A steel garage door will come in three ways single layer, double layer and three layer. Single layer door is called a pan door or non insulated. Two layer construction is basicly like a non insulated pan door but has styrofoam insulation with a vinyl backing and are sometimes called vinyl back doors. Three layer construction consists of a steel front with insulation and a steel backing and sometimes called steel back doors. Steel back doors come in 2 different thickness 1 ½ and 2 inch.

insulating value or R-Value on garage doors

The best insulating value or R-Value on garage doors will be a 3 layer door with a thickness of 2-4 inches. The thicker the insulated door the more R-Value you will have. As far as what is better insulated or uninsulated garage doors. The 3 layer insulated doors will usually come with a little bit better warranty than the other types of doors. If your garage has some sort of climate control you would want to get the most R-Value out of your garage door. If you live in regions with extreme weather than you would probably want an insulated door. If you live in regions where the weather isn’t too hot or too cold during the year than a non insulated door will be fine. Also a three layer garage door makes a lot less noise when operating over the life of the door.