How to insulate metal garage doors from the inside. How to insulate a garage door from the inside: choosing how to insulate a garage door from the inside How to seal a garage door door with your own hands

Often, car owners’ concern for their four-wheeled pet is expressed even more strongly than for themselves. And the construction of a well-equipped and high-quality insulated garage is one of the manifestations of such careful care. The issue of insulating the garage from the inside comes first here. And since the main source of leakage of such precious heat is the garage door leaf, the need arises to decide how to properly insulate garage doors.

It doesn’t matter what the garage space is used for: parking a car, storing things, a workshop, or anything else. The important thing is that it always remains warm. In this publication, we will tell you exactly how to keep the garage warm by insulating its doors. And let's start, perhaps, with a description of the main mistakes that many car enthusiasts make when they acquire a garage and equip it.

• Ventilation. Availability of good ventilation system necessary in any room, and the garage is no exception. Alas, not everyone realizes this. Many people think like this: ventilation holes are an extra source of heat leaving the garage. In fact, that is exactly what it is. However, their presence is necessary to avoid excess dampness in this room.

• Metal gate design. Many owners of a car home (which, in essence, is a garage), when setting up a garage, install gate leaves of a solid structure, without a gate. Meanwhile, the gate will allow you to achieve less heat loss during the cold season. Whether it’s the case, if we want to get into the garage in winter, we’ll open a small gate for a few seconds, or we’ll have to open a larger gate to do this. The difference, as you can see, is obvious. True, these doors will also have to be insulated. Their insulation is carried out similarly to the insulation of the door leaf.

• Insulation. When deciding how to insulate a garage door, many owners, in an effort to save on insulation, use porous insulation. An example of such insulating material is mineral wool. The reason why such materials should not be used is the following: most often garage doors are an iron frame with the same door leaf. Moreover, the thickness of the latter does not exceed a few millimeters. Because of this, during the cold season, condensation may form on the inner surface of the canvas due to temperature differences. Porous insulation absorbs this condensate quite well, as a result of which they lose their main qualities.

Materials

Now let's look at the question of how to insulate garage doors to ensure maximum thermal insulation. Actually, 4 materials are most often used for these purposes:

1. Mineral wool;
2. Extruded foam;
3. Polyurethane foam;
4. Styrofoam.

Each of these 4 materials has its own advantages and disadvantages. As for mineral wool, as we already wrote above, it is not particularly suitable for insulating garage doors. Polyurethane foam is quite expensive, and not everyone wants to spend a lot of money on a garage. Extruded foam, although it costs less than polyurethane foam, is still not affordable for everyone.

Based on this, we will consider insulating garage doors using polystyrene foam. Although he is quite afraid of fire, taking into account the ratio of the area of ​​the garage door to the area of ​​the rest of the surface of the garage, insulating the garage door with polystyrene foam is quite acceptable.

Preparing for insulation

To insulate a garage door with polystyrene foam, you must complete the following steps:

Before you insulate your garage door, its inside surface must be cleaned. This is done using an iron brush. Particularly large and deep areas of metal damage by corrosion on garage doors can be cleaned with a brush attachment on a drill. After which you need to seal and, if necessary, weld all the cracks and holes on the surface of the gate.

To prevent further formation of corrosion foci, it is necessary to treat the cleaned surface of the gate with some kind of anti-corrosion agent or antiseptic. For these purposes it is quite suitable means is heated drying oil, or even better bitumen mastic. It is applied with a regular wide paint brush in two layers, perpendicular to one another.

After the anti-corrosion coating has dried, it is necessary to create a paving sheathing. It will become the basis for laying and securing insulation from foam boards. This lathing is made from bars with a cross section of 40x40 or 50x50 millimeters. The cross-section of the sheathing bars depends on the width of the end corners of the gate.

It is desirable that the bars are solid. The dimensions of the sheathing cells should be selected in such a way that they correspond as much as possible. The sheathing must be attached to the end corners of the gate. To do this, holes of 4 mm diameter are pre-drilled in the latter. The pitch between such holes should not exceed 200-250 millimeters. Next, the sheathing bars are fastened through the drilled holes with self-tapping screws.

If the design of the garage door is such that it does not imply the possibility of removing the gate from the hinges, a slight problem may arise with attaching the sheathing bar to the lower end corner due to the inability to reach there with a screwdriver or even an ordinary screwdriver. In this case, the block must be secured exclusively at the end. By the way, it is also better to treat the bars with some kind of antiseptic before fixing them. If the gate or wicket has locks, bolts or a ventilation hole, the sheathing must bypass these elements.

When the inner surface of the gate is cleaned, treated with anti-corrosion and antiseptics, and the sheathing is securely fastened, you can begin insulating the garage door with your own hands using polystyrene foam. What does it mean to insulate a garage door with foam? This means covering as much of the gate's surface area as possible with foam. If the dimensions of the sheathing cells do not correspond to the dimensions of the foam plastic slabs, then these same slabs must be adjusted to the size of the cells, using a penknife or an ordinary, but thoroughly sharpened knife along a ruler.

The slabs are cut into pieces based on the width of the cell plus 2-3 millimeters. The same goes for heights. This is done so that the foam boards fit into the cells of the sheathing as tightly as possible.

This installation system will help solve two problems:

1. The foam insulation will be securely clamped between the sheathing bars, which will eliminate the possibility of it sagging and falling out. In this case, no additional seal for the garage door will be needed.
2. Thanks to such a dense laying of the foam, the insulating effect increases significantly. In this case, no additional sealing is required either.

For additional fixation of foam boards, you can use polyurethane foam as glue. However, insulating gates with polyurethane foam is a very risky business. Why is that? Let us explain: when drying, polyurethane foam tends to expand, creating pressure on foam board and pushing it out of the sheathing cell. Therefore, for more convenient and comfortable fixation, we recommend using specially designed for such purposes.

As for polyurethane foam, you also cannot do without it. This tool is ideally suited for sealing gaps between the sheathing and insulation, if any. This is where its expansion properties come in handy. In this case, the foam, expanding, not only presses the insulation against the sheathing frame, but this also achieves better sealing of the insulated surface, for example, swing gates. After drying, excess foam must be trimmed flush (level) with the sheathing frame.

As an additional insulation measure, you can install a seal for the garage door. This, in fact, rubber or silicone gasket is attached to the ends between the gate leaves. This achieves a tighter fit of the ends of the garage doors to each other, which prevents the penetration of cold air masses into the garage room. Such seals are attached using a perforated metal strip and self-tapping screws.

The final stage of insulating garage doors with your own hands is their surface cladding.

To cover the gate, you can use OSB sheets, plastic or wooden lining or corrugated sheets as cladding material. Each of these facing materials has both its plus and minus. Let's take a brief look at them, and at the same time decide what is better to sheathe garage doors.

• Wooden lining. It is one of the most beautiful and practical solutions for facing the door leaf. However, they require pre-treatment with some kind of fire retardant and antiseptic.
• Oriented Strand Board (OSB). Beautiful looking, durable and rot-resistant material. Can be painted or glued.
• Plastic lining. Easy to install and looks attractive. But the strength of this cladding material leaves much to be desired.
• Profile iron sheet. Durable, practical and durable material. However, as experienced garage owners assure, profile sheet It is better not to sheathe the door leaf. The reason for this is a fairly high probability of condensation forming on the side where the insulation is located.

As you can see, of the above facing materials, OSB is the most optimal. Therefore, if you are deciding how and how to insulate garage doors from the inside with your own hands and what to cover them with, oriented strand boards are the optimal material for this.

The optimal board for cladding gates is OSB.

In conclusion of all of the above, we would like to once again point out the importance of the fact that you need to approach the question of how to insulate a garage door with your own hands full responsibility. A high-quality and reliably insulated garage door with your own hands is a guarantee of a constant acceptable temperature, and therefore the longevity of your mobile vehicle.

Car owners often don’t think about insulating their garage. However, both the condition of the car and the safety of fuel, tools and other spare parts depend on the temperature in this room. And if you use the garage as a workshop, then insulation is an essential part of the work. One of the garage structures that requires insulation is its gate.

Why insulate garage doors? What kind of gates can be insulated? Which insulation material should I choose? How exactly to make the gate warm? Let's look at the answers to these important questions.

Why insulate gates?

Many people wonder why it is so important to make the gates warm. In fact, everything is simple: gates are one of the main sources of heat loss. Through them warm air comes out of the garage, and the cold one enters it. And if you heat your garage, then we can say that you are doing it in vain. After all, all the heat goes outside. And this can negatively affect both the vehicle with its components and interior decoration. As a result, you spend money on heating, but there is none.

And if you work in a garage, then high-quality thermal insulation is simply necessary. In winter it will be difficult for you to spend time in cold design. You may get sick and lie down for many days. This is why it is so important to insulate your garage door. This way, you will retain heat inside the building and make it even warmer.

Which gates can be insulated?

Mostly, many car owners use it for their garages. This is the option in which insulation can and is even necessary. This design is based on a frame made of a profile pipe and a sheet of steel sheet. He plays a role exterior finishing. We can say with confidence that these garage doors do not in any way block the heat from escaping from the building. An important point The design of such gates is that they have a wicket. Thanks to it, heat loss is reduced, since people who often go to the garage do not open the entire gate structure, but only a small part. The heat comes out slowly.

Advice! If you want to make a gate for your garage, immediately plan to install a gate.

Became quite popular lift-and-turn structures and sectional gates. Their section or canvas is made as a sandwich panel, consisting of a steel sheet and polyurethane foam. These factory-made gates already have proper insulation and excellent thermal insulation properties. Therefore, they do not need to be insulated.

Advice! If you bought this design handicraft, then most often it is not insulated in any way. The insulation process will be identical to the insulation of swing garage doors.

But if we talk about roller shutters, then, unfortunately, there is no way to insulate them. It's all about the design itself and the principle of its operation. This is why they are very rarely used for garages that are located in cold regions.

Choosing insulation for garage doors

Your main task for insulation is 50% the choice of material for insulation. If this is done incorrectly, then all your work, time, effort and money wasted. Insulation material is a product that has minimal thermal conductivity and is capable of retaining heat inside a building. If we talk about the construction industry, the conductivity of heat in a material is determined by the conductivity coefficient. The following principle applies here: the smaller this coefficient, the better insulation will keep you warm inside.

Above you could see a table with materials and their conductivity coefficients. It is worth noting that the thicker the insulation layer, the better the insulation itself will be. However, everything should be within reasonable limits. If we talk about insulating garage doors, then 5 cm of insulation is quite enough. What kind of material can you use?

We will consider the following types of materials:

1. Mineral wool.
2. Styrofoam.
3. PPU (polyurethane foam).

What is the best way to insulate gates? What advantages and disadvantages do the materials have? Let's find out.

Using cotton wool

Few people are not familiar with this insulation. It has excellent characteristics and is excellent for insulation various designs. The material is sold both in rolls and in slabs. Builders love and appreciate it very much. But is it suitable for insulating garage doors? We'll find out later. First, let's look at the types of wool as insulation and its characteristic features:

Now we’ll find out whether any of the cotton wool is suitable as insulation for garage doors. The thing is that they are quite hygroscopic and cannot withstand moisture. When wet, any cotton wool will lose its properties and will not insulate the room properly. And in winter, the dew point in the garage will be located precisely in the insulation layer. As a result, condensation will harm the cotton wool and reduce its performance characteristics. This can be solved by covering the materials with a vapor barrier and waterproofing films. However, this is an additional expense.

Insulating gates with foam plastic

Cheap, but very popular material for insulation. Unlike cotton wool, it does not absorb moisture and can serve for a long time, reliably protecting the garage. One of the disadvantages is flammability. But this is the main disadvantage. Otherwise, this is an excellent solution. Let's look at why polystyrene foam can be called one of the best for garage doors:

1. It has low density and weight. Thanks to this, insulation will have virtually no effect on the total weight of the garage door.
2. It has one of the lowest thermal conductivities. And extruded polystyrene foam is even better than mineral wool.
3. It is environmentally friendly and does not affect human health.
4. Polystyrene foam does not interact with air or water in any way. Moisture is simply not scary for him.
5. Durability of the material. It will serve you for 50 years or more.
6. It is easy to work with: transport, carry, handle and stack.
7. The water absorption of polystyrene foam is less than 3%, and extruded polystyrene foam has less than 0.4%.

It can be concluded that polystyrene foam and its types are ideal for insulating garage doors.

PPU insulation

This material requires special attention. It is unusual and is produced by spraying. You saw something similar when working with polyurethane foam. Applied using a special unit resembling a spray gun, the material is sprayed onto the surface, after which it expands several times. A monolithic layer of insulation is created that does not allow any cold to pass through. What are the advantages of PPU:

1. Low thermal conductivity.
2. Moisture resistant.
3. Light weight.
4. High quality insulation due to the absence of seams.
5. Durability.
6. Ecological cleanliness.

This material could be put at the top of the list, if not for a few nuances. Firstly, you will not be able to do the insulation yourself, since the work will require a special device that is only available to professionals. Secondly, such insulation is quite expensive. Not everyone can afford to insulate their garage with it. Still, polyurethane foam rightfully ranks high on the list if you have the opportunity to purchase it.

We insulate garage doors

So we have come to the point of insulating swing garage doors with our own hands. In general, the technology depends on what material you choose. PPU is applied by spraying. But the polystyrene foam is laid on the gate. We will consider foam insulation, since you can do it yourself and this is the most popular method.

Before work, we recommend that you inspect the gate structure. If you find rust on the frame or sash, remove it. Carefully fill all cracks with foam. This way, you will avoid the appearance of cold bridges. Next you need to install special polymer inserts on the floor. Thanks to them you will seal the gate from rain and melted snow. Ideally, treat garage doors with a primer and anti-corrosion agent. But the material itself needs to be laid only after the soil has dried.

Let's start fixing the insulation boards. The process is simple since the gate width is small. You need to lay the slabs in the space between the sheets and the profile pipe. You can fix the foam directly onto the sheets, or between the sheathing. In the first case, a special glue is used, in the second, a frame is used. The sheathing is made of bars, metal profiles or slats. After laying the insulation, everything is covered with clapboard, panels or plywood. When laying the material, you must do it tightly so that there are no air gaps between the foam and the gate. Otherwise, condensation will form in these places.

So, the process of insulating gates occurs according to this principle:

Advice! You should pay attention to the gaps where the two sashes meet.

It's that simple and without special effort you can insulate your garage door. You will see the insulation process in more detail in this video:

Let's sum it up

If everything is done correctly, you will protect the garage from heat loss, make it warmer, and protect your car and the tools that are stored inside. And working in a warm room will be safer and more pleasant. So if you haven't already insulated your garage door, you can do it right now.

“A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation,” this catchphrase from the famous work of Ilf and Petrov has become a household word. After all, today not a single day in our life goes by without a car. But in order for it to serve faithfully, it also needs to be properly looked after and protected. He needs his own home. Moreover warm house. Let's talk about insulating garage doors.

Why do you need a garage?

For many car enthusiasts, a garage is also not just a place to store their iron horse, but also their own small service station, workshop, and sometimes a cellar or warehouse.

It should be remembered that according to SNiP 21-02-99 “Car Parking” for long-term and proper storage of a car required temperature air temperature in the garage should be at least +5°C. To maintain in the garage desired temperature it is necessary to install a heating and ventilation system.

Choosing garage door insulation

Sectional insulated doors are optimal for installation. They will help to avoid many problems associated with insulating gates. They also open upward, which will help to avoid problems with opening the gate after a snowfall; they do not require a radius for opening the gate and securing the leaves after opening. After all, a gust of wind can move the sash and damage the car.

But if replacing swing gates with sectional ones is not part of your plans, then they need to be insulated. After all, in in this case metal serves as an excellent conductor of cold and condensation collection.

To insulate gates, you can use various thermal insulation materials.

Stone wool - heat insulator based on basalt fiber. Non-flammable material. Has high thermal insulation properties, which allows to minimize heat loss in the building. Vapor-permeable material, using water repellents, does not absorb moisture, is non-toxic. But when working with it, it is necessary to use personal protective equipment: gloves, a respirator, thick clothing, since cotton fibers have a size of several micrometers, when they get on the skin they cause itching and burning, and when they get into the respiratory tract, they cause a reaction of the mucous membranes.

Foamed polyethylene , otherwise known as synthetic winterizer, is a common material for thermal insulation and as a filler for upholstered furniture. Foamed self-adhesive material - izolon - is produced on the basis of polyethylene. It can also have one foil side for better thermal insulation.

Expanded polystyrene - a type of foam plastic. It is very popular among developers. It has excellent thermal insulation, is not hygroscopic, and supports combustion very well. It is not toxic in itself, but when heated to 70-80°C it begins to release a very toxic gas - styrene. Therefore, if your garage doors “look” to the south, using polystyrene foam as insulation is not recommended.

Also soluble in acetone and other chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Polyurethane foam - sprayed lightweight and durable material. Has a very low thermal conductivity coefficient. Non-toxic, but flammable. Possibility of application of this material self-limited. To spray it, a special installation is required, which will mix the components of the material during spraying.

Preparing garage doors for insulation

Before starting work on insulating the gate, it is necessary to ensure high-quality preparation of the surface.

Inspect the gate for damage to paintwork, dirt, rust and oil stains. If there are metal defects on the gate itself, they must be removed. You also need to clean the structure from dirt and rust using a brush with metal bristles. Additionally, treat the surfaces with a rust converter and coat the metal with a primer. The measures taken will protect your gate from further corrosion, extending its service life.

Check the gaps between the gate frame and the opening. If there are any, provide for the possibility of installing a rubber seal. Check constipation mechanisms. Adjust and, if necessary, lubricate the locks.

The insulation must be closed from mechanical damage. To secure finishing gate, it is necessary to install additional wooden lathing on the gate.

Insulation of gates with various materials

Insulation with stone wool. Most designs of swing garage doors are made from a corner with a shelf length of 50mm. This shelf size is sufficient for inserting insulation. Stone wool must be covered with a vapor barrier film, otherwise the average daily temperature difference will lead to condensation in the insulation, and, as a result, it will get wet. On the garage side, mineral wool must be protected. For this you can use siding, OSB board, wooden lining.

Insulation with foamed polyethylene (isolon). Using self-adhesive material will greatly simplify the insulation of gates. Self-adhesive material Available in thicknesses from 2mm to 10mm. Isolon can be covered on one side with aluminum foil, which will provide a thermal reflection coefficient of 97%. No additional covering of the material is required. Although the material is easy to damage.

Insulation with polyurethane foam. One of the most progressive insulation methods, but at the same time one of the most expensive. The main feature of the insulation is that it is applied in liquid form. After foaming, it increases in volume up to 20 times, filling all the cracks and voids, forming a perfect seal. Has excellent sound insulation. Closed cell polyurethane foam ( specific gravity from 40kg/m3) acts as a vapor barrier. Good adhesion at the level of 2 kg/cm2 to any materials and does not require the installation of additional fasteners.

Insulation with polystyrene foam The most common method of insulating swing garage doors. The low cost of the material and its excellent thermal insulation properties have contributed to its widespread use.

A budget option is gluing sheets of expanded polystyrene to metal plates gate using polyurethane foam. The seams between the sheets must also be sealed with foam.

Most gate frame designs used small gussets to increase rigidity. The foam under these scarves must be cut to a smaller thickness. If you make a mistake when trimming, the gaps formed must be filled with foam.

When working with extruded polystyrene foam, which has increased rigidity, external finishing may not be carried out. It is enough to glue the joints with aluminum self-adhesive foil.

But it is worth remembering that using polystyrene foam on gates that “look” to the south is not advisable. When hitting straight sun rays On metal it heats up quickly. Expanded polystyrene already at a temperature of +75-80˚С begins to decompose, releasing styrene.

Additional measures to ensure thermal insulation of the garage

Since swing gates have a very large opening area, it is necessary to reduce this area. Ideal option is the equipment of a small gate in the plane of the gate.

Seal all junctions between the gate and the frame with thresholds or rubber gaskets. Create additional air gap between the gate and the main garage area. Such a layer with a thickness of 200-400mm can be created by hanging it on the garage wall with inside thick fabric or tarpaulin curtain.

An insulated garage is necessary in our climate so that your beloved four-wheeled friend does not suffer from temperature changes. In addition, the garage is often used by the owner as a workshop or a place for communication and “exchange of experience.” Therefore, thermal insulation is an important measure when arranging any garage.

Why do you need to insulate your garage?

According to SNiP 02/21/99, in winter optimal temperature in the garage should be +5°C. In this case, the batteries will not deteriorate and moisture will not condense, causing corrosion. This can be achieved by installing a heating device in the garage and performing thermal insulation. But the main thing that needs to be done is to insulate the garage doors.

After all, heat from any room, as physics teaches, leaves in three main ways:

• Convection, or heat transfer by air currents. Air can escape from the garage when the doors are opened, through ventilation, or through cracks in the gate that does not fit tightly to the opening. The way to deal with this leak is to open not the gate, but the wicket, and not for long; seal all the cracks. But the ventilation holes should not be closed.
• Thermal conductivity, that is, the transfer of heat through the walls and door material to the outside air (or neighboring buildings);
• Radiation that is emitted in the infrared range by all heated objects.

The way to deal with the last two reasons is the same - you need to install thermal insulation. Let's look at how to properly insulate garage doors, and why use polystyrene foam.

Some owners close the ventilation openings in the winter to save heat. It is not recommended to do this, as the storage conditions of the machine worsen due to high humidity in the garage. And it is simply life-threatening.

What is the best way to insulate a garage?

Most often, foam or polypropylene is used to insulate garage doors.

Polystyrene foam has a number of advantages compared to other insulating materials:

1. First of all, it is low price and availability. Polystyrene foam in sheets various densities and sizes can be purchased at any construction supermarket.
2. In addition, this material is easy to process. It is cut with a regular knife and glued using any glue or foam. Using extruded polystyrene foam is even more convenient, since it does not crumble during processing.
3. Polystyrene foam - very lightweight material, and the weight of the gate (load on the hinges and difficulties with closing) after insulation will practically not change.
4. It is not afraid of moisture and does not absorb it, having an absorption rate of 3%.
5. It is not susceptible to rotting, fungus and pests.
6. The service life of the material is more than 50 years.
7. At normal conditions(not in case of fire) does not emit harmful substances.
8. And most importantly: it has minimal thermal conductivity. If we compare the thermal conductivity of different building materials, then polystyrene foam will come first. In physics, this indicator is denoted by the symbol “lambda” and shows how much heat will pass through a conventional cubic meter of material with a temperature difference of 1 degree. In foam plastic it is one and a half to two times less than in mineral wool, ten times less than in wood, fifty times less than in brick and almost 2000 times less than in iron.

Sometimes other insulation materials are used. For example, mineral wool. However, using porous garage door insulation is a mistake. The gate is made of metal, and the dew point will almost certainly be inside the insulation layer. Since mineral wool is permeable to moisture and hygroscopic, condensation formed inside will lead to wetting and loss of thermal insulation properties.

Which gates need to be insulated yourself:

• Swing. Most often, standard swing gates are installed in the garage. They consist of two doors, that is, frames hung on hinges from a corner, sewn with outside metal sheet 2-3 mm thick. They need to be insulated with polystyrene foam. It is best to carry out insulation at the manufacturing stage, since for some operations it is advisable to remove the sashes. And this is not always convenient.
• Recoil. They are not often used in garages because they require a lot of space for the door to move. However, in general, their insulation is similar to that of swing doors.
• Lift-and-swivel. To open, such gates rise upward, simultaneously turning parallel to the floor. There are both factory-made and home-made models. Their insulation must be carried out in the same way, taking into account that the weight of the sash does not increase significantly, since this will require re-adjusting the opening mechanism.
• Lifting sectional. Most often they are made in a factory, from sandwich panels with a layer of insulation of about 45 mm and sealing the gaps between sections. Insulation is usually not required.
• Roller shutters. They are thin lamellas that are wound on a special shaft. They do not provide sufficient insulation and cannot be additionally insulated.

The procedure for installing foam insulation

So, we have found the best insulation material. Let's look at how to properly insulate garage doors with polystyrene foam, and what is needed for this.

First of all, you need to collect a set of tools.

You will need:

1. drill with a set of drills;
2. screwdriver or set of screwdrivers;
3. hammer;
4. ruler, square and tape measure;
5. jigsaw or hacksaw;
6. construction knife;
7. a metal brush (brush for a drill) to clean rust;
8. emery;
9. brush (roller);

Then you need to purchase the necessary materials:

1. wooden block 30x40;
2. wood screws;
3. polystyrene foam 40-50 mm thick;
4. construction foam;
5. wood antiseptic;
6. waterproofing coating for foam plastic;
7. facing material(best of all is OSB or waterproof plywood, 6-10 mm thick);

Now you can get started:

• Prepare the gate - remove rust, clean off flaking paint and clean the metal (with a brush and sandpaper). Degrease the surface. Then coat the metal with an anti-corrosion primer.
• Cut the wooden blocks for the sheathing to size and treat them with an antiseptic.
• Waterproof the gate under foam plastic. You can cover the gate bitumen mastic, or stick a waterproofing membrane.
• Mark and drill holes with a diameter of 4 mm for self-tapping screws (in increments of 25-30 cm) in the stiffeners and gate frame. Countersink them for the heads. (Some of the bars will have to be attached to the end).

Attention! When attaching the bottom beam, a problem may arise, since it is impossible to reach it with a tool. In this case, the sash must be removed. Or it is enough to secure it only at the end; this beam remains practically unloaded.

• Attach the bars into place with self-tapping screws. To prevent them from cracking, you need to press them in place and drill thin drill(2 - 2.5 mm) hole for the length of the self-tapping screw.
• Place pre-cut foam sheets in the spaces between the bars. When cutting, you can make the sheet 2-3 mm wider than the cell so that it fits as tightly as possible. When cutting, you should ensure that the position of the knife is perpendicular and do not violate the cutting line.

Attention! You can simply fasten the sheets using spacers, liquid nail glue or polyurethane foam.

• After laying all the sheets, seal the seams and joints with foam. After complete drying, cut off the excess.
• Carefully measure the cladding sheet (OSB) and cut it to size. Leave tolerances on the lock and deadbolts. Having marked the location of the sheathing bars in advance, secure the cladding from the inside with self-tapping screws. Also pre-drill the holes with a thin drill so that the bars do not crack.

If desired, paint it in your favorite color. If necessary, glue a rubber seal along the edges of the sashes.

Not all car owners have a garage, but most of them dream of one. Not all happy owners of a garage have it insulated, but most of them, who have at least once felt the beauty of insulation, dream about it. And behind the apparent complexity of the insulation process there 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 overall heat loss.

Car enthusiasts may ask a completely reasonable question: “Why, in general, insulate the gates and the garage itself? After all, this is a room where a person periodically appears in it, and the car is under the roof and protected from natural influences.” In words, everything seems to be so, but it is necessary to understand it in order. What are the arguments for insulating garage doors?

• The gate is the largest part of the garage by area, which connects it with external, not always favorable, natural conditions. It is through the gate that maximum heat transfer occurs: in winter the right warmth strive to get out, and in the hot summer, unnecessary things penetrate inside the garage.

How heat “leaks” from the garage door is clearly visible on the thermogram

• Very often, garage owners organize workshops in them so as not to do the necessary carpentry or plumbing work at home; many car repair operations can be done in the garage, and this requires a long stay in it. Therefore, insulating the gates is simply necessary.
• Insulating the garage makes the temperature more mild, 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: should the gate be insulated from the outside or from the inside? Capital walls Construction science recommends insulating 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 they do best 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 swing structure, which, of course, simply needs to be insulated. The basis of such gates is a frame made of profile 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 pose any barrier to heat leakage. In swing gates, it is important to have a wicket gate, which greatly reduces heat loss when people move frequently. Therefore, if the garage is still at the construction stage, then you need to order it with a gate.

Lift-and-swivel ones are very fashionable these days and the vast majority are factory-made. Their canvas or sections are a sandwich panel 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 insulation measures. These types of gates, at the request of the customer, can also be equipped with a wicket door, which must be done.

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

It is impossible to insulate roller gates due to the peculiarities of their design. Yes, and they can be called garage doors with a very big stretch, since in terms of thermal insulation and anti-vandal properties they are inferior to all others.

Choice of insulation

Insulation is a material that has minimal thermal conductivity. In construction science, thermal conductivity is assessed with a special indicator - the thermal conductivity coefficient. And the smaller it is, the greater the chance of this material becoming insulation.

In the presented table, its upper part is insulation materials, and the lower part (from No. 16 onwards) is 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 quite enough.

In today's wide selection of various building materials, there is a huge number of insulation materials for 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 of which are not.

Mineral wool

Mineral wool is wonderful heat insulating material, which has proven itself very well in construction. Under this name there are actually three subtypes 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 coefficient of 0.03-0.05 W/m*°K, a wide range of permissible temperatures from -60 to +450 °C, good elasticity and strength. When working with it, always wear protective equipment, since the smallest fibers easily break, dig into the skin and enter the respiratory tract. The hygroscopicity of glass wool is moderate.

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

• Stone wool obtained by melting rocks of volcanic origin. Its structure is very similar to slag wool, but it has better heat resistance and lacks acid aggressiveness. Thermal conductivity stone wool 0.03–0.04 W/m*°K. Phenol-formaldehyde resins are used as a binder in some types of this insulation, so when heated it can release ambient air phenols, extremely harmful to humans. The hygroscopicity of this material is high.

Basalt wool is the most popular among all porous insulation materials

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, so only stone basalt wool is applicable, provided that vapor barrier films are used.

Styrofoam

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

• Polystyrene foam is the most famous and looks like sintered gas-filled balls. This type of foam is an excellent insulator and is used most often. Designated as PSB or PSB-S. In this class, the most interesting is extruded polystyrene foam (EPS), which has better strength, negligible hygroscopicity and fire resistance. For insulating garage doors, EPS is one of the best choices. In retail chains it may be called: Stirex, TechnoNIKOL, Penoplex, URSA XPS, etc.

• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foams are used in construction for heat and sound insulation. Panels made from it can be rigid or elastic. This is an excellent material, similar to EPS, which has increased fire resistance. According to international standards, it is labeled as PVC. In retail chains it is less common than PSB or EPPS.
• Urea-formaldehyde polystyrene foam (FPP) – widely used for thermal insulation. Its advantage is that it does not expand in volume when it dries, so on construction sites it is used in liquid form to fill cavities. Known in retail chains under the names: Mattamplast, Poroplast cf, Unipor, Omiflex, Penoizol, Pentyl. 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 is polyurethane foam. For thermal insulation purposes, rigid polyurethane foam is suitable, since it has excellent adhesion to all surfaces, has excellent thermal insulation properties and is waterproofing agent. Can be applied directly on the construction site by spraying. Perhaps this the best choice for thermal insulation of garage doors. The only drawback is that applying the coating requires special equipment, which slightly increases the cost of thermal insulation.

Judging by the types of garage door designs described earlier, insulation is required, first of all, by swing gates, as well as up-and-over gates manufactured independently. Before you start insulating, you should check the ventilation system in the garage. Why is this being done?

• Any garage must be provided with a ventilation system: supply and exhaust. Very often the supply hole 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 the garage does not have an air supply hole, then it should be organized at the bottom of the door.

Preparing the gate surface

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

• Large pockets of corrosion, where there are peeling layers of rust, are cleaned with a brush with metal bristles.
• Next, it is better to resort to mechanized processing of the gate surface using brush attachments to the drill.

• The best results are obtained by cleaning rust using polymer-abrasive“Piranha” brushes, which work together with the grinder. Working with it is absolutely safe, but you should not forget about protective equipment. When working, you can water the surface; the polymer fluff penetrates into the most hard to reach places. Considering that angle grinders The machines (grinders) operate at high speeds, the cleaning process goes very quickly.

• After complete cleaning and degreasing, an anti-corrosion primer is applied in two layers. You can use any suitable one. If the primer is 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.

Making lathing for insulating gates

With any method of thermal insulation, using any materials, the design of the gate leaf will require a lath, which, firstly, will help secure the insulation, and, secondly, the gate lining will be attached to it in the future. To make the lathing you will need wooden blocks cross section 4*4 cm or 5*5 cm, depending on the design of the gate. The lathing must be attached to the load-bearing frame of the gate leaf: profile steel pipe or corner. To make a wooden sheathing you need:

• Prepare the required number of wooden blocks. When purchasing, you need to choose only dry wood.
• The bars are treated twice with an antiseptic composition to prevent them from rotting under difficult conditions of temperature changes and high humidity.

• The bars are attached to the gate's strength elements using screws. To do this, after marking, you need to mark the locations of future holes, and then use a drill with a diameter corresponding to the screw to make through holes. When attaching the bars, do not forget to first make holes in them with a thin drill so that the screw being screwed in does not split them.

• If there is a ventilation hole on the door leaf, it must be surrounded by lathing around the perimeter. This also applies to locks and deadbolts.
• If there are no steel strength elements on the central part of the gate leaf, then the bars can be attached to each other in any way in a convenient way: at the end, using corners, etc.

Insulation of garage doors with mineral wool

If you have already decided to insulate the gate with mineral wool, then it is better to choose basalt wool from famous manufacturers. But before laying 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 inside of the gate can be covered waterproofing mastic, for example, bitumen-polymer.
• Very good results give self-adhesive materials Izolon or any others.

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 sheathing bars. Mineral wool can cake over time, so the denser the better. After laying all the insulation on top it is stretched vapor barrier film and is attached to the sheathing bars with a construction stapler. After this operation, we can say that the gate is ready for final cladding.

Insulating gates with foam plastic

If when insulating the gate you use conventional PSB foam plastic, then the use of waterproofing is also desirable. This material is capable, although not in the same way as mineral wool, of absorbing moisture, which reduces its thermal insulation properties. It is advisable to use EPS, which is not hygroscopic. Extruded polystyrene foam, although more expensive, does not require waterproofing. For the surface of the gate you need:

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

Video: How to properly cut foam with a knife

• Foam sheets can be glued to the surface of the gate using polyurethane foam. It is better to use professional foam supplied by a gun, since its volumetric expansion is small. For gluing, foam is continuously applied to the back of the sheet along all edges of the sheet and one line in the center parallel to the long side. Next, the sheet is installed in its place and pressed firmly with a block or rule. By tapping you can adjust the position of the sheet. After a few minutes the position is checked and adjusted if necessary.

Video: How to glue polystyrene foam with polyurethane foam

• After installing all the sheets, all joints and cavities are treated with polyurethane foam. After the foam has dried, the excess is cut off and the surface can be lightly floated. The gate is ready for cladding.

Insulation of gates with polyurethane foam

When insulating gates using this method, it is no longer possible to do without the involvement of qualified work force and special equipment. Polyurethane foam is applied using a special spraying machine in several layers. Wooden sheathing It is still needed, since it is convenient to attach the finishing lining of the gate to it.

Has clear advantages:

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

Video: Applying polyurethane foam coating to a garage door

Before applying the coating, you should cover the gate hinges, locks, bolts and ventilation holes with film, pasting it around the edges masking tape. Coating is applied only in protective clothing, goggles and a respirator. After applying the calculated layer of insulation and its complete drying, the excess on the sheathing can be trimmed with a construction knife. After this, the gate is ready for cladding.

Lining the inner surface of the gate

The main thing has already been done! Garage doors are already equipped with thermal insulation, but aesthetics and practicality have not yet been canceled, so it is best to line them with some kind of material. What can serve as cladding?

• Cladding with corrugated sheets – practical solution, but based on the experience of people who have done this, moisture may condense on the surface.
• Facing plastic lining– looks good, easy installation, but the surface is very easy to damage.

• Facing wooden clapboard- one of the most practical and beautiful solutions, but it requires treating the wood with antiseptics and fire retardants.

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

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

Additional measures for insulating garage doors

Gate leaf seals

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

For a tight fit of gate leaves and wickets, a round rubber seal with a diameter of 20 mm has proven itself best. Due to the rubber tail, this seal can be easily attached to any door. To do this, take a perforated steel strip and press the tail of the seal in a pre-designated place and screw it with self-tapping screws in increments of 15-20 cm to the gate leaf. It is advisable to coat the tail of the tape with glue No. 88 before installation.

Another area where heat can escape from the garage is the bottom of the door. Naturally, you 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. 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 by about a third of their length.

Garage curtain

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

• The material must be dense, since lightweight materials do little to prevent heat loss.
• Resistance 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 it is equally out of competition.

The best material for a garage curtain is tarpaulin. It is worth purchasing along with eyelets

Along with the tarpaulin, you should also purchase eyelets, which are inserted into the fabric at a distance of 20 cm. The panel is suspended on a cable or (which is better) a metal curtain rod using rings inserted into the eyelets of the curtain. Opposite the gate, a cut must be made in the curtain fabric to allow free movement without moving the entire panel.

Conclusion

• Insulating your garage and garage doors is not overkill. These measures will allow you to better preserve the car, which is comfortable in the garage both in cold winter and hot summer.
• Garage doors are only insulated from the inside.
• The best method of insulation is spraying.

Video: Garage door insulation option

Video: Another insulation option

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