How often do you take a look at your garage door? I mean really take a look at it? If you're like most of us, you simply push the little button and open your garage door, never thinking twice. Or maybe you go out and lift the garage door, but still, if you're like most of us, you probably don't pay close attention to what is going on with the garage door when you open it. If you don't pay much attention to the garage door, you probably don't know what an R value is, or why it's important.

In any home, an R value will tell you how well something insulates. There are "guns" that you can get which measure the R value in your home, showing what areas of your home are well-insulated, and which ones are not. The higher the R value is, the better your home insulates.

The insulation in your home is extremely important. If your home is not well-insulated, you may lose a great deal of heat, which can cost you anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars every year. If you're someone who uses your garage a great deal, especially if you use it to do wood working or fixing machines, you will want to ensure that your garage door is very well insulated. If your garage door is not insulated, you will lose a great deal of heat in your garage.

If you have a room above your garage, and your garage door has a low R value, you may be losing heat from that room as wall. Many homes have a garage underneath the top floor, and normally this is not a problem. If you have a garage door that has a low R value to it, however, you may find that the room directly over the garage door is extremely cold, even if you have it carpeted. This is because heat is escaping from the garage door and cold is getting in, which is almost impossible to combat. In order to ensure that the room above a garage door stays warm, it is vital that you have good insulation, and a garage door that has a good R value.

What type of numbers should you look for when it comes to the R value on a garage door? The rule of thumb is the higher, the better. If you find a garage door, for instance, that is thick, the R value might be as high as 6.5. If, however, you find a lower priced garage door that is made with inexpensive materials, the R value might be something like 4.3. While the numbers may not seem that different, they are. With a garage door R value of 4.3, you would be letting a great deal of cold into your garage. When you're shopping for a garage door, look for one that has a high R value so that you can keep your garage well-insulated.