How to Make Your Garage More Eco-Friendly

Most of us tend to move through our lives recycling, attempting to embrace public transport and choosing locally-grown produce while also wondering if we’re doing enough. While a truly sustainable lifestyle might seem out of your reach, we can take small steps that collectively add up to make an impact. Below, we offer three ways you can make changes in your garage that will have a lasting effect on your carbon footprint, however small.

Improve lighting efficiency with Windows and Energy-Efficient Bulbs

Smart lighting is energy-efficient, long-lasting and surprisingly low-cost.

Fast taking the place of energy-sucking fluorescent lighting, Smart bulbs and light strips not only use minimal energy, but they do their job efficiently and provide an opportunity to light your garage however it serves you best. Add a smart bulb to your garage, then operate it via voice assistant or mobile phone. Better still, instal two smart bulbs to utilise them as motion sensor lights. A light strip can be cut to size and mounted on workbenches and other places requiring good light. Smart lighting strips operate similarly to a smart bulb. Failing the smart option, LED bulbs produce plenty of light using little electricity, and they last for years.

Above, left: Newport; right: Camden. Both images courtesy of Garador Christchurch.

Windows in the garage do have the advantage of letting natural light enter the space, but they also show the contents of your garage to anyone peering through them. High windows have the ability to capture light for longer periods than low windows, and a good spot for a window in the garage is high up on the garage door, where it can admit natural light while being inconvenient for anyone to look through.

Garador's Sectional Garage doors with window options include Newport, Allegra, Camden, Aspen,  Grange and Statesman.

Insulate, insulate!

From a sustainability point of view, an insulated garage needs less energy to reduce heat transfer into and out of the garage itself and doesn't draw as much heat into and out of the rest of the home. That equates to eco-efficiency and less cost over time. Walls joining the house to the garage get insulated as a matter of course in most attached garage situations. The case for insulating outer garage walls is not as strong unless you intend to spend a lot of time in the garage or use the garage for another purpose down the track. If you have the means to do it, insulated garage walls all around will give better energy efficiency to not only make the garage a more comfortable space to be in but to reduce energy loss from the rest of the home.

Don’t neglect to insulate the ceiling of your garage, especially in single-storey buildings. As we all know, heat rises, so trap it in with an insulated ceiling to prevent heat loss and have a more eco-friendly result.

One ‘wall’ that we highly recommend insulating is the garage door. When you consider the size of a garage door, it can make a huge contribution to heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer if it’s not properly insulated. At Garador, we use quality EPS insulation for our garage doors. It’s infused with graphite to absorb infrared energy and reflect heat. High-purity graphite particles infused into the cell structure give the insulation a reflective property and a distinctive dark grey colour. The acoustic qualities of our insulated series also provide a shield against noise entering and/or exiting your garage. As an added bonus, an insulated garage door is quieter in its day-to-day operation than an uninsulated garage door.

Upgrade your garage door

Garador's garage doors are made in New Zealand using local steel.

With its frequent opening and closing, the garage door allows cold air into your garage while it lets heat escape. As detailed above, an insulated garage door is an eco-friendly and energy-efficient choice for your home. Choose a garage door made in New Zealand from locally-sourced products to further reduce your carbon footprint.

At Garador, we're always seeking ways to improve our impact on the environment. We recently swapped out white paper packaging to brown on our opener and accessories boxes and switched to a more sustainable, biodegradable, recycled cardboard packaging design for our remotes and wall buttons. Goodbye to clear PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and hello to reduced waste and packaging that's actually easier to work with, so we can better inform our customers of potential safety risks.

Gaps, uneven ground and poorly-sealed garage doors also contribute to energy loss in your garage. Ensure gaps are sealed and repair dents to your garage door quickly so as to minimise the effects. Garador's garage doors include a soft and pliable weather seal across the bottom. The weatherseal helps to stop cold air, leaves and rain from coming in under the door while reducing heat loss from inside. The weather seal also helps to keep your garage floor clean.

Tip: Another door in your garage that might need attention is the door leading into your home. If it’s not properly sealed - or if it is frequently left ajar - your efforts to maintain an even temperature will be less effective.

Make contact with the friendly team at your local Garador Dealership today, and they’ll walk you through the best options for insulated garage doors and sustainable garage options. You can also book a free, no-obligation measure and quote using our online form.

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