Garage door options for every home.
Story by Tracy Dickinson
Featured in Summer 2024
Two-car, three-car, side-load, front—the options for garage design and placement sound like the opening lines of a Dr. Seuss story. But garage doors have come a long way. And with your mind full of ideas and your options awaiting, you can be off and away with the best door for you.
Would you like one warm and new?
Whether you’re selecting a garage door for your new home or replacing an existing door, one of the first questions to ask is how you will be using your garage. “That seems like an obvious question,” says WD Door’s Zach Little. “But a lot of homeowners are using the garage for more than just parking their cars.
“We have been seeing a lot of homes with golf simulators in the garage recently. That means the garage is used as an extension of the living space, which makes the interior finish more important. And insulating and heating it becomes more important, too,” he says.
“Even if you’re replacing a door in an existing garage, you can still increase the insulation factor,” says Nolan Seiler of WD Door. “Depending on how you’re going to use the space, you can get from zero to fully insulated and just about everything in between without necessarily making the door any thicker.”
If the garage is attached to the home or you plan to heat the space, the heavier insulation is a smart investment, saving you money in the long run and making the space more usable.
Would you want one with a view?
Garage door manufacturers offer a host of options, whether you’re considering the view of the door itself or the view out the door.
“It used to be only a couple of manufacturers offered wood-look doors, but more and more are offering them,” says Little. “The color and finish options are expanding all the time.”
Seiler adds, “We usually advise homeowners to select the garage door first if they’re looking at the wood-look products and then coordinate the home’s other exterior trim to the garage. There are a lot of options for garage doors, but it’s usually easier to match the other trim to the garage rather than the other way around.”
Although they’re made of steel, the wood-look doors offer the appearance of cedar, oak, or beechwood, as well as many other woods. Because they’re steel, they never need refinishing like a genuine wood product does.
“Any prefinished product will have a much longer durability than one that is not painted by the manufacturer,” Little says. “And the range of colors means you can find a prefinished door color you love. We do recommend that homeowners select the garage door color first, though, and then choose the home’s exterior paint to match.”
More manufacturers are also offering garage doors with windows in both traditional and contemporary styles. “Homeowners may want windows in the garage door because of the curb appeal they offer or because they add natural lighting inside the garage,” says Little. “The home’s style helps determine which window and door style is best. And the popularity of more contemporary-style homes has made narrow, slim windows more popular, too.”
Would you like a smarter door—open, close, and much more!
Although Little and Seiler say that replacing a garage door does not necessarily require replacing the opener hardware, there are benefits to upgrading both at the same time.
“Many of the new opener systems are controlled by a smart phone app instead of a remote or keyless entry outside the garage,” says Seiler. “The app allows you to control the door from your phone and provides more security than some of the older systems can offer.”
“You can also get opener systems with a video keypad option, similar to the doorbell systems used at the front door,” Little says. “Not only can you control them with your phone, but you can access a live feed so that you can see if someone tries to open the door.”
Garage door and opener systems are relatively pain-free these days, but WD Door offers service and ongoing maintenance for any issues that may arise.
“There’s some minor upkeep, depending on the manufacturer, that will keep your door looking and working great,” says Little.
Seiler adds, “We offer that service. And any time we service a home, we perform routine maintenance, too. But you can also purchase the oil to do the lubrication yourself if you prefer.”
Wood door, steel door, windows, or not, Dr. Seuss was right when he predicted, “Oh, the places you’ll go!” And now you can find the perfect garage door to greet you when you come back home. •
Resources
- Zach Little WD Door
- Nolan Seiler WD Door