Garage Door Thresholds
The garage door threshold is an often overlooked problem area in a garage. Since the door is designed to open and close and is often spring mounted and motor driven, a seal is essential.
Garage Door Thresholds
If you have insulated your garage and especially insulated the door, the major source of energy loss is going to be the garage door thresholds. This is the entrance area to the garage and most specifically refers to the area where the door meets the garage floor. Very rarely will the garage door fit evenly and tightly against the floor of the garage threshold.
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There are several reasons why a good seal can not be made here. Often the concrete floor of the garage is uneven. In other cases the door itself may not be completely level. Another problem is the fact that the doors are usually spring tension mounted in order to easily open or close them. When the doors are operated by an electric motor, the forward motion is controlled by open limit and closed limit switches. Even when these limit switches are set perfectly, there is likely to be a small gap between the bottom of the door and the threshold.
The limit switches will often allow even a bigger gap over time as they move slightly out of alignment. The resulting gap will allow heat to leave, cold air to enter, and even critters of various kinds to make their way into the garage to make a home. The solution to the garage threshold issue is a threshold seal. A typical garage door seal is about a three and a half inch wide strip of a material such as heavy duty vinyl polymer that bonds to the garage floor at the exact spot where the door meets the floor.
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The sealing strip is generally no more than half an inch in height to prevent a tripping hazard, but this seal is sufficient to create a weatherproof, debris proof, and critter proof barrier. Garage threshold seal kits are available in different colors and sizes. The material is always very easy to install and usually uses a cement bonding agent to adhere the strips to the garage floor.
The garage door threshold seal is so inexpensive and easy to install that there is absolutely no reason any garage with a door should be without one. The seal not only prevents debris and critters from getting into the garage under the door, but provides the even more important function of completing the insulation of the garage. The savings from lost heat will recoup the cost of the seal in a short time.
