If you’re the typical homeowner, chances are you haven’t shopped for a garage door in awhile, if ever. If maintained properly, garage doors generally last the lifetime of your home and new ones are not typically needed unless you’re building a new home or doing major renovations.
If you find yourself in the market for a new garage door, however, the options can be mind blowing.
Styles
There are three main styles of garage doors on the market:
Traditional Raised Panel – Considered an American classic, this is the most common style of garage door, featuring a repetitive panel design and sometimes windows at the very top.
Carriage House – Carriage house garage doors are designed to mimic the carriage house doors of yesterday. This style of garage door sometimes has an arched top or sometimes iron latches, handles and hinges can be added to enhance the antique style.
Contemporary – Contemporary garage doors are characterized by their bold geometric style. Unique combinations of materials are sometimes used, including glass and aluminum or wood and zinc.
Materials
The following are the two main types of materials used in garage doors today:
Wood – Wood is the traditional material used for garage doors. It resists wear and tear pretty well, but requires periodic painting or staining. Modern wood doors generally carry a warrantee of just one year.
Steel – Steel is the most common material used for garage doors. Steel does have a tendency to dent but you can have the door sealed in fiberglass to make the surface stronger. Warrantees for steel doors can start at 10 years.
