Why You Need a Garage Door Weather Seal
When was the last time you checked the weather seal around the edges of your garage? If it’s been awhile since you checked it, or if you’ve never checked it, now is the time to take a look.
If you have an older home, you might not even have a garage door weather seal and that could be costing you money and leaving your property at risk. Adding a garage door weather seal is a relatively small home repair but it makes a huge difference for homeowners.
What Is A Garage Door Weather Seal?
A garage door weather seal is made of sturdy pieces of vinyl that go around the top, bottom and sides of the garage door. The tight fit seals any gaps that are left between the garage and the door and protects the interior of your garage.
Sometimes homeowners can have gaps as big as a hand in between the door and the garage depending on how well the garage door fits and how well it was installed. A weather seal will close those gaps.
Weather seals are made from strong and sturdy vinyl that’s made to last but eventually they’ll need to be replaced. Over time, the seal will get worn down from closing onto the cement floor when the garage door is shut and the weather and elements can break down the seal as well.
Check your weather seal around the garage door regularly. When you see that your weather seal is cracking, sagging or not sticking tight to the garage door frame anymore, it’s time to replace it.
You should also check the frame around the garage door. If the door frame is damaged the weather seal can’t stick the way it should, you’ll need to repair the frame before replacing the weather seal.
There are a lot of benefits that come from having a garage door weather seal and keeping that seal in good condition. We’ll go over them in detail below.
It Protects Your Vehicles
Your vehicles are an expensive investment and you should do everything that you can to keep them in good shape. You probably wash and clean your vehicles regularly to make sure they stay in good condition.
Replacing your weather seal is one more thing that you can do to make sure that your vehicles look great and stay in good working order. A weather seal will prevent dust, pollen, and debris from blowing into your garage and sticking to your vehicles.
When it rains or storms a weather seal will prevent water that pools in the driveway from leaking into the garage and reaching your vehicles.
It Protects Your Garage Door
Garage doors can be very expensive to replace and install, especially if you have a multi-car garage. Over time, the motion of opening and closing the garage door can cause serious damage to the integrity and structure of the door because the bottom of the door is repeatedly hitting the concrete floor of the garage.
Adding a weather seal to the bottom edge of the door will protect the door from the impact of hitting the concrete on a daily basis. That will make your garage door last longer and save you a lot of money as well as the frustration of having a garage door that doesn’t work the way it should.
To Protect Your Stuff
A garage door weather seal also will protect the boxes, tools and other items that you have stored in the garage. Without the weather seal, the cold air, hot air, water, dirt, pollen and debris that’s outside can end up inside your garage.
If you store clothes, furniture or other household items in the garage, they’re at risk for getting wet, growing mold or bacteria, getting eaten by pests or suffering other damage from being exposed to the elements.
Even though you might think they’re safe in the covered and closed garage, if you don’t have a garage door weather seal, your items aren’t as safe as you want them to be.
To Make The Garage a Livable Space
More and more homeowners these days are expanding their living space to include the garage. Homeowners are using the garage as a man cave or workshop, turning it into a playroom for the kids, setting it up as a media center or home theater, using it as a sewing or crafts studio, setting up exercise equipment to create a home gym or using that space for lots of other activities.
Using the garage as a livable space is a smart way to create more useful space, especially in homes that have a small footprint.
If you’re going to use the garage as a living space, you must have a garage door weather seal in order to make the garage actually livable. A solid weather seal that fits all the way around the garage door is the best way to control the temperature in the garage and make it a comfortable area.
If you have heating and cooling in the garage a tight weather seal will help lower your energy bills by insulating the garage and not letting cold or warm air escape through the gaps between the garage wall and the garage door. A weather seal will also keep the cold air in the winter and the hot air in the summer from leaking into the garage.
Installing a weather seal will also help reduce noise and keep the noise from inside the garage from leaking out into the neighborhood. If you’re using the garage as a workshop, man cave or home gym keeping that noise low by using a weather seal can help keep the peace in the neighborhood.
If you want to use the garage for any kind of activity or as extra space you definitely need a very high quality garage door weather seal to help make that possible.
It Helps Keeps Pests Out
Another reason why homeowners should always have a weather seal around the garage door is that it keeps pests out of the garage.
Roaches, ants, spiders and other insects could head into your garage as a way to get out of the sun, to find water or as a place to ride out the cold winter. Plus, if they’re not paying rent they shouldn’t be living there.
If you want to keep your garage free from insects a tight weather seal will close off any gaps that could let insects and pests into the garage so that you won’t have to worry about freeloaders living in your garage and getting into your things.
A garage door weather seal will also help keep out bigger pests like squirrels, skunks, possums, and other wildlife that might try to get into your garage looking for food or water or trying to get into bird seed or the garbage if you keep trash and recycling bins in your garage as many homeowners do.
Garage Door Weather Seals Are Important
So as you can see it’s very important that you have a good garage door weather seal to protect your home and your stuff. Check your weather seal today and get it replaced if it’s in bad shape or have one installed if you don’t already have one.
If your garage door has taken too much abuse and a weather seal isn’t enough to solve the problem, it may be time for a replacement. In such a case, you can trust Feldco for the best garage door replacement in Chicago. Get a free quote now and see why so many homeowners choose us.
