Winter is fast approaching. And it’s usually the time of the year when we get to experience harsh weather conditions such as bitter cold and storms, heavy snowfall, icy rain, and strong winds. The harsh weather conditions during the winter season can easily cause damage to your home, including freezing water lines and pumps. As such, it’s always best to prepare your home ahead of time for the long, cold season. And the best way to ensure your comfort and safety throughout the cold season is by winterizing your garage. 

A well-insulated garage can help protect your car and costly equipment inside your garage as well as significantly reduce your home’s heating costs throughout the winter season. Here are some of the best ways to protect your garage in the winter.

How Do I Keep My Garage From Freezing? 

Some of the best ways to prepare your home’s garage for the long, cold season and save huge on heating costs include;

• Install New Weatherstripping

Weatherstripping usually becomes brittle or wears down over time, leading to air leaks and cold drafts. So, it’s always best to check the weatherstripping on your garage window and door for cracks or broken parts. If you find any worn-out or cracked parts on your garage’s weatherstripping, consider having them fixed or replaced with new ones immediately.

For your garage door, be sure to correctly measure and install your new weatherstripping so that it creates a secure seal. This will prevent cold air from getting into your garage while also allowing the proper functioning of your garage door. It’s also advisable to replace your weatherstripping after every five years, which can help winterize your garage door.

• Insulate Your Garage Walls

Besides replacing worn-out and old weatherstripping, you may also consider insulating your garage walls and door to help retain the warm air inside. Keeping your garage toasty warm can be beneficial, especially if you use your garage as your home gym or workshop, so you won’t freeze while busy working or exercising.

Ensure you use the right thickness that matches that of your walls and follow the instructions carefully when replacing the insulation on your garage walls. Fiberglass batt is often the most recommended insulation material for garage walls during the winter season. Not only is it affordable but also durable and easy to install by yourself. It’s also effective at keeping cold air out, which helps improve your home’s energy efficiency and thermal performance during the cold season.

• Insulate Your Garage Door

On top of installing new weatherstripping, it’s also great to insulate your garage door to reduce the likelihood of heat loss further and ensure your garage remains warm throughout the winter. To ensure proper insulation of your garage door, consider using insulation materials such as foam boards, fiberglass, and reflective barriers. Your insulation material should perfectly fit your garage door panels and be adequately secured using an appropriate adhesive to ensure it stays in place.

However, if your garage door is over 25 years old or has dents, you may want to invest in a new garage door to save on heating costs. This is crucial as old doors tend to lose their insulation over time. Find a newer garage door model with insulation, so you won’t have to add insulation after installing it. A new garage door will help improve your home’s energy efficiency and add curb appeal.

• Install a Garage Heater

Apart from weatherstripping and installing insulation, installing a unit heater is another excellent way to keep your garage toasty warm during the winter. It’s also a superb way to heat your garage with minimal construction costs and space requirements. The good thing is that there are many types of heaters out there. If you’re looking for a cheaper and incredibly easy-to-operate heater, consider getting a gas heater.  However, gas heaters are usually quite challenging to install since they require an exhaust venting and gas supply. 

Electric heaters, on the other hand, are more costly yet easier to install and more reliable. This makes electric heaters more effective at heating your garage during winter. Apart from helping keep your house warm, a garage heater can also help melt off any ice accumulated on your garage door, ensuring the proper functioning of your garage door at all times.

• Waterproof Your Garage Floors

During the winter, road deicers, road salts, snowmelt, and other debris usually attach to the bottom of your vehicles and later get deposited on your garage floor. This creates a messy sludge on your floor and can potentially damage your concrete. 

One of the easiest and quickest ways to protect your garage floor from winter is using containment mats. These mats help collect snow melts, road salts, and other debris deposited from your vehicle so they won’t damage your garage floor. They also help insulate your feet from the cold concrete floors.

If you want a more permanent solution, you may want to apply a finishing coat such as an epoxy coating or one made of liquid stone. This will give your floor a nice, clean finish, creating a barrier that prevents hard salt, caked-up mud, and road slush from getting from penetrating through your concrete floor.  This will also ensure a better grip and provide extra traction for your vehicle.

• Create Ventilation

With snow and ice melting off during the winter months, you should ensure proper ventilation of your garage to allow moisture to escape through evaporation without condensing on the doors and windows. Proper ventilation is particularly crucial if you have a heater in the garage because heat will cause excess condensation.   Add at least two vents to your garage walls for adequate ventilation.

Should I Leave My Garage Door Open in the Winter? 

In winter, it’s not uncommon to find many homeowners leave their garage door open, especially when warming up their vehicles in the morning. While it sometimes makes perfect sense due to gasoline fumes, leaving for garage door open for too long can make adjacent rooms to your garage feel drafty and cold, which can significantly increase your cost of heating. Also, open doors allow snow and debris to blow into your garage, making your floors messy and rusting anything made of metal.

Is it bad to leave your garage door half-open?

While leaving your garage door half open can help vent some air; it may not be a good idea since even the smallest gap allows the warm air inside to escape. This will cause your heater to work harder to keep your garage warm, which ends up increasing your energy bill. Besides, leaving your garage door slightly open puts strain on the garage door system and, over time, causes your door to stop working. It also reduces your garage door’s lifespan.

Work with a Garage Door Company Near You

Are you looking to winterize your garage and want a reliable company that can help with your garage door repairs and maintenance or installation? Look no further. At Whitaker Garage Doors, we’ve been offering the best garage doors in the market for Putnam residents and the surrounding counties, including Westchester, Rockland, and Fairfield counties, since 1949. Since inception, we’ve earned an enviable reputation for providing top-of-the-line quality products and services to homeowners.

Contact us today, and we’ll be more than happy to help you prepare your garage for the long winter season. Whether it’s regular garage door maintenance or want a new garage door, we’ll ensure your garage door keeps you warm all winter long.

If you are looking for quality wooden garage doors near Rockland County, look no further than Whitaker Garage Doors. The wooden garage doors near Rockland County that Whitaker Garage Doors has to offer will provide you with numerous benefits, including the fact that they can be custom designed to fit your garage. There are lots of different pattern and design options available with wooden garage doors near Rockland County, so you will be able to get exactly what you want without any issues.

These days more and more homeowners have started to get wooden garage doors near Rockland County installed on their garages because they add a beautiful and unique aesthetic that isn’t seen with most garages.

You will find that the wooden garage doors near Rockland County provided by Whitaker garage doors are also very durable and sturdy, so you can count on yours to last a very long time. Repairs to wooden garage doors near Rockland County is generally inexpensive, so, should you ever have a problem with your garage door, you won’t have to pay very much to get yours fixed, especially if you purchase your wooden garage doors near Rockland County from Whitaker Garage Doors, as we are just as skilled at repairing garage doors as we are at installing them. Wooden garage doors near Rockland County can make your garage look a lot nicer, which is one of the many great things about these doors. There are many different types of wood to choose from when it comes to these types of doors, so it is important that you know what your options are. Finally, wooden garage doors near Rockland County tend to last much longer than other garage doors and do not crack like vinyl.

This unique provider of wooden garage doors near Rockland County is a family owned and operated business and prepared to completely consider your homes unique needs and provide top quality repair, replacement or maintenance for your garage doors. To contact Whitaker Garage Doors give us a call today at: 914-962-9873.

We provide our clients with top quality garage door improvement projects at an exceptional value. Beautiful garage doors — both custom and stock — provided by Whitaker may be seen throughout this Web site. If you don’t see something specific you want that is fine too because we will work with you to design garage doors that meet your specific needs.

Please take a moment to browse through our Web site to learn more about our products and services. Selecting the right garage door is an important part of maintaining a desired exterior look for your home.

Real wooden garage doors near Rockland County are naturally beautiful. The products created by Whitaker garage doors possess a level of craftsmanship and class that no other material can match. Not only that, but we offer you the ability to custom design your wooden garage doors near Rockland County to perfectly complement your home’s architectural style and make your home the envy of the neighborhood.

Your home is an extension of your personality; the décor of your home should reflect your style. Whether your tastes tend toward the elegant or a classic country look, a custom garage door can bring a higher level of curb appeal to your doorstep. Many homeowners reside in their homes for many years and make changes in paint color, roofing and landscaping as needed to revive the exterior beauty of their property and to elevate the home’s value.

A custom-made garage door can achieve the same results by drawing the eye to a feature of your home that is not often noticed. The Henry B. Whitaker, Inc. Garage Doors company, has a large inventory of custom garage doors that vary widely in style and price range, providing you with an easy and affordable option for sprucing up your home. Garage door styles can accentuate the architecture of your home and a larger landscaping plan.

For example, paneled doors can emphasize the structure of your modern home, while frosted or antique glass denotes elegance and grace. Custom garage doors that are crafted to match the trim on your porch and windows give your home a unified look that catches the eye from street level.

Exterior enhancements to your home do not need to be outgrageously costly; a small change can increase your property value significantly. Consider a custom-built garage door.

While your home is your most important investment, nothing speaks to your regard for your second greatest investment, your automobile, more than a quality garage door. While older homes are often equipped with shoddy manual doors that have long been victims to neglect, weather and Father Time, many sub-contractors of new homes have a habit of skimping when it comes to garage door installation on new construction projects.

The latter can often result in a new home saddled by an unreliable, inefficient, noisy and unsafe garage door that can be difficult to operate and mar the exterior appearance of your home.

Since low-grade or antiquated garage doors are built from sub-par materials, the doors themselves or parts of them can yellow, rust, warp, chip and crack over time. The result can be a downgrade on the entire exterior apperance of your home, making your garage a blight to the entire neighborhood.

The garage door experts at Henry B. Whitaker take into consideration all these factors when custom designing garage doors for your soon-to-be-built home or crafting a fix your your garage door replacement project. The experts at Whitaker consider all facets of your home’s exterior design to offer you a garage door solution that re-imagines your garage as not a forgettable addendum to your home but as an extension of its architectural integrity.

Sooner or later, a worn out garage door needs repair. A broken garage door doesn’t just look unsightly and reduce property value, it can be dangerous. This is one reason it’s important to do an annual check on the condition of your garage door. Engage the services of a professional garage door consultant to do this. Our experts provide a thorough review for safety purposes as well as assess potential problems that occur with older model garage doors.

Let The Experts Assist With Problems

Increased Curb Appeal
If you are thinking of selling your home now or in the future, a new, insulated garage door can increase buyer interest. Because the garage door takes up such a large amount of space on your home, it is one of the first things that potential buyers see and can make or break a sale. If your garage door is old and battered, you have lost the chance to make a good first impression.

A new garage door can add greatly to your home’s appeal and raise the possibility of a quick sale.

Lowered Heating and Cooling Costs
If your garage is climate-controlled, an insulated garage door is necessary to prevent heating and cooling loss. Even if you don’t heat or cool your garage, an insulated door can lower your heating and cooling bills. If there is a large difference between the temperature in your garage and the temperature of the rest of the house, your utility bills will rise significantly. The insulation in your garage door can reduce heat flow – in or out – and help reduce the temperature difference between the garage and the interior of your home. This will decrease the amount you pay each month to heat or cool your home.

Increased Security
Insulated garage doors are by their nature harder to break into than garage doors without insulation. The extra layers reduce the possibility that someone will be able to break into your home. Even if you are insured, insurance payments do not always completely cover the cost of new items to replace your old ones