There’s a lot involved in owning a home. You’re not expected to know everything, especially when it comes to garage doors. But if you own a home long enough, eventually you’ll probably have to replace the garage door. Most homeowners install a new garage door only once or twice in their lifetime; so the garage door market isn’t exactly something you’re often exposed to and know the details of. 

Since most of us aren’t sure what we should be looking for, when it’s time to decide on the right garage door, it’s a good idea to do your research before committing to anything. After all, a new garage door costs at least a few hundred dollars and is supposed to last you at least a decade or two; you want to do everything to make sure you’ve made the best decisions on this home equity investment.

Some of the big questions you’ve got to answer include: 

• What kind of garage door do you want? 
• What material do you want it made from? 
• Do you want to insulate your garage door? (Hint: yes.) 
• What style is going to mesh with the aesthetic of your house?
• What are the spatial limitations (read: dimensions) of your garage?
• What’s your budget for a new garage door? 

The good news is that garage door installation has one of the highest returns on investments for all home repairs — 97% — virtually dollar for dollar. Do your research. Save your tax return. You might even consider getting a home improvement loan from your local bank. Do this garage door replacement right and you’ll get out exactly what you put in in home value. You can’t even get that kind of ROI with the nicest of kitchen renovations or bathroom additions.

The Four Main Types of Residential Garage Doors

There are 4 basic types of garage doors, and each opens differently. The ideal one for your home can depend on any of the factors we mentioned above. Keep that in mind as we discuss each one.

1. Swing-out carriage-type doors or sliding barn doors: These garage doors have a nice, traditional appeal, especially if you stick to an authentic vintage design. And yes, you can still use a state-of-the-art garage door opener on these doors. Swing-out garage doors are great if you need to keep the ceiling clear, which might be handy if you want to use the overhead space for storage or to hang ladders or tools.

2. Sectional overhead garage doors: These doors are much more standard – the vast majority of residential garage doors are sectional overhead doors. These doors require about 14 inches of space between the ceiling and the door so there’s room for the guide track, trolley carriage, and garage door opener motor. If you don’t have enough room, you can install a low-headroom track for about $100 more. You can also get extensions if you have a garage with an extremely high ceiling.

3. Rollup garage doors: More often than not, you’ll see rollup overhead doors in commercial settings. But you’ve probably seen them in an apartment complex or two, or maybe on an uber-modern, industrial-style home. This type of overhead garage door is fast, efficient, secure, and extremely low-maintenance, because all its moving parts are encased and protected from the elements.

4. Tilt-up and fold-up garage doors: You tend to only see this type of garage door on historic homes that haven’t yet retrofitted or replaced their garage or carriage house doors. These doors are comprised of either one panel that tilts, or 2 hinged halves that fold backward and lift up. They require more overhead room height-wise, but don’t protrude nearly as far into the garage when lifted as other doors do. And, yes, there are even conversion kits to automate this little-known type of garage door.

Popular Materials for Residential Garage Doors

There are several materials you can choose for a home garage door, and all have their pros and cons. Your choice will depend on style, budget, size, weight, design, and insulation needs.

Vinyl: By far the most common material for sectional overhead doors, vinyl has the advantage of being hardy, warp and corrosion-proof, color customizable, and affordable.

Aluminum: Another common material choice for residential garage doors, aluminum is a lightweight, recyclable, affordable, and durable choice. It can be filled with insulation to sound and weather proof the door. A new aluminum garage door that’s popular in residential and commercial overhead doors are glass and aluminum full-view garage doors, because they’re sleek, modern and let natural light in.

Steel: Steel doors might be heavy, but they’re durable, strong, impact-resistant and long-lasting. They cannot warp, are resistant to water damage, and aren’t as expensive as wooden garage doors.

Fiberglass: Fiberglass is great for a lot of reasons. Basically, it has all the best features of vinyl, steel, and insulated aluminum doors. Because it’s a composite, it can’t rot. Fiberglass comes in many colors and textures, and doesn’t dent.

Wood: We all know wood garage doors are high-maintenance, but let’s be honest – they’re so worth it. Wood doors are heavy, good insulators, solid and strong, and give an air of upscale, warm, classic design. There’s nothing like them, which is likely why they’re a little expensive.

Measuring Style & Quality of Different Garage Doors

Choosing the right style of garage door will naturally depend on your taste, but it’s also important to choose a door complements the style and window trim of your house. Craftsman houses, for example, look great with craftsman, swing-out style of doors. A more modern house would look better with aluminum and glass garage doors. What better place to store 850 horsepower of raw Porsche?

Sturdiness is also a priority. Since most people only install a new garage door every 20 to 30 years, you want this baby to last. Frame-and-panel constructed garage doors are known to last. They can take a beating, especially considering the winter rain storms Sacramento gets hit with. Many roll up doors have glass specially designed to be shatterproof. Ask your local garage door installation and repair company about what’s available.

Insulation & the R-Value: What You Need to Know

When considering getting a new garage door, how big a priority is insulation? Even with the warmer winters we see in Sacramento, it’s something you might consider. Keep in mind that insulation doesn’t just keep out the cold – it also keeps out the heat. You’ll save money on cooling costs, especially if the garage is attached to the house. And in the chilly, damp winters, you’ll save on heating costs during those dark and dreary days.

As you look at insulated doors, you’ll come across something called an “R-value” pretty often. The R-value measures the garage door’s resistance to heat flow. It’s essentially a measurement unit of insulation efficacy. The higher the R-value, the more insulated your door is.

The rate of your R-value will vary widely with the type of material used as insulation. The two most common materials are polystyrene foam (styrofoam) and polyurethane (spray foam). Polystyrene is inserted into garage doors in panels. It cannot be an exact fit, which limits its insulating capabilities. Polyurethane is sprayed into the door as a foam. It expands and bonds to the surface for a more insulated seal. Polyurethane also has the advantage of being noise absorbing, which can be especially handy if your garage is located near a living room or a bedroom.

Most polyurethane doors have an R-rating of 12 to 18. Talk to your garage door professional to see which is the best door for your needs and climate.

Understanding the Space You Need for a Garage Door

Measuring the size of the opening to your garage is not nearly the only thing you have to consider when you choose a new garage door. Sure, those carriage house doors would look amazing on your historic garage… but do they even have room to swing out all the way? Yeah, you’d love an authentic tilt up door to complete your home’s mid-century-mod feel… but do you have the room for a side mounted opener and extension springs?

To determine if a given garage door is going to function in your garage, figure out dimensions of:

Backroom: The area from the opening to the back of the horizontal tracks/room required to install an overhead door.

Headroom: Overhead space available to hang an overhead garage door without interfering with the opener unit or vehicles.

Sideroom: This refers to side room inside the garage for things like the vertical tracks and cables, side-mounted openers and extension springs for overhead doors. It can also refer to side room outside the garage for swing-out doors.

You should also know the dimensions your car and anything else in the garage takes up that might affect how it fits when it’s parked inside the garage. This is a good time to grab a sheet of graph paper from your teenager’s school bag and rough out a sketch.

New Garage Door Costs: Bringing it Back Together

So you see, there’s a lot to think about and a lot of thoughts to organize before you buy a new garage door. Everything we’ve discussed is going to affect the price of your new garage door and the installation. Now don’t worry; we’re pretty good at finding the highest-quality solutions for any budget, but do keep in mind even though the garage door is a significant expense, it’s basically a 1:1 ROI, and it’s only a once-every-3-decades cost. 

Yeah, the cost of the garage door is an important factor, but if you don’t consider all the other important factors, any garage door will become expensive, whether it doesn’t fit, doesn’t insulate, doesn’t open right, or breaks all the time. And so, the last vital piece of advice we have for you in this how-to guide is: consult the professionals. Seriously, just give us a call. It’s like asking a search engine specifically dedicated to all things garage-door-related for answers; you’re going to get expertise you can’t find simply shopping around on websites. 

Call us out for a free consultation, or just hit us up for some advice. We can take you as far through your new-garage-door journey as you want, including design, installation, and later maintenance and repairs.