Garage Door insulation… Expol (polystyrene) or garador panels

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hobsonlea

282 posts

Ultimate Geek

#303184 22-Jan-2023 23:06

Hi, we’re living in queenstown and purchased a house last year on queenstown hill. Our garage door isn’t insulated, and it’s below our kitchen.. want to insulate it, but not sure if whether Expol 28mm (self fitted at $270 ) or Garador insulation.. waiting on quote but expect > $1k

Thoughts ?

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#3025639 23-Jan-2023 05:51

just remember this;

WARNING: The added weight of the insulation may effect the spring tension in your door. This may require adjustment by a qualified service technician, contact the company which installed your garage door or your local garage door company.

I would 100% recommend insulating your garage door if its facing north/wast. it makes it so much more comfortable to be in in summer.

cant help you with which one to choose as i got mine done in the factory when i had my garage built

JeremyNzl

359 posts

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#3025643 23-Jan-2023 07:20

In the first instance, I would fully insulate the garage roof/ Kitchen floor using thickest bats you can get with cover layer of builders wrap.

Doing this from the garage will be easy, Assuming its not already been done.

Jase2985

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#3025656 23-Jan-2023 08:52

JeremyNzl:
In the first instance, I would fully insulate the garage roof/ Kitchen floor using thickest bats you can get with cover layer of builders wrap.

Doing this from the garage will be easy, Assuming its not already been done.

Depends if the garage is lined or not. If your having to rip out a painted gib lining it's not going to be easy or cheap.

hobsonlea

282 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3025669 23-Jan-2023 09:15

Jase2985:
JeremyNzl:
In the first instance, I would fully insulate the garage roof/ Kitchen floor using thickest bats you can get with cover layer of builders wrap.

Doing this from the garage will be easy, Assuming its not already been done.

Depends if the garage is lined or not. If your having to rip out a painted gib lining it's not going to be easy or cheap.

Thanks,
The garage is breeze block on west side with double glazed windows, against rock on Nth and East side. The Sth side is the double door. The Roof space between gib ceiling and floor above is probably filled with batts (20yr old house), other cavities I’ve inspected all have good insulation. There’s no heating downstairs in the house, all living is on 1st Floor, Part of which is above the double garage. It’s in tiles in kitchen that exacerbate the cold from below. We’re working on plans to some renovations including kitchen and kitchen flooring( Cork / wood etc).
For now the steel garage door is my focus. Expol quote the R value for the expol packs is .65 for the 28mm thick sheets. I’ve not found an R value for the genuine Garador insulation product, am waiting on a quote from them, and hopefully an R value..

The Expol pack weigh 6.5kg and I’ll need two. Don’t know the weight of the garador insulation yet. Am conscious of the weight issue with the opener / spring (our neighbour replaced broken cedar panels with pine as the couldn’t get cedar in 2020 during Covid.. and had to replace opener…)

The seal around the door is in very good condition, hoping to get some improvement in garage comfort with some insulation, I’m told the heat from the parked (ice) car after a drive will heat the garage and be better retained.

Jase2985

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#3025687 23-Jan-2023 09:56

You shouldn't need a new opener you should just need to change spring if anything.

The small increase in R value in the door will make a small difference in temp. But I don't think it will be as much as you want.

kobiak

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#3025692 23-Jan-2023 10:11

I've used expol garage insulation in AKL, was easy job to DYI. It did make my garaga, which is really a storage room, a little warmer.

It weights next to nothing. So had no issues with the extra weight. But what I would suggest to do is inspect for any draught from the garage door. invest in the rubber sealant (?) around the door edges.

and as others suggested, garage ceiling would be a smarter way to insulate the kitchen.

helping others at evgenyk.nz

Crysoganus

30 posts

Geek

#3025739 23-Jan-2023 13:19

I insulated my garage door late last year, I used Mammoth Novahush. Its widely used to insulate garage doors.

Talk to these guys to get it. https://potters.co.nz/product-collection/novahush-duct-liner/

I needed 4 sheets of the 2400*1200*38mm thickness to do the door - about $400 all up. I managed to get those sheets into the back of my Tesla Model 3 with a bit of wrangling. They are quite light and can be bent, it's a foam backing with a carpet tyle like matting on the front.

Picture attached when I was half way thru.

You can easily do it yourself, you'll need a sharp box cutter knife, and the liner actually fits into the internal channels for my Dominator roller garage door.

It made a significant difference. It immediately reduced the noise of the door opening and closing, as well as also reducing the heat transfer from full sun in the summer (used to be stifling, now not a problem at all), and to being more moderate over the cooler months. Highly recommended.

The point about making some small tweaks is also relevant, I did notice some slightly more work by the motor to lift the door, however I was 2 years overdue in getting it serviced so got that done, and the door springs were tightened a little. All good now.

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openmedia

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#3025741 23-Jan-2023 13:31

Jase2985:

just remember this;

WARNING: The added weight of the insulation may effect the spring tension in your door. This may require adjustment by a qualified service technician, contact the company which installed your garage door or your local garage door company.

I would 100% recommend insulating your garage door if its facing north/wast. it makes it so much more comfortable to be in in summer.

cant help you with which one to choose as i got mine done in the factory when i had my garage built

We went down the Expo route and I highly recommend getting the door re-tensioned.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

duckDecoy

900 posts

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#3025791 23-Jan-2023 15:17

Side question: How often should you get your garage door serviced? Im assuming the main thing is to be sure the springs are tightened OK?

scuwp

3888 posts

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#3025796 23-Jan-2023 15:21

Another Expol customer here. Surprisingly easy to do. Definitely noticeable difference winter and summer.

Also support getting the tension checked. We didn't, and 6 months later had to shell out nearly $1000 for a new motor as it burnt out the gears. The repairer said it was all to common, not that he minded.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

mattwnz

20180 posts

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#3025967 24-Jan-2023 00:56

I have done a review of the Expol kit here https://www.homespace.nz/2022/05/Expol-Garage-Door-Insulation-DIY-Kit-Review.html

Just a few notes

I noticed a big difference with road noise being reduced. The space also stays cooler in summer.

If your door has strengthener bars inside the panel cavity it like mine did, then it means you have to install each polystyrene panel in two pieces. This does add a lot of time to the job, as you have to slice the insulation around the bars. But this does had the added advantage of being able to get the insulation in tighter at the top and bottom. The photo of the double door above I can see didn't have this problem, and the bars look like they site outside on top of the panels, which makes installation a lot easier. So it may only be some some door designs that have the internal strengthener bars..

The insulation and coreflute does add a lot of extra weight onto the door. So it likely won't be balanced afterwards and it will likely add a lot of strain onto the motor if you try to use it without getting the spring tensioned. So get a garage door company in afterwards to tension up the spring again so it is properly balanced. Don't use the motor at all until you do this. I switched mine off to make sure it wasn't used.

My parents have new garage doors that had the insulation pre-installed, and there are gaps above the insulation in each panel. Also gaps on the sides, so it isn't a very tight fit. However the grey coreflute covers they have are nicer than the white coreflute in the kits. However doing it yourself gives you the chance to get the polystyrene installed tightly into the edges of each panel. I am not sure how much difference this makes in terms of noise and heat transfer, but guessing there is some difference.

mattwnz

20180 posts

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#3025968 24-Jan-2023 00:59

duckDecoy:

Side question: How often should you get your garage door serviced? Im assuming the main thing is to be sure the springs are tightened OK?

Read the instructions about testing how to make sure the door is balanced.

MikeAqua

7785 posts

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#3025987 24-Jan-2023 07:52

We did ours with expol kits. it wasn't difficult. It was a bit fiddly as the precut panels were too big for our door's frame spacings, so each piece had to be trimmed. But once it was in, it did a good job. Overall, I'd recommend

I didn't bother getting the springs recalibrated. We used two kits and they only weigh a couple of kgs each, so I couldn't see it making a material difference.

Mike

scuwp

3888 posts

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#3025991 24-Jan-2023 08:11

MikeAqua:

I didn't bother getting the springs re calibrated. We used two kits and they only weigh a couple of kgs each, so I couldn't see it making a material difference.

That was exactly what we thought until we blew a motor out. Spring tension and balance, as it turns out, are very important. It would have been a quick and easy job costing about $80 for a service guy to come and check all was OK after it was all fitted (newsflash...it wasn't). Instead cost me $1000 for a new motor because I thought exactly the same as you. The installer said they get a lot of work out of these DIY systems because people don't appreciate the tuning involved. He didn't mind, kept his business lucrative.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

duckDecoy

900 posts

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#3026076 24-Jan-2023 11:21

mattwnz:

duckDecoy:

Side question: How often should you get your garage door serviced? Im assuming the main thing is to be sure the springs are tightened OK?

Read the instructions about testing how to make sure the door is balanced.

I don't have the instructions any more, and the firm who installed it has long gone out of business so cannot grab a copy from their website.

We installed the door, and then about 6months or 1 year later they came back and rechecked the springs (and possibly tightened them). The door was installed about 2010 from memory (give or take a few years).

My question is still outstanding - how often should I get my spring checked by a service person? Or is it fine once the initial check has been done. We haven't added anything to the door or anything like that. But reading posts listing $1000 motor replacements doesn't sound good so I need to know if I should be doing something, but equally don't want to pay someone to do something that isn't necessary.

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