Garage Weather Sealing 101
The garage is a standard feature in most homes across the world and has been since the late 1950`s. The material that was initially used to construct the doors for these structures was steel. Steel is an extremely weighty and robust material and, therefore, kept out even the extremist of elements without any problems. During the 1980`s the price of steel began to rise quite drastically.
This caused housing developers to look to newer cheaper materials to use for the doors. These included wood, aluminum and ever some fiberglass composites. All of these were cheaper but just did not have the strength and ability to keep the weather out as much as their steel counterparts did.
Instead of moving away from steel, fewer amounts were used. This made the doors slightly thinner and lighter thus bringing the cost down. Apparently, this slightly reduced their ability to withstand extreme weather conditions, so they began to be fitted with a garage door seal. This inventive development is fixed at the base of your garage door to create an airtight seal that blocks out severe rain, snow, and wind.
If you are to fit a garage door weather seal, you will find that the vast majority of them are made from aluminum. This lightweight and versatile material is perfect for the job. However, you may, find an odd garage door seal formed from thick plastic. This also performs the job extremely well. Aluminum and plastic are ideal for creating garage door seals.
As with the door insulation itself, there is a broad range of different bottom seals available on today’s market. There are also many different outlets that will provide you with these items. It is wise to do a substantial amount of research before picking out your door. This piece of equipment essentially defines the style and look on the front of your home. Once the door is chosen you can choose your garage door seal too.
You can either buy these from a local home improvement store or online. Both will offer good value prices and delivery. This is paramount for such a big item. It is advisable to purchase both pieces from the same supplier so that they can install them at the same time. Once completed, you will have a weatherproof and great looking garage.
How to Find the Right Garage Floor Weather Seal
A garage weather seal is designed to prevent the free movement of air through the base of your garage door. It is, therefore, no doubt that installing a garage floor weather seal will make a significant difference in the amount of hot and cold air flowing into the garage. This will definitely translate to major savings in repair for appliances. Garage weather seal are made for severe weather, but then lighter varieties are available for those only concerned with the energy efficiency and energy usage of the garage.
Remember to include striping and brush lining. Sometimes the door does not touch the floor, and the weather seal may leave significant areas around the bottom corners of the door open; therefore, a few inches of the brush stripping on the corners solve the problem.
Combining a brush lining, stripping, and seal yields the best results, even for a garage door that has seen better days. To begin with, find a good floor seal and then move on to the details of rubber and brush stripping. Ideally, these items can be purchased at the same time, but the stripping that comes with the garage doors is sometimes substandard. In any case, all these components are necessary to eliminate the loss of time and energy.
A garage floor weather seal not only increases the livability of the garage but also lengthens the life of your tools and prevent nature from finding its way into your home. In addition, using the right sealing material saves a lot of energy.
How to Install the Garage Door Weather Seal
If you have noticed that your garage is colder than usual, then this might be caused by the space beneath the door. The heat from your house can easily escape using this tiny space, but it can also be fixed very easily as well by terminating the space. This can be done by using a weather seal and will allow you to reduce your heating bills and have a more comfortable garage.
The process is very easy - even for a person that is not as handy as they would like to be! All you will need is a garage door weather-strip kit which will usually come with the nails, but if not you can use roofing nails for the same conclusion. Besides the garage door weather-stripping, you will also need a tape measure, pencil, and a hammer.
First, you need to ensure that you open your door so that you can reach the bottom of it. Remember the seal should create a substantial barrier against the air and elements. This barrier consists of glues, sealants, stripping, and the non-adhesive under door seal.
Next, measure the width and breadth of the door. Usually, when you buy a garage door weather seal you will find that it comes in two sizes; ten or thirty feet. You may need to cut the extra length with scissors, so this is why you need to measure first!
Third, you should remove any previous stripping that the door has along the edges. This can be done by using the end of a hammer to take out nails or by using a screwdriver to take out the screws. Next, you need to measure to the center of the garage door by measuring the width of the door and dividing that number in half.
Make sure you mark the center with your pencil, so you do not forget! Then, lie out all the nails so that they are evenly spaced. There is no need to measure this part, just make sure they are all spaced out equally. Next, lay the garage door weather stripping out along the garage; remember to make sure that you do not cut anything just yet.
Start on the right side of the door and work your way over to that it meets the left side of the door. Then, you can get your scissors out and trim off the extra length. Last, you would place the nails or screws into the garage door. This should allow you to have installed the garage door weather seal so that no more cold air gets into your garage.
