Modern garage doors come in a huge range of types and styles. Choosing the right type and style is important for improving the curb appeal and overall appearance of your home. While determining which garage door is best for your home isn’t always easy, here are some important factors to consider that can help you make the right choice.
Consider the Architectural Style of Your Home
When deciding which style and type of garage door you want to install, the most important thing is to choose a door that matches or complements the exterior of your home. A traditional or panel garage door is often the best choice for many homes since this type of door can complement or blend with many different architectural styles. This is especially true for many homes built in the mid to late 1900s and also many homes built more recently. Traditional style garage doors typically have the widest range of colors and finishes, which makes it easy to find the perfect option that matches your home and your personal style.
If you have an old or new Victorian or colonial-style home, you may instead want to consider a carriage house door. This type of door offers a classically elegant appearance that can perfectly complement a colonial home and many other architectural styles as well. Many also have large windows at the top that let in light and add to the door’s overall aesthetic appeal. Some doors in this style are made of real wood, but there are also numerous options that are made of steel and then finished to give the appearance of wood. This provides the door with a more traditional look while also ensuring it is extremely strong, durable and low maintenance.
Carriage house doors are designed to look like the much older type of garage doors, which had two separate doors that swung out instead of opening upwards. You can still find modern carriage house doors like this that swing out. However, most models just have one or two handles in the middle and sometimes faux metal hinges on each side. These features make carriage house doors provide the appearance that they swing outward, but most actually still open upward just like all other modern garage doors.
The final option is a modern-style garage door. As the name suggests, this is usually the best choice for homes with more modern features and a sleeker, modern or contemporary architectural style. Modern-style garage doors often have much more unique features like stylish metal finishes and large or offset windows that provide lots of additional character. Most modern doors are made of either aluminum or steel, but you can also find solid wood doors or metal doors with a handsome wood finish.
Decide Which Material Is the Best Choice
While style is definitely important when choosing a garage door, you should also consider what material the door is made of. The most common materials for garage doors are steel, aluminum, vinyl and wood. Each type has a few specific pros and cons in terms of factors like price, strength and durability, maintenance and longevity.
Aluminum and vinyl garage doors are usually less expensive. This is especially true compared to wood doors, which almost always cost far more than any of the other options. There is no doubt that a wood garage door provides a beautiful classic look. Wood doors are also quite strong, but they have much higher maintenance requirements since they regularly need to be sanded, refinished and resealed. Wood garage doors are also quite prone to warping, cracking or rotting over time. This is why many people instead to choose a wood composite door, since composite doors are less prone to these issues and will often last longer than real wood.
The main issue with aluminum is that it isn’t all that strong and can get dented or damaged more easily. Vinyl doors typically offer the best impact resistance and are less prone to scratching and denting compared to either aluminum or steel. While vinyl can get scratched, you won’t be able to see any scratches as easily since the vinyl is the same color throughout. With a steel or aluminum door, any scratches in the paint or finish will be quite visible.
Wood and steel doors weigh the most, which helps to make them strong and durable. However, you may need to have a larger, more powerful garage door opener if you choose to install either a wood or steel door. With a larger motor, you’ll often end up hearing more noise inside your home any time the door gets opened and closed.
Insulated vs. Uninsulated
This factor isn’t so much about style, but quality and energy efficiency. If you have an attached garage, we would almost always recommend choosing an insulated door if you can find one in your preferred style and color. Insulated garage doors are pricier than uninsulated doors, but the benefits they provide typically make them well worth it.
In places with hotter winters or colder summers, an uninsulated door will usually lead to your air conditioning or heating bills being higher. This is because lots of air can get through an uninsulated garage door and lead to the garage being extremely hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. Even if the walls between the garage and the main part of the home are well insulated, some of the heat or cold will still typically seep inside the house. Even worse is if you live in a hotter climate and have any rooms above your garage. In this situation, all of the hot air that collects near the garage ceiling will end up making the rooms above the garage hotter and less comfortable.
One other thing to consider is that double-layer and especially triple-layer insulated doors are much thicker than uninsulated doors. This has the benefit of making the door much stronger, which can help it last longer and make it much more resistant to damage.
Size, Location and Number of Windows
Windows can add a whole lot of character to a garage door, but they can also have some drawbacks. One is that the windows in some garage doors aren’t all that well insulated and thus can contribute to the issues we discussed in the previous section. This is one reason why it’s important to choose a high-quality garage door since it will likely have better-insulated windows.
Garage door windows are usually made of thick, tempered safety glass that won’t break if someone throws a rock at it or tries to smash it with a hammer or other item. Nonetheless, safety glass can still be broken if you know what to do. This means that the windows could allow burglars a way to get into your garage and then possibly into your home. That is why many people opt for a garage door with smaller windows that would be nearly impossible for someone to climb through. Having the windows at the top of the door will also make it harder to break into your garage since someone would need a ladder to climb through the broken window.
Your Trusted Professionals
At Door Pro America, we’ve been providing exceptional garage door installation, maintenance and repair services since 1971. We serve customers throughout the country including in Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Washington and Oregon. We offer a wide range of traditional, modern and carriage house doors, and our team can assist you in choosing the right style and type for your home. To learn more about all of your options for a new garage door, contact us today.
