An old or broken garage door can be a hassle and a safety issue. Purchasing a new garage door is an essential investment in your home’s curb appeal and safety. There are various garage door design options available to accommodate your budget. Choosing a New Garage Door may be daunting, but we are here to help.
But if you’re thinking about selling your home or just trying to add some curb appeal, replacing your old door is a great way to go. Research has shown that it will help your house stand out in the neighborhood and deliver a significant return on investment when it comes time to sell (up to 100 percent on average, according to REMODELING magazine’s 2023 Cost vs. Value report).
Choosing a New Garage Door
Things to Consider for Garage Door Replacement
Consider garage door maintenance: There may be a problem with the track, opener, or springs. In many cases, the garage door itself is to blame for the problems. If your garage door is shaking, squeaking, or not level, it might be time to invest in a new one.
View The Appearance of Your Garage Door If the color is faded or the door is cracked, it may be taking away your home’s curb appeal. Cracks in the door might take in moisture and expand over time, creating bigger and bigger cracks.
Since a garage door covers so much of your home’s exterior, investing in a new door is essential for appearance and your home’s safety and security.
There are more choices than you think, especially when factoring in materials (steel, fiberglass, vinyl, wood), styles (modern, traditional, carriage house), energy efficiency (insulated or non-insulated), options (windows, decorative hardware), and colors. Follow these steps to make sense of it and find the garage door system that best fits your home’s architecture.
Select the Right Style
Upgrading your garage door will enhance the visual appeal of the garage and the entire exterior.
Traditional Garage Doors:
A Popular style as their characteristic features squares or rectangles running horizontally across the door with or without windows. These doors can be painted to match a variety of home exteriors, and they pair well with traditional architecture.
Any number of garage door designs complement these homes. View our VInyl, Traditional Steel, and Impression Fiberglass and Steel Collection if you favor a traditional style. Our Courtyard and Carriage Collection and Signature Carriage House Wood Collection have beautiful options for a more rustic style.
Modern Style:
These homes often have flat rooflines, are asymmetrical, and may feature several materials on the home’s exterior. Other styles included in this category are Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern.
The Contemporary panels in our Thermacore Steel collection offer a modern look with a high R-value for houses where the weather may be more extreme. Modern Aluminum garage doors feature a mixture of materials with aluminum frames and glass panels. Our new Envy™ Model 9980 is the ultimate in modern and sleek, with frameless glass panels for a mirrored finish.
Carriage house garage doors:
This style combines the old-fashioned, rugged look of a barn door with the modern convenience of an overhead garage door. While this style of door fits well with a variety of types of architecture, its rustic look nicely complements traditional, old-fashioned architecture. View our Courtyard and Carriage Collection and Signature Carriage House Wood Collection, which has beautiful options for a more rustic style.
Farmhouse-Style:
There is no set style for today’s farmhouse homes. Some homeowners have found modern styles complement their home’s lines best, and others stick to the tried-and-true carriage house styles. View our beautiful Modern Garage Doors, our Courtyard and Carriage Collection, and Signature Carriage House Wood Collection, which has beautiful options for a more rustic style.
Materials:
One of the most essential elements to consider is door material. All doors are not created equal, and each material used in construction has pros and cons.
Steel is the most common and least expensive of the materials and comes in various styles and colors. Steel doors are some of the most accessible doors to insulate, providing homeowners with maximum insulation to keep comfortable temperatures inside where they belong.
Fiberglass is durable, best suits warmer climates, and is not recommended for windy or coastal areas. Another important consideration is that you can’t repair fiberglass. The only option is to replace the door.
Aluminum resists corrosion and rust and will work well in a region where moisture is an issue. Aluminum is corrosion-resistant, lightweight, easy to customize, and less likely to warp, crack, or rot than wood doors. It’s also good at withstanding exposure to UV rays without fading or deteriorating.
Vinyl is a relatively new garage door material. It is durable and offers low maintenance.
Wood: Wood doors are beautiful and solid and can be custom-designed to perfectly complement your home’s architectural style. However, they require routine maintenance and can be more expensive than other garage doors.
Insulation:
If your garage is adjacent to any living space, such as a bedroom, bonus, or living room, it’s a good idea to choose an insulated garage door; it may help to keep those rooms more comfortable, especially if you live in a climate with extreme winter or summer temperatures.
Also, insulated doors tend to have quieter operation, keep the garage warmer, and are a great way to reduce your energy costs and improve your home’s overall energy efficiency. Our Thermacore Insulated Steel Garage Doors offer up to 17.50 R-value.
Other Option: Garage Door Designer
Try painting the garage a lighter or darker shade to accent your home façade. Also, try matching your garage door color to your shutters or front door to complement your home with a refreshing new aesthetic. Whether your house is new or older and whether you want accent colors or updated doors, improving your garage door can boost your curb appeal and home value.
Overhead Doors™ brand offers many design options, or if you have a specific vision, you can even design a custom door to your exact vision. Visit Garage Door Designer, our online interactive software tool that lets you visualize what your home would look like with a garage door from Overhead Door™. This visualizer tool is built for the most common garage door sizes to help you visualize your dream door, but it does not cover every possible size we produce.
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Overhead Door Company of Southern California™ – 12215 Kirkham Road Suite 200, Poway, CA 92064
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