If you are reading this, chances are that your garage door is no longer effective as a garage door, or you are in the process of finishing up your new home and are at the part where you need to invest in a garage door. There are things that most people overlook when choosing garage doors and they never realize it until it’s too late. Let this not be you. Here are things you should pay attention to when investing in your new garage door so that you get things just right and to your satisfaction.
Effective and Convenient Material
Most people do consider the material their garage door is going to be made of, but few consider what it will cost them to invest in a garage door made of such kind of material. The most common materials are steel, aluminum, and wood. There are other materials like fiberglass and composite woods. All these materials have their merits and demerits.
For instance, steel is durable and provides a lot of options for decoration but it can dent and, considering its nature, its dents are not easy to fix. Aluminum is rust-free, but it dents too easy. Wood doesn’t dent easy but depending on the craftsmanship, it can be high maintenance. According to Barmac Garage Door, when buying a garage door, consider the material you want yours made of and what it will mean to you in terms of maintenance.
Something else to consider is the drive. The drive is essentially the mechanism that enables your garage door to open and close when you need it to. Common drives are belt drives, screw drives, and chain drives. Screw drives demand frequent lubrication, belt drives that operate on rubber belts are silent, and chain drives are the loudest and most affordable.
Aesthetics
It is also common for people to overlook how well their garage doors fit with the rest of their house. This is mostly in terms of color. This can be a common problem because men are the ones who are most likely the ones who will be dealing with garage doors and most men couldn’t care diddly-squat about how well the color of their garage doors goes with their houses. As long as there is a garage door, most men will be contented. For aesthetic purposes, it pays to invest in garage doors that agree with the color and style of your home or one that can be easily customized to match the rest of your house. Also, consider the general design of the garage door.
Garage door windows are also an aesthetic and convenience consideration. They will make your garage door stand out since not many people consider them and they will let in natural light to make your garage livelier. Natural light in the garage will save on electricity during the day and will make the garage a place people can even spend time when the garage door is closed during cold weathers.
Insulation
If you intend to be using your garage as a place for other businesses other than keeping your vehicles, you’ll find garage doors with insulation invaluable during winter and summer. R-Value is the scale used to determine the insulation of a garage door. If you want something reliable that will maintain a steady temperature and eliminate as much outside noise as possible, look for something with a high R-Value. And don’t mistake the thickness of a garage door for good insulation, the key word here is, ‘R-Value’ – that’s what will tell you how effective its insulation is.
Safety
Accidents happen. People often think there is no one in the way and they close the garage door only to hear someone shouting, “Ouch!!!”. Or you close the garage door and then suddenly you remember that your kid is on the outside and you are on the inside of the garage. So you try to stop the thing just before it closes completely and your fingers end up paying the price. To ensure safety, ensure that your garage door has a reversal function that will automatically make the door reverse when it encounters any form of resistance. That way, you will be able to go get your kid even the door was almost closing, and the person you hit earlier with the door won’t shout so loud because it didn’t hurt that much.
The above are the four things that most people overlook when buying garage doors. It happens often because people mostly think of having a garage door but they don’t consider how it will impact their daily lives. But you won’t be one of them. Now you know the important things to pay attention to when investing in a new garage door so that you get it right the first time.
