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Garage Door Basics You Should Know Before Buying

According to Cambuild Luxury Home Builders, buying a garage door is a significant investment and valuable addition to your home or business. That’s why it’s always better to read up on a few basics about that critical financial choice; especially when that decision also involves your buildings long-term esthetics. Below is some useful information that will help you to make the best choice possible on a garage door before you decide on a final purchase.

Garage Door Materials

The most popular garage door materials on the marketplace are wood, steel, and lightweight aluminum frames with colored glass panel options. Fiberglass is a standard low-cost material that’s molded into many faux finishes.

Wood: Quality wood veneers have taken the place of solid wood garage doors in most cases due to veneer wood’s lighter weight insulated cores and vastly lower price as compared to solid wood doors.

Steel: Modern innovations in patterned steel faux finishes and engravings have enabled steel garage door panels to match most simulated wood patterns and colors. This option provides a garage door that looks like wood but is without the inherent problems of wood such as swelling and rot in wet weather conditions. By using veneer, the slow heaviness of solid wood doors along with extensive maintenance costs involved are also avoided.

Aluminum: This lightweight material has all of the inherent advantages of steel as far as rust resistance and economic price-range without all of the heaviness of steel garage doors. Although aluminum can be easily dented or bent compared to the strength of steel, aluminum does offer many other options due to its lighter weight; one example of this is an extended-length colored glass-paneled garage door using lightweight aluminum frames.

Fiberglass: This economical choice for a garage door material offers the consumer a durable molded construction that’s thoroughly insulated and has many faux wood patterns from which to choose. Fiberglass is highly weather and corrosion resistant which makes it a great alternative to the problems that come along with using actual wood to manufacture a garage door.

Insulation Ratings

R-values measure the insulating capabilities of a garage door. The R-value rating is alongside the dimensions posted on the garage door. The higher the R-value registered on the door, the higher the door’s insulating abilities. Poor insulation in a garage door can account for increasingly higher power bills, especially when dealing with older models that need insulation work.  Or replacement with a door that has a higher R-value.

Security Ratings

Garage door security levels in the industry are tested to determine their level of standard. Standard loss Prevention (LPS) ensures that a garage door has passed a rule of tests that gauge the garage door model’s resistance to break-in attempts. Existing local, state and federal laws determine the manufacturing standards.

Security Product Add-Ons

Your front and back doors in a modernized house can have smart capabilities, multiple high-tech locks, alarms, etc.  All of these security add-ons can be included with your garage door as well. Your garage door is one of the most vulnerable access points in your house when it comes to intruders and thieves. Many garage door security add-ons can be easily found at local hardware stores or through gate and garage door specialists.

Garage door shields attach to the emergency opening mechanism to block access to the emergency release from the outside ( Wedging open the garage door side and using a coat hanger to engage the emergency open lever). Garage door shields are inexpensive and easy to install. Cons – This product is usually not compatible with older style garage doors such as roller doors, canopy doors, or side-hinged garage doors.

Garage door alarm systems like Frontpoint, Vivint, ADT, and many others all offer add-ons for your garage door that includes it in the whole house’s security system. Adding your garage door to your house security system is highly recommended, especially if you’re already paying a monthly security monitoring fee. It’s better to be safe and spend a few bucks more a month than to be very sorry after a devastating break-in.

Garage door windows offer ambiance and light to your garage door, but unfortunately, clear glass windows on a garage door give prowlers a perfect way to inventory your stuff for immediate or future theft. We recommend using frosted or colored glass garage door windows that will still bring in light but will also help to block unwanted prowling eyes from peering into your garage.

Garage door timers shut your garage door for you when you forget to on one of those busy workday mornings. The garage door timer will automatically close your garage door for you after a predetermined amount of time. A garage door timer can divert a potential disaster. It has your back on forgetful days or nights when you leave your garage door open; protecting you from one of those terrible “Did I leave the garage door open” moments similar to the old “Did I leave the burner on” panics that everyone has most likely experienced at one time or another.

Three essential tips to think about before purchasing

  1. Factor in the potential uses that your garage door is going to have. Usage determines a garage door’s estimated lifespan. The higher the garage door use, the larger the garage door rating must be.
  2. Choosing an automatic opening system or a manually opened garage door will make a big difference in the price of the garage door and the installation costs. Automatically opening garage doors may cost a bit more, but in high crime areas and cold or rainy climates they are well worth the extra money.
  3. Shop around online and in person to properly research a garage door retailer so that you can get a full picture of how professional they are and be able to personally make sure to view important contractor documentation such as licensing insurance, and bonding credentials.

Looking to install a garage door for your New York City-based business or residence? Get in touch with New York Gates at 718-614-0616. They’re the Five Boroughs top professionals in the security gate and garage door industry. They also have the best guarantees on gate and garage door installations, plus, provide expert consultations.