How to Choose a Garage Door

Style & Look

The look of modern garage doors ranges from ultra-contemporary aluminum and glass to doors that fit right in on a 100-year-old carriage house. The easiest way to narrow your options is to consider the overall style that will work best with your house. For example, rectangular raised panels often match the longer horizontal lines of a ranch house, and decorative hardware like pulls and hinges can easily create the look of a swing-out door.

Material

Steel garage doors are by far the most common material. Compared to wood, steel is lower cost and much lower maintenance. Steel sections can be stamped with a wood-grain surface on standard raised or wainscot panels, making them look like a painted wood door. Insulated steel doors provide the highest R-value and longest warranty of any material. Steel doors can be dented, which is another reason to consider an insulated door — insulation sandwiched between the outer and inner steel surfaces creates a significantly stronger construction. Also note that our Courtyard Collection® of steel doors provides all the benefits of a steel door with the look of a wood panel door.

Wood doors are beautiful, and a wood garage door matched to a wood front entry door can be stunning. Generally, they are the most expensive and do require maintenance. Plan on having them refinished every couple of years. When maintained properly, they will stand up well over time. They will not dent like a steel door, but they can split and crack.

Fiberglass doors are relatively new. They are typically used to provide a stained-wood look with low maintenance. They will not dent like steel doors and are priced between wood and steel doors.

Aluminum doors provide a very contemporary look with windows in each section.

EcoBuilt® Doors

For a green alternative, consider EcoBuilt Doors engineered from Douglas fir, resins, and sealers to produce a wood-based door that has the look, feel, and sound of a wood door. These composite doors are made from 100% recycled wood fiber and use a minimum of 88% recycled content.

Particle Board Doors

We don’t recommend particle board doors — they do not hold up. They are inexpensive flat-panel doors that are very susceptible to water damage, and for that reason we do not recommend them for use here in Minnesota. They are particularly susceptible to soaking up water and blistering. They can work in a shady area in the desert southwest, but not in the rain and snow we get in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Color

Color is obviously one of the most important visual components of your garage door, and the good news is that with most doors you can easily get the color you are looking for. Wood, steel, and our EcoBuilt® doors come in a variety of standard colors but can easily be painted to any color you desire.

Consider matching color highlights on the garage door in the same way they are used on your house. For example, paint the bracing on a carriage house door to match the window trim, and paint the rest of the door to match the house color.

Windows & Window Trim

Windows not only bring natural light into your garage — they can also really help make your garage door fit your house. A good place to start is to match the windows on the house. Many options are available, including a classic multiple-panel look or sunburst styles.

Thermal Efficiency

Another advantage of steel doors is that when insulated, they provide the highest thermal efficiency of any doors. Our Thermacore® doors provide R-values up to 17.5. (The higher the R-value, the better the insulation.) Here in Minnesota, if you have an attached garage — and especially a tuck-under — you will want to consider a Thermacore door.

The high thermal efficiency is made possible by a continuous layer of foamed-in-place polyurethane insulation sandwiched between two layers of rust- and corrosion-resistant steel. This process squeezes the insulation into all of the edges, creating much better insulation than glued-in-place sections. These doors also feature between-section seals that provide added resistance to air infiltration, as well as bulb-type bottom seals that guard against wind and rain. Choose from raised or flush panels, or combine the energy efficiency of Thermacore® with the carriage-house styling of Courtyard Collection® doors.

Summary

  • Panel style: flat, raised panel classic, raised panel long, raised panel wood grain, raised panel wainscot (fiberglass)
  • Style: classic flat or raised panel, or carriage-house style
  • Windows & trim: a variety of styles available on each door model
  • Material:
    • Steel — most common, durable though it can dent, highest thermal efficiency, longest warranty
    • Wood — beautiful, requires maintenance, good thermal efficiency, generally the most expensive
    • Fiberglass — can provide a wood look with comparable cost and no maintenance
    • Aluminum — for a contemporary look with windows
    • EcoBuilt® — a great look from recycled materials, a green product for LEED rating
  • Paint: All door models come with a variety of color choices and can be painted to get exactly the color combination you want
  • Maintenance & durability: Steel leads the pack

When choosing a garage door, there can be a lot of choices — we’re glad to help you walk through your options. Call us for a complimentary design consultation at (651) 381-5807">(651) 381-5807.