It's a familiar complaint in a lot of GTA homes: the bedroom over the garage. It's the coldest room in the house in January, the warmest in July, and the floor feels like basement tile first thing in the morning.
There are a few reasons for that, and the garage door is one of them. Here's how insulated garage doors work, what to look for, and what a new door can and can't fix.
Why the room over the garage is cold
- More exposed surfaces. A room over an attached garage often has unheated space below it and outside walls on two or three sides.
- The floor sits over the garage. The insulation in the garage ceiling is all that separates your bedroom floor from the garage air.
- The garage itself gets cold. An uninsulated steel door is a big, thin sheet of metal. In winter it lets the garage drop close to the outdoor temperature.
- Air leaks. Gaps around the door, at the ceiling and along the wall shared with the house let cold air move around.
An insulated door won't fix thin insulation in the garage ceiling, but it does keep the garage warmer, and that helps the room above it. If the room is cold, look at both.
The three main kinds of garage door
Single-layer steel (non-insulated). One sheet of steel, ribbed or stamped for stiffness. Light and inexpensive, but it does almost nothing for insulation, and it tends to be noisier and dent more easily.
Steel with polystyrene insulation. Rigid foam panels fitted inside the steel sections, often with a steel or vinyl back cover. A real step up from single-layer.
Steel with polyurethane insulation. Foam injected between two layers of steel, where it expands and bonds to both skins. This usually gives the most insulation for the thickness, and because the foam bonds the layers together, the door is stiffer and quieter.
Exact figures vary by brand and model, and insulation ratings aren't always measured the same way from one manufacturer to the next. Compare the published specs for the specific doors you're considering instead of going by a sales pitch.
It's not just the panels
A well-insulated door with gaps around it won't do much. Look at:
- Section joints. Better doors have tongue-and-groove or thermal-break joints, so air can't pass where the sections meet.
- The bottom seal. A flexible seal that actually meets the floor. If your garage floor slopes or dips, mention it.
- Perimeter weatherstripping. The seals along the sides and top of the frame.
- Windows. Glass looks great but insulates less than the panel around it. Insulated glass helps if you want windows.
We covered seals in our post on garage door weather seals before winter. If your door is otherwise in good shape, start there.
Other things you'll notice
- It's quieter. Insulated panels with a foam core rattle and boom less than a single sheet of steel. If someone sleeps over the garage, that matters at 6 a.m.
- It's stiffer. Insulated doors, polyurethane ones especially, resist dents and flexing better.
- The garage is more usable if it doubles as a gym, workshop or mudroom.
Do the springs or opener need to change?
An insulated door is usually heavier than a single-layer one. The springs have to be matched to the new door's weight, so they're normally replaced along with the door. The opener needs to be in good shape to handle it too. A door replacement is also a good time to think about a quieter opener if the current one rattles the bedroom.
Style without giving up warmth
You don't have to choose between comfort and looks. Insulated doors come in carriage-house designs with windows that suit older homes in Rosedale and Forest Hill, flush modern panels for newer homes in Vaughan and Richmond Hill, and a wide range of colours and finishes in between.
Is it worth it?
It depends on how you use the space. A new insulated door makes the most sense when:
- There's a bedroom or living space above or beside the garage
- You walk through the garage into the house every day
- The garage is a gym, workshop or storage for things that don't like the cold
- Your current door is dented, rusting, noisy or near the end of its life anyway
If the door is in good shape and the room above is still cold, have the garage ceiling insulation and the wall between the garage and the house checked as well.
Get advice for your home
See our custom insulated garage doors and garage door installation pages. We install across the GTA, including Forest Hill, Rosedale, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Oakville.
Cold room over the garage? Call or text Pro GTA Garage at (365) 360-4168, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 8 PM. Send a photo of the door from outside and inside, and tell us what's above it.