that it does not increase in volume when it dries, so it is used in liquid form on construction sites to fill cavities. Known in retail chains under the names: Mattamplast, Poroplast cf, Unipor, Omiflex, Penoizol, Pentil. It can be used for thermal insulation of garage doors.
• Polyurethane foam (PPU) foam is known to us in two forms. Elastic polyurethane foam is nothing more than foam rubber, and hard polyurethane foam. Rigid polyurethane foam is suitable for thermal insulation purposes, as it has excellent adhesion to all surfaces, has excellent thermal insulation properties and is waterproofing. Can be applied directly on the construction site by spraying. Perhaps this is the best choice for thermal insulation of garage doors. The only drawback is that coating requires special equipment, which slightly increases the cost of thermal insulation.

Prices for thermal insulation materials

Thermal insulation materials

Judging by the types of garage doors described earlier, insulation is required, first of all, for swing doors, as well as lifting and turning ones made independently. Before starting the insulation, you should make an audit of the ventilation system in the garage. What is it for?

• Any garage must be provided with a ventilation system: supply and exhaust. Very often, the inlet is made in the gate, so this must be taken into account when insulating. The insulation should not block the ventilation hole.
• It happens that the supply ventilation is “organized” due to the loose fit of the garage door leaves. It is unacceptable! If there is no air inlet in the garage, then it should be arranged at the bottom of the gate.

Door surface preparation

Before starting work on thermal insulation of the gate, it is necessary to prepare the inner surface of the gate, on which there may be pockets of corrosion, old peeling paint, various contaminants, etc. To do this, you must:

• Large foci of corrosion, where there are exfoliating layers of rust, are cleaned with a brush with metal bristles.
• Further, it is better to resort to mechanized processing of the gate surface using brush heads on the drill.

• The best results are obtained by removing rust with polymer-abrasive brushes "Piranha", which works together with the grinder. Working with it is absolutely safe, but you should not forget about protective equipment. When working, you can pour water on the surface, the polymer pile penetrates into the most inaccessible places. Given that angle grinders machines (grinders) operate at high speeds, the cleaning process is very fast.

• After complete cleaning and degreasing, an anti-corrosion primer is applied in two layers. Any suitable one can be used. If the primer will be applied with a brush, then the second layer is applied perpendicular to the first. It is best to use aerosol cans - the quality of the coating will be better.

Manufacture of crates for the insulation of the gate

With any method of thermal insulation, with any materials, in the design of the door leaf you will need a crate, which, firstly, will help to fix the insulation, and, secondly, the gate lining will be attached to it in the future. For the manufacture of the crate, you will need wooden bars with a section of 4 * 4 cm or 5 * 5 cm, depending on the design of the gate. The crate must be attached to the load-bearing frame of the door leaf: a shaped steel pipe or a corner. To make a wooden crate, you need:

• Prepare the required number of wooden blocks. When buying, you need to choose only dry wood.
• The bars are treated twice with an antiseptic composition to prevent their decay in difficult conditions of temperature extremes and high humidity.

• Bars are attached to the load-bearing elements of the gate with screws. To do this, after marking, it is necessary to mark the places of future holes, and then with a drill with a diameter corresponding to the screw, through holes are made. When fastening the bars, do not forget to pre-make holes in them with a thin drill so that the screw being screwed does not split them.

• If there is a ventilation hole on the door leaf, it must be bypassed with a crate around the perimeter. This also applies to locks and bolts.
• If there are no steel load-bearing elements on the central part of the door leaf, then the bars can be attached to each other in any convenient way: at the end, using corners, etc.

Insulation of garage doors with mineral wool

If a decision has already been made to insulate the gate with mineral wool, then it is better to choose basalt wool from well-known manufacturers. But before laying the insulation, you need to take care of waterproofing, since mineral wool is a very hygroscopic material. For these purposes, the following can be used:

• The inner side of the gate can be covered with waterproofing mastic, for example, bitumen-polymer.
• Self-adhesive materials Isolon or any other give very good results.

After waterproofing the surface of the gate, you can cut the insulation into pieces of such a size that they fit very tightly between the bars of the crate. Mineral wool can caking over time, so the denser the better. After laying all the insulation on top, a vapor barrier film is stretched and attached to the bars of the crate with a construction stapler. After this operation, we can say that the gate is ready for the final cladding.

Styrofoam door insulation

If ordinary PSB foam is used to insulate the gate, then the use of waterproofing is also desirable. This material is capable, although not in the same way as mineral wool, to absorb moisture, which reduces its thermal insulation properties. It is desirable to use XPS, which does not have hygroscopicity. Extruded polystyrene foam, although more expensive, does not require waterproofing. For the surface of the gate you need:

• After measuring the space between the bars of the crate, a plan is drawn up for cutting foam sheets. The main rule is a minimum of joints. It should be taken into account that the size of the cut sheets should be 2-3 mm larger than the size of the cell - the foam should fit into place very tightly. You can cut the foam with a construction knife using a ruler.

Video: How to cut foam with a knife

• Styrofoam sheets can be glued to the door surface with mounting foam. It is better to use professional foam supplied by a gun, since its volumetric expansion is small. For gluing on the back side of the sheet, foam is continuously applied along all edges of the sheet and one line in the center parallel to the long side. Further, the sheet is installed in its place and firmly pressed with a bar or rule. By tapping, you can correct the position of the sheet. After a few minutes, the position is checked and corrected if necessary.

Video: How to glue polystyrene foam with mounting foam

• After installation of all sheets, all joints and cavities are processed with mounting foam. After the foam has dried, the excess is cut off and the surface can be lightly troweled. The gate is ready for cladding.

Door insulation with polyurethane foam

When insulating the gate in this way, it is no longer possible to do without the involvement of skilled labor and special equipment. Polyurethane foam is applied by a special installation by spraying in several layers. A wooden crate is still needed, since it is convenient to attach the finish lining of the gate to it.

It has clear advantages:

• Polyurethane foam (PPU) has excellent adhesion to almost all surfaces, and over time, its properties do not change.
• The thermal insulation properties of polyurethane foam are very high - its thermal conductivity coefficient is 0.019-0.035 W / m * ° K.
• When applying PPU by spraying, no cavities remain and no "cold bridges" are formed.
• PPU is an excellent hydro and vapor barrier, so additional waterproofing is not required.
• The service life of PPU thermal insulation, according to manufacturers, is at least 70 years.

Video: Applying polyurethane foam coating to the garage door

Before applying the coating, close the gate hinges, locks, bolts and ventilation holes with a film, pasting it around the edges with masking tape. Coating is carried out only in protective clothing, goggles and a respirator. After applying the calculated layer of insulation and its complete drying, the excess on the crate can be cut with a construction knife. After that, the gate is ready for cladding.

Lining the inner surface of the gate

The main thing is already done! Garage doors are already equipped with thermal insulation, but no one has yet canceled aesthetics and practicality, so it is best to veneer with some material. What can serve as a lining?

• Cladding with corrugated board is a practical solution, but based on the experience of people who have done this, moisture can condense on the surface.
• Cladding with plastic clapboard - looks good, easy installation, but the surface is very easy to damage.

• Cladding with wooden clapboard is one of the most practical and beautiful solutions, but wood treatment with antiseptics and fire retardants is required.

• Cladding with sheets of OSB (oriented strand board). This option is perhaps the best, since OSB sheets are not subject to decay, have the necessary strength and have a beautiful appearance. If desired, you can paint the surface in any preferred color.

The cladding is fastened to the lathing bars with screws with a press washer.

Additional measures to insulate the garage door

Gate leaf seals

One of the main ways to lose precious heat from the garage space is a loose fit of the gate leaves. Very rarely they fit so tightly together that they exclude any movement of air. Therefore, it is always necessary to use seals, which come in different profiles and sizes.

For a snug fit of the gate leaves and the gate, a rubber seal with a round section with a diameter of 20 mm has proven itself best. Due to the rubber tail, this seal is easily attached to any door. To do this, a perforated steel strip is taken and, in a predetermined place, the tail of the seal is pressed with it and screwed with self-tapping screws in increments of 15-20 cm to the gate leaf. It is desirable to smear the tail of the tape with glue No. 88 before installation.

Another area where heat can escape from the garage is at the bottom of the gate. Naturally, one cannot do without a gap in this place. Rubber seals are not suitable for this purpose, but there are special brush profiles specifically designed to seal the bottom of the gate. The installation of this profile is quite simple - it must be screwed to the bottom of the gate with self-tapping screws in increments of 15-20 cm. Wherein, when fully closed, the brushes should bend about a third of their length.

garage curtain

A significant plus in saving heat in the garage in winter is the garage curtain, which is hung directly behind the gate. The curtain material must meet certain requirements:

• The material must be dense, as light materials do little to prevent heat leakage.
• Resistant to high humidity and mold.
• Fire resistance.
• Strength and elasticity.

All these requirements are perfectly met by an ordinary tarpaulin, however, with a small caveat - it must have a water-repellent impregnation. They also make curtains from heavy PVC fabric, but tarpaulin sun is equally out of competition.

The best material for garage curtains is tarpaulin. It is worth buying along with eyelets

Along with the tarpaulin, eyelets should also be purchased, which are inserted into the fabric at a distance of 20 cm. Opposite the gate in the fabric of the curtains, you need to make a cut for free movement without moving the entire panel.

Conclusion

• Warming the garage and garage doors is not overkill. These measures will allow you to better keep the car, it is comfortable in the garage in both cold winters and hot summers.
• Garage doors are only insulated from the inside.
• The best way to warm - spraying.

Video: Garage door insulation option

Video: Another option for insulation

A constant temperature regime favorably affects the safety of both the car and other property that enters the garage for permanent residence.

To achieve a constant temperature, you need to properly insulate the garage door from the inside, and how to do this - we understand further.

When and why is it necessary to insulate garage doors?

If it is possible to somehow fix it on the inside of the sash and not overweight it, then such material can be considered suitable for use.

However, all heaters have some features, which must be taken into account when choosing for such specific purposes.

1. Mineral wool, felt, glass wool.

These materials have similar characteristics of thermal conductivity, vapor permeability and mass.

It is highly undesirable to use them in garage construction, because due to the small thickness of the main material of the gate, the dew point will fall into the thickness of the insulation, which will lead to its constant wetting in winter.

2. Peat, reed and cork slabs.

Suitable for use in a garage, but have a high cost and do not have great mechanical strength.

3. Elastic foam insulation polymer material. Inexpensive, effective, but sensitive to mechanical stress.
4. Various types of foam.

Garage door insulation does not take much time. The video below shows the whole process of insulation from getting rid of the old skin, to the final result in just one weekend:




Do-it-yourself insulation with foam


In addition to the foam sheets themselves, before starting work should prepare a set of necessary materials and tools:



In addition, it will be necessary finishing materials and additional insulation of cracks around the perimeter of the gate.

Quantity calculation materials are made taking into account the dimensions of the garage door leaves. The optimal thickness of the foam insulation is 40-50 mm.

If there is no material of this thickness on sale, you can use a bag of several layers of thinner foam. Accordingly, the amount of material in this case must be multiplied by the number of layers.

The length of the bars for creating the crate should be selected in such a way that they are enough for the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe wings in increments equal to the width of the insulation.

Preparatory work- the first stage of insulation of the garage door. Their essence is to remove hygroscopic rust stains and various contaminants from the inside of the gate. You can clean the metal either with a hard brush or a grinder.

Then gates are primed to increase corrosion resistance. Installation can be continued only after the primer has dried.

Insulation installation includes the following operations:



If all the work is done carefully, then the garage door will not need additional insulation for several years. For local repair damaged foam panels, they can either be replaced entirely, or simply sealed with masking tape or filled with mounting foam.

The process of foam insulation with explanations, see the video:

The garage can be used for its intended purpose - as a parking lot for a car, as well as a workshop or warehouse where you can store inventory and various things. If you often do car repairs, then it is best to insulate the building. The most effective data work will be in the gate area. However, before carrying out such manipulations, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the rules that state that it is better not to use porous heaters like mineral wool for the thermal insulation of the garage. This is due to the fact that it will shift towards the insulation, it will get wet, its density and thermal conductivity will increase.

Material selection

You should not try to save money by ordering a gate without a gate. Its presence allows you to keep warm inside the garage. It is better to immediately make gates not only with a separate door, but also with insulation. Among other things, the building must be equipped with a ventilation system, which can be exhaust and supply. The supply opening can be made in the gate. Insufficient ventilation can create life-threatening conditions.

Garage doors can be insulated with different materials, but one of the most effective is polystyrene. This material has a low density, so the insulation will not exert additional loads on the structure. Polyfoam has a low coefficient of thermal conductivity, it does not emit substances harmful to human health, which is true under normal operating conditions. This thermal insulation does not interact with air and water, and the formed layer will last more than 50 years. Processing canvases is quite simple, for this you can use the available tools. It should also be noted that the water absorption of polystyrene is quite low and does not exceed 3%, but if we are talking about extruded polystyrene foam, then this figure is even less, it is 0.4%.

Thermal insulation of the gate: preparation of tools

If you decide to insulate the garage door with foam, then at the first stage you need to prepare the tools. You will need:

• electric drill;
• screwdriwer set;
• brush for metal;
• screwdriver;
• wood saw;
• roller;
• core;
• clamps;
• square;
• sandpaper;
• hammer;
• meter tape measure;
• metal ruler;
• construction knife.

Preparation of materials

In order for the gate to look attractive from the inside, you can use a facing material, which is sometimes used as corrugated board, wooden lining, or OSB. As practice shows, it is best to prefer oriented strand boards, as they have many advantages, namely: the material is quite strong and reliable, easy to process, has low vapor permeability and eliminates the need for vapor barrier membranes to cover thermal insulation. Oriented strand boards can be purchased at a low cost, and after completion of the work, the door will have an attractive appearance. For cladding, it is recommended to use OSB-3 or OSB-4 boards, the thickness of which should be 10 mm. Such material is intended for rooms, the conditions of which are characterized by a high level of humidity.

After you determine the size of the gate, you should calculate the number of plates. Each of them has standard dimensions of 1250x2500 mm. As a rule, the master manages with two canvases, and after the work, there are trimmings that can be used for other purposes. Insulation of garage doors is accompanied by the installation of a crate, on which facing materials will be attached. For the frame system, it is recommended to use a square section with a side of 4 cm. They are fixed on the bearing part of the gate, which are metal corners, sometimes a profile pipe. Be that as it may, the crate must be installed around the perimeter and on the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe canvas. The distance between the elements of the crate should be 40 cm.

More about preparation

If the insulation of the garage door with polystyrene foam or expanded polystyrene will be accompanied by a further installation of the finish, then before starting the installation of the frame system, the wooden bars must be treated with an antiseptic. Depending on the composition to be used, one or two coats may be required. It is necessary to produce these works with a regular brush. During the drying of the bars, you can do the preparation of the inner surface of the gate, for this, the rust is cleaned to the metal, it is more convenient to do this with a brush-nozzle on the drill. It is important to clean all loose paint, in hard-to-reach places it is more convenient to use a brush with metal bristles. Sometimes experts advise resorting to the use of sandpaper, which the master must walk over the entire surface, this will improve the quality of adhesion of the primer to the metal.

At the next stage, the surface is treated with an anti-corrosion primer, it is applied in 2 layers. The direction of the second should be perpendicular to the first. As soon as you have waited for the surface to dry completely, you should take care of waterproofing, which is relevant in tandem with ordinary foam. If applicable, this operation is not performed. Waterproofing can be done with bituminous mastic, sometimes vapor barrier membranes are glued to the surface.

When warming is carried out, it is recommended to consider the photo even before the start of work, which will allow you to eliminate many errors. At the next stage, the crate is installed, the bars of the required length are cut to the size of the gate, they must be solid. In those places where locks and bolts are located, as well as ventilation grilles, it is necessary to make a frame of bars, installing them around the perimeter. To fix these elements, several holes are drilled with an electric drill, the distance between which should be 25 cm. For this, a 4 mm drill is used. In those places where the bars will be installed in the end, the holes should be 5 mm. Before drilling, it is recommended to mark and punch places so that the drill does not heat up.

For reference

When the garage doors are insulated with their own hands, the crate is sometimes required without installing the facing material. At the same time, the installation of the lower row of horizontal bars may be accompanied by some difficulties, which consist in the fact that it is not possible to get the tool to hard-to-reach places. If you remove the gate, then these works can be carried out without problems, if not, then you need to attach the bar to the end, because the rest of the crate will take on most of the load from the facing material.

The nuances of installing insulation

Insulation of metal garage doors is usually carried out with foam, it should be cut only after measuring the space between the bars. About 3 mm of material is left on each side so that the foam is placed tightly between the bars. When cutting, it is necessary to ensure that the blade enters the thermal insulation vertically, if the blade is flexible, then it can lead to the side, which will certainly break the cut line.

Sometimes the insulation of garage doors with foam plastic is not at all accompanied by mechanical fixation of the material, because the cladding will press it to the base. You can use liquid nails, sometimes a mounting foam is used, which will come in handy later when sealing joints.

When insulating garage doors with polystyrene foam, it is recommended to use 40 mm slabs, which can be of different sizes. When buying material, it is necessary to take into account the location of the crate so that cutting the foam is not accompanied by the formation of a large number of scraps. If possible, try to strengthen solid sheets of material. Experts recommend purchasing extruded polystyrene foam, since its water absorption rate is minimal, there is almost no need to protect such material from moisture, but such thermal insulation is more expensive. As practice shows, it is much easier to work with extruded polystyrene foam, it does not crumble when cutting.

for insulation

For mounting the bars, you should use galvanized self-tapping screws for working with wood, their size should be equal to 3.5x30 mm, as for fastening the side surfaces, they are fixed using self-tapping screws with dimensions of 4.5x70 mm, they are installed at the end. If the gate frame is made of a profile pipe, then the length of the self-tapping screws must be increased by adding the pipe section. Fasteners should enter the bar to a depth of 1/2 section; when installing the facing material, it is better to use screws with a press washer with dimensions of 4.2x32 mm.

Padding

Insulation of garage doors is usually carried out only after applying a primer to the metal surface. To do this, use an anti-corrosion agent that prevents the formation of rust in high humidity. The primer can be any, based on alkyd or synthetic resins. It should be designed for use over a wide temperature range. In order to degrease the surface, together with a primer, it is necessary to purchase a solvent.

Foam insulation

Insulation of garage doors with mounting foam is accompanied by the use of polystyrene foam or expanded polystyrene. As soon as the insulation plates are installed to the metal surface, all joints must be filled with mounting foam. It is better to purchase its professional variety, which involves the use of a pistol. Such a composition expands less in volume, and the gun allows you to conveniently apply the mixture to the right place and in any quantity. In order to prevent rotting of the bars, an antiseptic should be used, it can be made on an oil or water basis, sometimes such mixtures are paint with antiseptic properties. If you decide to use ordinary foam, then it should be protected from moisture. This can be done using a vapor barrier membrane, Izolon self-adhesive insulation or bituminous mastic.

Warming of sectional works

Insulation of sectional garage doors is carried out using almost the same technology that was described above. Before starting, you need to choose a material, which can be foam, its installation is carried out using plastic dowels. This material is resistant to mold and mildew. If you want to ensure fire safety, then you should choose a foam that was made using flame retardants, in the event of a fire, the material will exhibit properties like self-extinguishing.

If it is possible to use special equipment, then polyurethane foam can be used for insulation. The work will cost more if they are carried out by a team of professional builders, but the efficiency will be on top. At the first stage, the gate is measured, as well as individual sections. This will cut the material according to the parameters. The insulation is glued to the surface, and mounting foam is applied to the joints.

When the insulation of the garage door joints has been completed, you can proceed to waterproofing. To do this, use Isolon, which sometimes becomes an additional means of thermal insulation. In some cases, this material is used as the main layer of insulation.

Conclusion

Insulating the gaps of the garage door is no less important than the thermal insulation of the leaf itself. To do this, you should use mounting foam, which has excellent adhesion with a huge amount of materials. However, before installation, the surface is moistened, because hardening occurs upon contact with moisture.