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Guide to Buying a New Garage Door
There are fourteen garage door manufacturers in the U.S. A daunting task for any homeowner to wade through. After all, name fourteen manufacturers for any other appliance you may consider for your home. Kitchen appliances, bath fixtures even new flat screen televisions, you’d be hard pressed to find even seven. Here’s an easier way to sort through the garage door offerings available.
Door Material
Door Components
Door Manufacturers Made Easy
A Wise Shopper
Realize there are several considerations in choosing a new or replacement door.
- DOOR MATERIAL: The garage door industry is dominated by steel doors (made to look like wood) and wood. Your decision should be based on the following:
- Your Budget.
- Cost of the door versus your home’s value. Compare to other homes in
your price range.
- Curb appeal. Will the new door greatly enhance the look of your home?
- Does it improve the livability of your garage and any rooms above?
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- DOOR COMPONENTS: As the pictorial shows there are several components for you to
understand what you’re buying.
- Torsion or extension springs: Relax, whatever your door and garage ceiling dimensions are above the door opening, will determine which one. Chose a reputable dealer/installer and you’re decision is made. But ask the installer what the advantages are or both and why one is being installed versus another. Listen and ask which will give you better trouble free service.
- Track: If you wish to dress up this component, improve the clean looking aspect of your garage, consider having the tracks powder-coated a color. Powder coating the tracks allows you to have a color that ties into your garage and you lose the ugly galvanized steel hanging from your garage ceiling.
Door dealers can coordinate this or simply find a powder coating (usually found in the Business to Business Yellow Pages under Powder Coating or Coatings – protective) shop of your choice and deal direct. Just have the installer drop off the hardware at your home and have the powder coater pick up and deliver back to you. Figure less than $150 per door or less depending on color choice.
- Hinges: If the door hinges are not powder coated, consider doing the same color as the tracks. Very smart looking and again will stay new looking for just about forever.
- Rollers: You want either steel rollers or nylon with steel ball bearings. Nylon rollers will be quieter for any living spaces above the garage.
- Sections:Know what both the outside and inside of the garage door will look like. Insulation factor should be discussed here with your dealer. R factors are important, the higher the number the better. Insulating an attached heated garage is an energy saving step considering the number of BTUs lost whenever a garage door is opened during heating season.
- Seal: A two piece seal is best. An aluminum track with a rubber or vinyl seal inserted serves best to keep moisture, dirt and small rodents out and heat inside. The two piece arrangement also allows for the rubber or vinyl piece to be easily replaced.
- R Factor: Different materials produce a range of insulating R factors ( the gauge of how well a material insulates), as well as soundproofing and how quiet a door travels up and down.
Polyurethane insulation is blown in between the door’s walls and fills the door’s inner cavity. This method achieves R factors between 12 – 18.
Polystyrene insulation (think inexpensive ice chests or coolers). This material is applied to the back side of the door. The material provides an R factor of between 5 – 10.
- Wind Load: Little know fact, in high wind conditions of tornadoes or hurricanes, an inferior garage door that fails starts a chain of events that causes damage throughout the house. For complete details call The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at 1-800-480-2520 and request publication #FIA-22 Building Performance: Hurricane Andrew that struck southeast Florida August 24, 1992.
Regardless of your home’s location and vulnerability to storm’s with high winds, this is the number one reason to hire a reputable garage door installer. Don’t cut corners on installation costs. It is one thing to have your garage door fail, trapping your car in your garage and quite another to have the door blow off the track during a severe storm and compromise the rest of your home.
- Appearance: Obviously a personal decision regarding colors, finish, raised or recessed panels, windows or no windows. However, a garage door without at least a raised or recessed panel, looks like the door should be on a storage locker, not a home. If your home value is well above the median home price, consider the curb appeal a new door will add or detract from your home’s value. Thought should also be given that most homes with attached garages are entered through the garage, give yourself a lift when you pull out or in your drive with a door you love to see.
The big buzz in the garage door industry is the “Carriage Door” look. Cross bucks and hardware add-ons to make the door look like it is an old time carriage house door. Spend time before you spend the extra expense. Carriage house doors come in both wood and metal.
- Size consideration: If you are planning on building new, consider the type of vehicle you’ll want in each bay. SUVs, pick-ups, cars with cargo boxes or other sports gear on top should be measured and factored in the garage door heights to consider. For colder climes, single garage doors offer the ability to retain more heat When the door is used versus 2-car width doors. If your drive and garage configuration allows for an easy in and out, think strongly about single car doors versus a 2-car door. Energy costs are only getting more expensive.
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DOOR MANUFACTURERS MADE EASY
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A WISE SHOPPER
Select a garage door supplier based on your comfort with the local dealer / installer, the style, quality and cost of the door. Consider getting two or three dealers to visit your home and provide you with firm quotes.
Realize that garage door manufacturers do little direct to consumer advertising. Clopay as the largest, does some and also uses The Home Depot chain as another channel of distribution for a small selection of their doors. Wayne-Dalton does the same with the Lowe’s chain.
Local garage door dealers are the manufacturers “face” to the public. Doors on new homes are usually the builder using a low cost supplier that meets the local building codes. Stated another way. If you own a 10 -15 year old spec home (the builder built on speculation that someone would eventually buy it), with the original garage door in place, then what you have is a door that was the lowest quality allowed by your local building department. These type of doors are not well insulated, quiet or add the most curb appeal to your home.
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To contact the writer of this article email: info@americangaragemagazine.com
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