I’m going through the ordeal of replacing my 10 year old garage doors. Mainly because they’re about to fall off, but additionally to hopefully save some money on electric bills.

My original doors are the heavy, wooden, run-of-the-mill contractor special doors. They’ve lasted quite a while, but are starting to show their age. Also, I accidentally backed into one of them and cracked the lower section, (which I then repaired with a bracket and screws). It’s a scary thing to see parts of the door reaching towards the ground before other parts. I opted for new doors with a 6.5 R-value insulation. Not the highest, but should show some savings on the electric bill.

It’s amazing, at least to me, the changes in building products in the last 10 years. These doors are only 1 3-8ths inch thick, steel on both sides, and MUCH lighter than the panels they’re replacing. They also have a much higher insulation rating and look great.

I figure that if I keep working on improving the house with little energy-saving features, I could save an additional 5-10% per year. Look for an upcoming winterizing post!.

Technorati : electric bill, insulation, save money