Do I Need an Insulated Garage Door in Florida?

Updated July 21st, 2020

When many homeowners consider replacing their current garage door with a trendy insulated option, they consider protecting their garage space from extremely cold temperatures — so how would those upgrades benefit Florida residents? Garages aren’t considered additional living space, so when your house was built, this area was not constructed with insulation, making the garage easily susceptible to extreme climates.

Besides convenient vehicle storage and security, garages are often used as additional storage space for household chemicals and tools, excess clutter and outdoor gear, and these items often need a consistent temperature to maintain their condition.

Do I Need an Insulated Garage Door in Florida?

While Florida rarely experiences cool snaps, insulated garage doors can offer superior protection and comfort for items kept in your garage against the sizzling, damp heat. By having an insulated garage door, you can better regulate the interior temperature of your garage and protect your belongings from extreme heat and moisture damage.
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What Is an Insulated Garage Door?

Garage doors are an essential feature to most homes — they offer the largest and most convenient entry to your house. Since most people use their garage doors every day, many homeowners are opting to upgrade their garage doors to an improved insulated option. Insulated garage doors offer a wide range of benefits from long-term cost savings to improved garage door performance.

An insulated garage door is crafted from two layers of steel, aluminum or composite wood with insulation materials placed in between each layer. Insulated doors are typically much thicker than traditional single-layer sectional doors and depending on your needs can have multiple layers of insulation. When exploring different insulated garage doors, you’ll find many of them have an R-value.

R-values are the most widely and commonly used measurement for evaluating a garage door’s energy efficiency — high R-values represent less heat entering your garage during the summer. The R-value is primarily determined by the thickness of the garage door, material construction and type of insulation.

Garage Door Layering Options

Insulated garage doors are crafted using layers of insulation, and garage doors with multiple layers will often have superior R-values. Typically, there are three different layering options homeowners can choose from:

• Single Layer: A single layer garage door has no insulation and is basically one layer of steel, wood or aluminum with little energy efficiency properties.
• Double Layer: Garage doors with a double layer feature sandwiched insulation between exterior garage door materials.
• Three or More Layers: Garage doors that have three or more layers will present the most energy-efficient performance. Insulated garage doors with three or more layers have polyurethane or polystyrene materials, along with exterior and cladding options.

Different Garage Door Insulation Materials

When choosing the right insulated garage door to meet your specific needs, maintenance expectations and budget, you’ll find two insulation material options for your new door, including:

• Polystyrene: Commonly used in double-layer or 3-layer insulated doors and less costly than alternative options, polystyrene is a thick layer of insulation that is situated flush against the outer garage door layers and doesn’t have additional sealing.
• Polyurethane: Polyurethane is the more sophisticated and effective insulation option that is injected as a foam between layers of the garage door. While polyurethane is more expensive than polystyrene-insulated garage doors, it does offer nearly twice the R-value.

Insulated Garage Doors vs. Standard Garage Doors

If you’re searching for a contemporary, attractive new garage door, both insulated and non-insulated options offer a wide variety of stylish options to accentuate any type of home architecture. The most critical difference between insulated and standard garage doors is their performance standards. With insulated garage doors, you can experience unmatched convenience and smooth operations, including:

• Noise reduction
• Improved resilience and stability
• Evenly regulated indoor temperature

Benefits of Insulated Garage Doors in Florida

What makes insulated garage doors so appealing is their full range of benefits for every homeowner, even those located in warmer climates. With a new insulated garage door for your Florida home, you can experience the following perks:

• Long-Term Cost Savings: Insulated garage doors can keep the internal temperature of your garage more comfortable and decrease heat and air transference between your interior and exterior spaces — this reduction means your air conditioner won’t have to operate as often, which can significantly reduce your annual cooling costs.
• Improved Home Protection: Certain items often stored in your garage — including your car, chemicals and paints and vehicle liquids — can become damaged when exposed to prolonged extreme temperatures.
• Better Durability: Garage doors are constantly exposed to harsh elements, direct sunlight and debris, which can diminish the quality of your door over time. With added insulation, your garage door is thicker and can better withstand extreme weather conditions and flying debris.
• Quieter: In addition to helping you save money and protect your valuables, an insulated door rattles far less, and travels up and down much smoother. Insulated garage door owners often comment about how much quieter their door is now. Not only is the door quieter, your house is quieter! An insulated door is also a sound barrier to the noise outside. Anyone living on a busy road should definitely consider an insulated garage door to stomp out the noise pollution entering through their garage.

Keep Cool With a New Insulated Garage Door From Broten Garage Doors

Experience the unparalleled performance, durability and beauty of a new insulated garage door with help from the experts at Broten Garage Doors. Since 1955, we’ve been the leading professionals in garage door design and installation for homeowners throughout South Florida, including the Pompano Beach and Delray Beach areas.

We strive to always provide personalized solutions and quality products from top-rated brands including Clopay. We encourage all local homeowners to visit our showroom in Pompano Beach to peruse in person our wide selection of gorgeous insulated garage doors. Our experienced, friendly professionals are happy to help you find a new insulated door to best suit your needs and budget.

Learn more about our insulated garage door options today by calling us at 954.800.2213 or completing our online contact form to request a free installation estimate.
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