Usually homeowners replace their garage doors out of necessity because it is either broken or has deteriorated beyond repair. In the case of our horizontal door systems, now people are also replacing their door because they either want more function out of their garage, want to take advantage of the design flexibility our horizontal doors offer or just because, well, our doors are just plain cool! But where do you begin when selecting your horizontal garage door?
Consider composition first
The first thing to do before making any decisions on a garage door is to take a little time to read about the material and complexity of the different panels as each has its own functional and care implications. You might be asking yourself right now why that is important so let me explain. Garages are not only used for parking our cars but are also used as workshops, man caves, home gyms or simply a hangout spot. With that said, an insulated garage door can keep your garage warmer in winter and cooler in summer and the higher the R Value, the better the results. Heck it can even help keep adjoining rooms more comfortable in particular if you have a bedroom above your garage.
I care, I care a lot
Your next consideration is all about care. How much time do you want to spend maintaining your garage door? Don’t get me wrong, even though our gorgeous Artisan wood doors require more maintenance than, let say our steel doors, we are not talking about a lot of time. Depending on your environment, an annual checkup on your door is critical but I think once in the spring and once in the fall is best, a bit more often if you are fortunate enough to live near the beach. In addition, read your warranty especially if you are purchasing an Artisan wood door as there is important information you need to be aware of in order to maintain your warranty, in particular for new construction. Oh, and, please don’t use a pressure washer on your garage door. It’s just bad; that’s all I can say.
Size matters
Our doors are available up to 14 feet high and 24 feet wide. You can even put two together for a total door width of 48 feet! Yes I know most of us have garages made to standard widths and heights but if you are going to replace your existing door, you might want to consider raising the header on your garage and if you’re building a new home, definitely enlarge the opening as larger garages are trending therefore adding to resale value. One upside is (there are several by the way) that you get more room to move the cars in and out as who among us hasn’t clipped the side-view mirror at one time or another?
Style me up
A big consideration of course is the design of your door. Although not exactly glamorous, your garage door is a very large blank canvas that has a definite impact on your homes overall aesthetics right? When we installed the first horizontal garage door on our home, we wanted a clean, sleek look and wanted the color to match our existing trim on our home. Yes that probably sounds kind of bland given what we do but we have a lot of exciting plans to glam it up with our new frameless glass door and interchangeable acrylic doors in the near future! But for the meantime, we have a V-Groove door that we painted it ourselves and we love the contemporary look. After all, real style is never right or wrong, it’s a matter of being yourself on purpose.
So regardless of whether you are into traditional, contemporary or modern design, we probably have a door panel that suits your style and if we don’t we will find one! Just look around our site to become knowledgeable about the doors we offer to include the DIY package and the features that are available or simply give us a call to discuss your project.
Until next time,
Amy
