Cold Spot in House / Effectiveness of New Sectional Insulated Garage Doors

Mgit

I bought a house recently which was built in 2002. It has an integrated garage and although the house and garage was built at the same time the garage is built like an extension with a different roof to the main house. There is a utility room and toilet behind the garage and a door from there leading into the kitchen in the "main house".

There is a bedroom over the garage and although the garage ceiling is definitely double fireproof slabbed with a vapor barrier i don't think there is any insulation in the bedroom floor and it feels really cold to walk on and the bedroom itself is much much colder than the bedrooms in the main house and the utility room and downstairs toilet are also much colder than the rest of the house. This garage wing of the house has a cavity wall, double glazed windows, insulation in the roof of the over garage bedroom etc so its build to the same standard as the rest of the house.

The existing garage door is a traditional up and over metal door with no insulation and lots of gaps to let wind in. A few nights ago when it was freezing outside my fingers were numb from standing in the garage for a few minutes.

I'm considering getting one of the new type sectional insulated doors from either http://www.tilt-a-dor.co.uk/residential_doors/insulated_sectional_doors or http://www.henderson-garage-door-centre.co.uk/products/sectional-garage-doors/henderson-g60/
Both doors have around the same u value of 1.0 and 1.2 and are about the same price and I guess there is other doors on the market like this too.

Converting the garage to a second sitting room like many other houses in not an option for me as I have no use for the second room and the garage is very useful as I work on cars sometimes and the storage is really useful.

Has anyone here been in my situation and got an insulated garage door? Did it make a big difference to the temperature of the room over the garage or the garage itself?

I know I could look at insulating the floor in the bedroom etc but I want to keep the main envelope of the house as warm as possible and I don't want to do some botch job which wouldn't conform to building regs, be a possible fire hazard etc.

I had taught about sticking insulation to the garage door but it wont cure all the wind coming in around the door. Before I bite the bullet and spend about 1.6K on a new door I wanted to see if anyone else has gone down this route before me.

BryanF

Do you have a rad in the garage?

Mgit

BryanF wrote: »

Do you have a rad in the garage?

No garage is so cold and brezzy i think it'd be a big waste of energy. If i got the door sorted i might consider it. You think its a good idea to put one in? Would be easy to do as boiler press backs onto garage.

893bet

Would a good insulated slab to ceiling of garage not sort it?

893bet

Would a good insulated slab to ceiling of garage not sort it?

Mgit

893bet wrote: »

Would a good insulated slab to ceiling of garage not sort it?

I considered that too but the existing ceiling is 2 fireproof plasterboard layers to meet fire regs. Last thing i want to do make the ceiling a hazzard. Im not sure if there is any fireproof insulated slabs. Ive also read online that some people have insulated the ceiling but it didnt work because wind was blowing under the plywood floor above cooling it down. I guees an 18ft x 14ft garage ceiling insulation would cost more than the door? Some people who went for the ceiling option had to rip the ceiling down and pump foam between joists and the put up fireproof ceiling again. Plus I have a cold heated utillity room too that I getting cooled by been adjacent to garage and the kitchen is adjacent to the utility room too so i was hoping that a new garage door might help warm up all those areas of house in one go.

Handsandtools

Mgit wrote: »

I considered that too but the existing ceiling is 2 fireproof plasterboard layers to meet fire regs. Last thing i want to do make the ceiling a hazzard. Im not sure if there is any fireproof insulated slabs. Ive also read online that some people have insulated the ceiling but it didnt work because wind was blowing under the plywood floor above cooling it down. I guees an 18ft x 14ft garage ceiling insulation would cost more than the door? Some people who went for the ceiling option had to rip the ceiling down and pump foam between joists and the put up fireproof ceiling again. Plus I have a cold heated utillity room too that I getting cooled by been adjacent to garage and the kitchen is adjacent to the utility room too so i was hoping that a new garage door might help warm up all those areas of house in one go.

At first, as long as fire can't get in to the top bedroom within hour it's fine, and it doesn't matter where insulated slabs are on top or bottom of fire board.
2nd. No point insulate garage if it's not wind proof, have to seal all gaps from draft and than insulate.
Best of all strip that garage close all holes and insulate properly, it will be better value for money. If You just slab it, it can make condensation within the wall. Find the best value for money, don't go the cheep way.

Markcheese

Is the bed room above the garage used - would it be possible to lift the floor (or some of the floor ) and either lay or blow in insulation ? - draught proofing the garage seems your best bet - as to how easy or possible that is ???

galwaytt

I had this problem in my old house.

In my new one the garage door is a 16' Sectional, and it makes a huge difference. I got mine from Overhead Door Co in Tipp.

bmm

Would the garage side of your house be north/east facing by any chance ? If so consider this as a major contributor to cold rooms . Also, you are not heating the garage.

Mgit

No front of house is south facing and most room windows face front of house.

I went ahead and ordered a sectional door and its supposed to be installed in 3rd or 4th week of Jan.

Cold is only an issue wen outside temp drops to 5deg or less.