Garage Door Material Benefits & Considerations

You’d probably be hard-pressed to find a home built in the last 30 years where the first thing you noticed wasn’t the garage door. In the day-to-day life of today’s home, the garage is so central that many people use it as the primary entrance! Advancements in garage door material technology have improved over the years. Thus, enabling garage door manufacturers and architects to improve the curb appeal and boost the home’s value with a number of materials.

Each material gives a certain impression and influences the overall design of your house in a certain way. When considering garage door materials, it’s important to keep the following in mind:

1. Wood

Wood is perhaps the first material that comes to mind when thinking about garage doors. After all, the first doors were made of wood, and it remains a popular material today.

Wood Garage Doors are a broad category, and there are hundreds of options available, so it is not difficult to find one that matches the look of your home. These doors can be painted or stained, and it is easy to repair scratches. Wood Garage Doors with stain-grade provide a sense of warmth that can greatly boost the curb appeal of your home.

Benefits:

• Versatile, works with any door style
• Solid wood entry doors are easily customizable
• Painted or stained
• Varies in price from economy priced to more expensive for more luxurious
• Easy to repair scratches
• Solid wood doors, with proper upkeep, can last 75 or more years

Considerations:

• Place door in a shaded or protected area.
• Direct sunlight can fade the stain on wooden doors, but this is true of most materials.
• May shift, change, warp with fluctuating weather
• May need occasional repainting

2. Steel

Steel is a popular material for both entry and garage doors. This material offers many aesthetic options from vintage to modern and therefore, can be easily painted to match or complement the rest of your home’s exterior.

Also, high-quality steel garage doors consist of two layers of galvanized steel. The door’s surface can be clad with a composite material or primed and painted with a durable topcoat finish. Steel doors usually contain foam insulation in the cavity to insulate, thus improving the R-value.

Benefits:

• Reasonably priced
• Lower gauges offer higher durability
• Low maintenance
• Available in wood and other patterns
• Insulation layers available

Considerations:

• Heavyweight (higher-power opener needs to be used)
• Easily dented
• Subject to Corrosion (Rust)
• On its own, poor insulator

3. Fiberglass

Garage doors made from fiberglass are less subject to denting or cracking. As a result, they do not rust but can break upon impact. Two layers of fiberglass are typically bonded to a steel frame and filled with polyurethane insulation. Steel end caps help improve rigidity.

(Carriage House Door Company does not offer Fiberglass Garage Doors.)

Benefits:

• Highly rust resistant
• Lightweight (lower power opener can be used)
• Good for salty environments (beach houses)

Considerations:

• Easily torn (especially in very cold conditions)
• Fades in the Sun
• Poor Insulator

4. Aluminum and Glass Garage Doors

For contemporary styling and unique glass options, aluminum garage doors offer exceptional curb appeal. Above all, their streamlined looks can be customized with anodized or powder coat finishes in a wide array of colors. Also, aluminum and other metal doors are known for low maintenance, this is the material to consider if you live in coastal areas or anywhere humidity is the norm. 

Aluminum doors are also offered with a choice of glass including clear as well as semi-transparent designs plus different textures to complement your home’s architecture.

Benefits:

• Wide array of contemporary styles and colors
• Naturally corrosion resistant
• Light weight and strong for single as well as double-wide doors.
• Wide choice of full-view glass options and frame widths/colors.
• Climates: all, including coastal areas.

Considerations:

• Generally more expensive than steel doors.
• Lower R-value due to lack of insulation.

Garage Door Material Comparison Chart

If all this sounds a little overwhelming, we’d like to help. Our expert team can help you determine the best options for you. Just click on the link below for one of our team members to contact you.

Stuck on what garage door style to choose? Check out our article Tips to Matching Garage Doors and Home Styles