Whether you are a new homeowner or looking at home improvements, a new garage door can bring a fresh lease of life to your homestead. The garage door is an important part of the exterior façade of your home, making it imperative that you invest wisely as a good garage door helps boost your overall property valuation too!
TYPES:
In general, here in the United States, three types of garage doors are most commonly used – single panel, sectional and roller doors. All three of them differ in how many sectionals they are split into which further determines how they move.
Single panel doors are single rigid doors that will lift up at an angle. Roller doors on the other hand have many sections and will roll up like a yoga mat would. The most common doors are sectional doors with 5 to 8 sections and it rolls up and lay flat.
The door you choose will depend on space availability and other similar factors.
MATERIAL:
The second important consideration for a garage door is the material. Garage doors can be made of wood, aluminum, steel, fiberglass or vinyl.
For wooden doors, Cedar, Redwood or Firwood is utilized most often as they are fairly low maintenance. Aluminum doors offer rust-free protection; however, they tend to dent easily. Steel doors are the toughest as well as heaviest of the lot. However, depending on humidity in your area, they do tend to rust easily. Fiberglass doors eliminate concerns related to rust or denting but tend to break easily upon impact. Vinyl doors are considered safe for kids as they do not rot, rust, dent or break easily.
Recently, a fast growing segment is insulated doors as they are an excellent choice for extreme weather as well as help save energy!
OPENERS:
Once you have chosen the kind of door and material, you will need to pick an opener system. Your choices are Chain Drive, Belt Drive, Direct Drive and Jack Shaft.
This is the mechanism that helps draw up your garage door and thus it is important choice depending on the location of your garage door as well as frequency of usage. For example, if your garage door lies under a bedroom, you may want to invest in a quieter motor.
The chain drive is the most commonly used motor and is also the easiest to repair. Belt drives on the other hand are quieter than chain driver but also slightly more expensive. Direct drive is the quietest and also the most expensive of the lot. Jack Shafts are the rarest openers as they are utilized in unique situations where garage doors cannot be mounted on ceilings due to space availability or similar factors.
Finally, whether you are looking for a new garage door or affordable garage door replacements, these are some of the most important questions that you will need to answer. We recommend reaching out to Garage Door Doctor to help you choose and install the perfect door for all your needs. If you reside in Houston in the Katy, Cypress, or Tomball areas, call us right NOW!
