How to Pick The Right Garage Door

When choosing the perfect garage door there are a variety of considerations including overhead garage door sizes, panel styles, materials, colors, and window options. From basic stock to custom designs, you have a range of options.

Basic considerations include material, style, and price. Below are some tips for choosing the right garage door from the Bob Vila Blog.

When selecting a garage door for your home, the list of questions includes basic material, style, and price.

There is a range of options and prices for garage doors, starting with the basic stock offerings and moving up to architecturally designed custom doors. The wood you select, the quality of the insulation, the glass inserts, and the panel style will all impact the purchase price of your garage door. Of course, you can pay bargain basement prices for a garage door that will only last a few years – Or break out the checkbook for a craftsman’s $10,000 work of art.

With a little homework, however, you can find the best door for your home while staying within your budget. Here are some general guidelines for what to expect when you go shopping.

Stock Doors

No matter the material you choose, a basic garage door comes without significant panel design and without glass. From there, each upgrade will impact the cost of your door. Whether you install it yourself, the degree to which you customize your selections, and the materials you select, will determine whether your door is on the low, medium, or high end of the spectrum.

Semi-Custom Doors

In the mid- or semi-custom range, customers begin to select among panel styles, glass inserts, and designs. Homeowners select from a kit of styles to create the door that best suits their home. In this range there are more wood types available, six or so panel designs, and different levels of glass inserts and designer-look glass options. Wood doors in this range may be hemlock, on the low end, or cedar or mahogany at the upper end.

Custom Doors

The high end of garage doors can go from custom colors, finishes, panel designs, grooved panel faces, insulation, and top-quality materials, up to architectural design. Many companies refer to this level of wood door as a carriage house selection. These doors are made of high-quality woods, carry longer guarantees (up to five years for some), and are intended to enhance the design quality of the home. Plans for the garage doors can be drawn architecturally and submitted to the company. There are also a number of companies that provide wood carriage house doors with a variety of panel and glass options. Many of these design showrooms can be toured online. Installation costs vary, as do guarantees on workmanship, parts, and materials. High-end steel doors are double-faced with steel inside and out, with insulation sandwiched in between. More often than not, high-end steel doors feature injected foam insulation, superior insulation value, and soundproofing.

Need help choosing other elements of your perfect garage? Check out our other blogs:

Choosing the Right Lighting For Your Garage

How to Choose the Right Size Garage

How to Choose the Right Garage Door Material

If you are looking for a new garage door, Blue Sky Builders, Inc. can help design, create, install and service your new door. Blue Sky Builders, Inc. services and installs quality garage doors, openers and parts for your garage. We offer a wide variety of overhead garage door sizes, panel styles, materials, colors and window options. Please contact us if you have any questions.