Choosing A Garage Door

Garage doors are a huge investment and it is worth putting some time and effort into decided what you want from the door to ensure that you spend your money wisely.  The style, colour and material that the door is made from are all factors that will affect both the appearance and the functionality of the door; this article provides an overview of how to consider these things with respect to how you want your door to be.

Style  

Never underestimate how much of the exterior of your house will comprise of the garage door; you must be sure that the door will compliment the design of your house, not clash with it.  Much of the style of the door will be based in the type of panels that are used to create it; flush panels are flat and won’t draw too much attention to the door, whereas raised panels will add depth to a door, making it an eye-catching addition to the house.  Some garage doors also have windows built into them, further personalising the appearance and allowing natural light into the room.  It should be pointed out that windows do tend to reduce the insulating-quality of the door unless they are double-glazed.

Colour

The colour of the garage door is integral to the design and style, but can also affect the longevity of the door.  Where dark colours are a popular choice, they do tend to absorb more light than light colours, and hence can cause the door to warp prematurely.  If your door spends a lot of time in direct sunlight, it is highly advisable to go with white paint.
It is also recommended that, in the case of steel doors, the colour should be baked on by the supplier of the material – not painted on by the door manufacturer.  

Materials

Most garage doors are made from wood or steel, though steel is the more popular choice.  Wooden doors are available in a variety of painted or stained woods and add class to older houses, upon which modern steel doors might look out of place.

Steel doors are available in a wider variety of colours and are often cheaper than wooden doors due to the efficiency with which they can be made.  Single layered doors are simply stamped from a single sheet of galvanised steel, making them the cheapest and most common kind of garage door – ideal for simply covering up the space.  Double layered doors add a layer of polystyrene or polyurethane behind the steel, providing extra insulation and soundproofing.  

The strongest and most secure kind of door is the triple-layered steel door, which adds a further layer of galvanized steel inside the door, to protect the insulating polystyrene/polyurethane layer.