topic Re: Garage Doors in Home

Garage Doors

Abrowneyegirl — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 01:56:38 GMT

Hello All,

We are in the market for new garage doors.

Any tips, suggestions, thing to consider when shopping?

Thank you!

Re: Garage Doors

Catiele — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 02:23:51 GMT

Buy good ones from a good company. We did and it was worth it.

Re: Garage Doors

RedTop — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 02:45:53 GMT

@Abrowneyegirl,

My husband installed garage doors and openers before he became disabled. His advice was to buy a quality door; Cookson is his favorite brand and is what he installed on our home. He does not like the brand Wayne Dalton, which is one line carried by Lowes.

He says you want a hot dipped galvanized metal, insulated door that works with torsion springs. He chose solid doors for us; no glass inserts, because of the initial price for the special order glass insert, as well as high replacement cost if the glass gets broken. He felt we'd be replacing a lot of glass thru the years, and made the decision for solid doors.

Our doors are white, and still look great after 13 years; they have never been painted. My husband never recommended anything but white or almond to his customers, because the colored doors are more expensive, and the color starts fading in no time. Red, green and brown are quite popular, but the customers who did choose to special order a colored door, did find themselves painting the doors in a few years, just as he predicted.

My husband has been out of this work for many years, but estimated a 9 x 7 ft door to run at least $500, and a 16 ft door to run $900+.

Hope this helps.

Re: Garage Doors

Mominohio — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 02:47:43 GMT

It depends on what you need, if your garage is attached or not, and how visible your door is from the road or the front of your house, security issues, what kinds of things you might want to consider.

If your garage is not attached, you don't really need an insulated door, if you are looking to trim the budget. Insulated doors are more critical on an attached garage, to help keep the house warm.

Windows or not? Do you need light in the garage or does it have lots of windows and lights? If you want additional light, windows in the top of the garage really help to brighten up the inside. Windows can slightly weaken the security of your garage. If you don't want anyone seeing what is inside, you may not want windows.

Style. Be sure it matches the house and the color as well. I see so many garage doors that are totally incompatible with the house color, and it looks bad.

I just got a new garage door after 20 years of an ugly ugly door. I waited until I could afford the very best, the style I always wanted, insulated, windows extra hardware etc. It is attached to the house so the look/style was important, the insulation was important, and windows were important because we had no way to see out that side of the house before.

Re: Garage Doors

labloverrr — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 02:48:55 GMT

Agree, buy a good one. Depending on the weather where you live you may want to get it insulated. I bought one last year and I only use my garage to store and park my car, I'm never in it long, since it was a substantial cost to have insulation, I opted not to get it. Mistake on my part, even though i'm not in in the garage long, when it's cold it's really cold and when it's hot it's really hot. I had decorative window paneling on the top tier and I'm really happy with that.

Re: Garage Doors

Abrowneyegirl — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 03:14:00 GMT

@RedTop wrote:
@Abrowneyegirl,
My husband installed garage doors and openers before he became disabled. His advice was to buy a quality door; Cookson is his favorite brand and is what he installed on our home. He does not like the brand Wayne Dalton, which is one line carried by Lowes.

He says you want a hot dipped galvanized metal, insulated door that works with torsion springs. He chose solid doors for us; no glass inserts, because of the initial price for the special order glass insert, as well as high replacement cost if the glass gets broken. He felt we'd be replacing a lot of glass thru the years, and made the decision for solid doors.

Our doors are white, and still look great after 13 years; they have never been painted. My husband never recommended anything but white or almond to his customers, because the colored doors are more expensive, and the color starts fading in no time. Red, green and brown are quite popular, but the customers who did choose to special order a colored door, did find themselves painting the doors in a few years, just as he predicted.

My husband has been out of this work for many years, but estimated a 9 x 7 ft door to run at least $500, and a 16 ft door to run $900+.

Hope this helps.

Thank you this helps a lot! Fortunately we need white doors to match the trim. Prices have changed a bit, for a decent quality 7 ft wide door we are looking at $1200.00 a door. DH wants to consider glass panes in the top panels, but I think the additional $300-$ 600 a door may deter him. I have yet to get the install costs.

I have a few appointments upcoming.

Thank you again.

Re: Garage Doors

labloverrr — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 03:30:41 GMT

My window inserts are not glass, I didn't get glass for the expensive that would have to be put out if they were broken. Not, sure what mine are made out of, plexiglass maybe (really not sure) maybe that's an option you can look into.

Re: Garage Doors

labloverrr — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 03:31:16 GMT

My window inserts are not glass, I didn't get glass because of the expensive that would have to be put out if they were broken. Not, sure what mine are made out of, plexiglass maybe? (really not sure) maybe that's an option you can look into.

Re: Garage Doors

AuntG — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 12:15:08 GMT

Windows are so much nicer because they allow more light in. Our previous home had windows(sunrise pattern)in the garage door, but our current one is solid and I don't like it. I wouldn't want a painted garage door because ours faces south and would fade.

Re: Garage Doors

Abrowneyegirl — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 12:33:43 GMT

@labloverrr wrote:
My window inserts are not glass, I didn't get glass because of the expensive that would have to be put out if they were broken. Not, sure what mine are made out of, plexiglass maybe? (really not sure) maybe that's an option you can look into.

@labloverrr Good point I will look into all options for the windows. I know glass is the least expensive but in the end after replacements it maybe MORE expensive.

Thank you

Re: Garage Doors

Snoopp — Sat, 21 Jan 2017 00:44:15 GMT

Any other brands that you recommend? I'm ok with no windows.