I call my local garage door service company the other to check the prices on a few things.

How much to replace the rubber seal on the bottom of the door?

How much to replace the debris strip the attaches to the house and rubs up against the outside of the garage door to help keep out debris and keep the inside clean?

And also, I am thinking about insulating the garage door, do you guys do that?

His answer caught me off guard. He said that they do not insulate garage doors, but that if I am going to do this, I need to change the springs on my garage door. The extra weight of the insulation will cause the garage door opener to work harder and will eventually burn out the motor.

I went to Lowes last night and bought everything. What they wanted to charge me over $200 to do I took care of with $50 in material.

I also bought the insulation. Which is basically styrofoam. One pack does half the 2 car garage door, and each pack weight maybe 5 lbs. Once I get everything trimmed, in a worst case scenario, I am going to add 10 lbs to the weight of this door.

Will this little of an amount effect my opener?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: holdem,

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And also, I am thinking about insulting the garage door, do you guys do that?

Well, sure. Your garage door sucks.

If you are just going with the foam panels inserted into the interior of the door. I would say no. You may need to add another 1/2 turn to the preload to get the balance spot on but I bet an additional 5-10 lbs wouldn't warrant that.

I'm no expert, just what my experience is telling me.

Can’t an opener handle doors made of various materials and of varying widths? Seems to me there ould easily be more than 10 pounds weight difference just depending on the brand and width.

Mine has foam. Doesn't weigh much at all. Some do add real insulation pillows. If your springs are 10+ years old it wouldn't be a bad idea to do them if it saved on labor/ visit. A local guy did mine for like $175 when they did break but I heard others charge a lot more.

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Originally posted by arfmel:
Can’t an opener handle doors made of various materials and of varying widths? Seems to me there ould easily be more than 10 pounds weight difference just depending on the brand and width.

The opener doesn't handle the weight. The weight of the door is balanced by the springs, so a person can open the door.

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Originally posted by arfmel:
Can’t an opener handle doors made of various materials and of varying widths? Seems to me there ould easily be more than 10 pounds weight difference just depending on the brand and width.

I think most openers are meant to lift a spring assisted door. I know my common chain lift has a plastic cog in it that wouldn't do a lot of repetitive heavy lifting.

I have a Martin insulated garage door. This was done at the factory and there is a metal panel on both the interior and exterior surfaces...so it has to be heavier than just exposed foam. It's a really solid door. At no time did the installer ever mention a special opener or springs being needed. In fact, we had one spring lift cable repaired after it frayed from 10 years of use and it went right back to working now for several more years. Less than a year ago I had finally had it with the original Martin opener struggling with sun causing it not to open / close at certain times of day (happened the entire ~13 years). Put in a Liftmaster at the recommendation of the folks at Sigforum. Works absolutely perfect. So as far as I'm concerned I'd be ok keeping the springs and opener personally. This is just based on my limited experience though so take it for what it's worth.

 
We bought insulated doors from the git-go. They are heavy. I don't know if your springs could be adjusted to lift them (let a professional do that!). They might require new springs, IDK.
 

During a repair on my warehouse door the repairman mentioned just cutting Styrofoam to fit in the panels...made sense

One of these days I will tried it.

My doors have about a half inch wide channel built into the inside edges of each panel. I bought and cut styrofoam insulation with white backing at Lowes to fit into the channels, supported at 3rd points with those insulation rods then put white duct tape over the rods to be sure the rods didn't move or fall out on my car.

Has worked like a champ for years, and did nothing to the doors or springs or motor. Made a world of temperature difference inside the garage.

I insulated my own double car garage door with a product that has alum foil type sides and "bubble pack" center. I cut and fitted it to the door panels. I had to use a spray adhesive on some areas. At that time, it was a manual opening door, and the insulation did not affect it's function......but sure helped with the heat!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GT-40DOC,

About those springs: Do you realize how dangerous they are?

There are many, many things around the home I'd work on. Those springs are one thing I wouldn't go anywhere near.

With regard to the DIY foam kit, What brand insulation did you get?

For those who have done it, is the temperature variation that noticeable?

My garage door is under the master bedroom which makes heating and cooling off a few degrees from my other rooms.

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For those who have done it, is the temperature variation that noticeable?

Yes it is very noticeable.

I didn't check before and after but you will definitely notice. My garage faces east so I get full morning to about noon sun on it and the metal door acts like a heat sink. The insulation reduces that heat transfer.

I looked at replacement garage doors and found that with an 8x7 door, insulated doors were around 15lb heavier than the uninsulated version. They also used a different spring.

Without the extra steel on the interior side, I doubt the added weight will matter.

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Originally posted by ensigmatic:
About those springs: Do you realize how dangerous they are?

There are many, many things around the home I'd work on. Those springs are one thing I wouldn't go anywhere near.

I agree. When they break, there is a very loud noise.

If you do put new springs in, be aware that they make lighter duty and heavy duty springs. The heavy duty ones are made from a larger diameter wire and are rated for many more cycles. I have a very heavy insulated 18 ft metal door. When a spring broke 7-8 yrs ago, the guy that replace them didn't ask and just put in the lighter ones. They lasted about 6 yrs. This time the repair guy asked if I wanted the heavier ones. I said absolutely. Time will tell if that was the right decision

I insulated mine. Builder grade 1/4 hp motor wasn't strong enough. Went to Home Depot and grabbed a 1hp screw drive opener. Handles it just fine now.

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Originally posted by deepocean:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
About those springs: Do you realize how dangerous they are?

There are many, many things around the home I'd work on. Those springs are one thing I wouldn't go anywhere near.

I agree. When they break, there is a very loud noise.

OP didn't specify if it is the single overhead wound spring (dangerous!) or the dual stretched-over-top-of rail type (not that dangerous if not under tension)