efficient garage doors

2406 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by bobwires, Aug 11, 2009

bobwires

Discussion Starter · Aug 10, 2009

I've got a dilemma... I'm asking the impossible in a garage door. I want to get the most efficient garage door possible. I'm still not sure about size, but I'm thinking 12' x 18' at this point. possible wider.

I've seen lots of crappy roll ups, including the 1 I have now. the solid wood segmented doors don't allow for much potential due to poor sealing, and no insulation... I'm now looking at the bi-folds.

any thoughts on brands, best sealing methods, framing info. for a steel structure, and/or vendors in the northwest are greatly appreciated

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Kgmz

· #2 · Aug 11, 2009

Do you have to have a roll up?

If not I use these doors from NW Door, a steel sectional door with a R value of 9.1 or 12 depending on the type of foam used and T & G sectional joint with a thermal break seal. Also their manufacturing plant and corporate headquarters is just a couple of miles from our shop

http://www.nwdusa.com/home/commercial/steel_doors/model_308.php

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concretemasonry

· #3 · Aug 11, 2009

bobwires -

Look closely at the quality of the installation including the weather protection/stripping on ALL 4 sides of the doors.

It your slab cold or is it well insulated for your climate? The slab ha much more square footage and even with only -20-30F in the winter, the natural soil temperature has a lot of importance.

A cold/cool garage is not necessary bad if the adjacent areas are built proerly and is probably better for the cars.

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bobwires

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 11, 2009

thanks for the lead on northwest doors. I'll check them out

I plan to insulate the slab, and have coils in the slab for heat - it's also very important as I am in the rainforest.

My biggest reason for wanting a well insulated shop is $/month - we're not in the super-frigid temps like they are up in fairbanks, but the cost of a couple more inches of insulation end up being a few bucks a month in the mortgage payment anyway. I need doors that seal really well, and have some thing of an R value - as so many of them are junk in those categories.

We're big on blower door tests around here. I don't want any cracks around my doors at all.

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bobwires

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 11, 2009

well unfortunately I can't post links yet...

but I found a couple of options - of course these are all on-paper numbers and I have 0 field experience with these companies.

Kingspan Hercules section overhead doors - 6" for an R-50 rating, but only up to 10'x10'
Thermostop tradition series - a little thinner, but claims to seal very well.

and another option I think might be even better is to have an 'arctic entry' for the shop. have a 2nd door outside with a closed in area - like a dynaco roll up or something inside. or even just 2 lower cost doors - relying on the sealing to keep the heat inside.

the bottom line is most of the year here it is 50 degrees. so the super high R value isn't needed, just wanted. the winter months, lets say from october through april, are in the teens at the lowest. it's not terribly cold here. the biggest issue is you open the door and all of the precious heat is gone for an hour while you crank up the heat to get the level back. it sucks.

also I often pull in a car covered in slush and snow and crap which then covers my floor in junk. having an outer area was a thought I had before, but before I imagined it more like a carport not sealed off, just sloped about 4" in 12' so I could wash cars there and push snow off in winter before I pull cars in. having a sealed in outer room with a drain in the floor would be an even better method.

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