Whether you’re buying a new home or renovating an existing one, a new garage door is an excellent way to breathe new life into the exterior of your home. Many people only replace a garage door once in their lifetime, so it’s important to find one with the perfect mix of style, function and affordability.
To help you out with this challenging process, we’ve put together a guide on choosing a new garage door, which includes an overview of garage door styles and tips for garage door shopping.
A garage door is a prominent part of your home’s exterior and a great opportunity to boost your home’s curb appeal. With the countless door styles available today, there is a door out there that will match your home and reflect your personal tastes. At King Door, we offer the following types of garage doors for residences:
Raised-panel doors are great for those seeking a classic, clean look for their home’s exterior. These garage doors feature raised rectangular panels that are symmetrical. King Door sells two Clopay collections with raised-panel doors:
Contemporary garage doors are a great way to provide modern or mid-century modern homes with a functional, clean appearance. Some contemporary Clopay collections sold at King Door include:
Carriage house garage doors, which are also called “barn style” garage doors, have a rustic, distinctive appearance that often perfectly complements mission or Craftsman-style homes. It can work with many other home styles as well — it just depends on your tastes and the existing decor of your home. Check out some of the Clopay garage doors that feature this style:
Keep the following five factors in mind when shopping for the perfect garage door:
Think about the style of your house. Is it traditional? Contemporary? Modern? King Door offers garage door designs for many styles of homes. To figure out which style is best for your home, consider the following useful examples:
The variety of garage door styles today is almost overwhelming. New door designs come out every year to meet the growing demand and varying tastes of today’s homeowners. Browse King Door’s large selection to get an idea of the many customization options you can choose for your door.
Garage doors come in a number of different materials, each of which comes with pros and cons. We’ll briefly go over what each one offers and offer tips on how to compare your options.
Steel the most common garage door material, and it’s not difficult to understand why. It’s affordable, durable, requires little maintenance and comes in almost any style you can imagine. You also have the option to paint it, and it comes with textures that closely resemble wood.
When you’re picking out a steel garage door, there are two potential disadvantages that you should definitely keep in mind. First of all, steel does not insulate well, so buying an insulated steel door is a good option for conserving energy and dampening noise. Second of all, be aware that the steel panels vary in their thickness, with more economical doors having thin panels with 27- or 28-gauge steel. Although affordable, these doors are susceptible to impacts from basketballs and other objects that may hit them.
A lower gauge number indicates thicker steel. Midlevel garage doors are typically made of 25- or 26- gauge steel, and the highest quality doors use steel that is 24 gauge or lower. Commercial-grade doors use steel that is even thicker. Some doors feature steel that is thicker on the exterior and thinner on the inside.
Aluminum doors are similar to steel doors in many respects, including their options for longlasting finishes and faux wood texturing. Aluminum, however, weighs less and costs less but is more vulnerable to dents.
The first material ever used for garage doors, wood is still a popular material today for those who prefer a more traditional look. Wood doors are available in a vast array of styles, including designs with windows.
The most affordable options are wood with flat, painted hardboard panels. Doors with stained woods are more costly, although the warmth offered by natural wood can significantly boost a home’s curb appeal.
Wood insulates more effectively than steel, but insulated steel doors are better at conserving energy. Wood doors, unlike steel, require regular maintenance and refinishing.
Composite garage doors are made from wood fibers that have been recycled. They are as strong as steel and have the appearance and texture of wood and can be painted or stained. Composite doors also resist splitting and rot better than doors made of real wood.
Glass garage doors, which are one of the less common options, feature panels encased in aluminum frames and are more resistant to dents than thin steel doors.
Glass is lightweight but insulates poorly and is known to fade from exposure to the elements.
If you’re like most homeowners, you’d like to spend as little time maintaining your door as possible. Wood doors, although beautiful, require extensive maintenance every other year as well as periodic sanding and a new coat of stain to protect the wood. Metal doors, on the other hand, feature baked-on paint exteriors and galvanized steel parts, so they’ll never wear or need a new coat of paint. Metal doors also largely unaffected by fluctuations in the weather, meaning they can be used for many years.
When it comes to buying a device as large and important as a garage door, you want to get your money’s worth. If you’ve narrowed your options down to just two doors, but one is considerably more expensive than the other one, ask yourself why. Be sure that you know what you’re getting with the higher price. And be aware of what maintaining the door with cost — sometimes, going with the less expensive door isn’t actually cheaper long-term option because of the increased maintenance it requires. Ask your dealer for a list of pros and cons for each door to ensure you have a complete understanding of what you’re getting.
Bakersfield is no stranger to extremely hot weather, with summer temperatures often reaching into the upper 90s. If your garage is attached to your house, then we strongly recommend buying an insulated door, especially if there is an occupied room above your garage. It will both reduce noise and lower your cooling bills.
Also, think about the direction your garage door faces. If it spends much of the day getting baked by the sun or blasted by strong winds, an insulated garage door will better help regulate your indoor temperature.
Even though most garages don’t have air conditioning, your garage door still has an impact on the energy efficiency of your home. Garage doors made today provide a better seal against your home’s facade, meaning they are better at keeping out the elements.
If you live in or around Bakersfield, California, and are in need of garage door sales, installation, maintenance or service, King Door has all of the above. In addition to the many garage door services we provide, we believe our business is exceptional for the following reasons:
If you’d like to schedule a service, please fill out our digital form and one of our representatives will be in contact with you promptly. You can also call us at 661-397-2744. We’re open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Don’t settle for anything less than the best when you need residential or commercial garage door installation, service or repair in Bakersfield, CA. Get in touch with the team at King Door Company, Inc., With the Pride of a Lion™.
