Insulated garage door?

rubble2

Our detached house was built about 20 years ago so is reasonably well insulated and easy to heat, it does however have an integral garage with a bedroom above and this room is noticeably cooler than the rest of the house (unsurprisingly).

The garage has no windows and no access direct to the house, just a standard up and over door. Given the lack of other sources of cold air and the fact that the garage is integral so all of the walls are of cavity construction with cavity insulation it seems to me that in order to improve the temperature of the room above we should address the major source of cold air in the garage i.e. the up and over door.

So, is it possible to replace what is a bog standard new build up and over door with something better insulated and with better draft proofing but still maintaining unrestricted access to the garage space for storage etc. (don't park car in there)?

Appreciate any thoughts.

stuart45

You can get insulated garage doors, but even though it's a relatively modern house, it's worth checking the insulation and draft proofing have been done properly.

molerat

What is the ceiling of the garage like ?  It was not uncommon for them to be poorly insulated.

LittleMax

Based on our experience in our last home (built in 2012) with a bedroom over a carport, I would certainly change the garage door for an insulated one.  Just putting an insulated door on one end of the carport made a considerable difference for us.  Our installer recommended one by Teckentrup (came in cheaper than the more widely known Horrman) and we were very pleased with it.

FreeBear

molerat said: What is the ceiling of the garage like ?  It was not uncommon for them to be poorly insulated.

Just insulating the garage door does little to reduce the heat loss through the ceiling, you'll still have a cold space sucking out the heat. Depending on the construction of the garage ceiling, I'd be inclined to insulate that area - A suspended ceiling (probably cement board for fire resistance), either lift the floorboards and fill the void with plenty of fiberglass/rockwool, or take the ceiling down and do it from underneath. Solid concrete (block & beam ?), fix insulated plasterboard to the ceiling. The thicker, the better.

rubble2

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate that insulating the door is probably not the whole solution to the cold upstairs room but I was thinking of putting a new door on anyway and if using an insulated door helps to eliminate the major source of the problem then I feel that it is worth doing as a first step.

No doubt further measures as needed will follow as required.