The inherent challenge in the selection of the right garage door is principally to find a balance between costs versus benefit. While it is imperative during the selection of a garage door to keep in mind what you eventually intend to use the garage space for, it is equally important to ensure that you do not unnecessarily spend more than what is required.
As one would expect, the cost of a garage door can vary between a few hundred dollars for a basic conventional garage door to several thousand dollars for a high-end modern garage door with a wide range of functionalities. Naturally, if you’re setting up your new house or want to get rid of your dingy garage door, you’ll definitely be worried about the garage door costs that you have to bear.
Managing garage door costs can be difficult since most folks aren’t experienced with garage doors and aren’t aware of the costs. Read on and find out the answers to the questions that pop-up in your mind regarding the garage door costs and the answers should help you make your decision easily.
1. Is a New Door Really Necessary?
This is usually pretty easy to answer. Wooden doors can rot, metal doors can be dented, and door hardware grows old with time. In most cases, the garage door is situated. In such scenarios, there’s usually no other option expect to get a new door. However, just because your garage door isn’t working, doesn’t spontaneously mean you have to replace it.
You can cut down on extra costs by handling maintenance and repair on your own. Periodic maintenance of mechanical parts can make a lasting impact on the endurance of a garage door and in most cases, it will extend the life of a garage door.
At times, it is a good practice to visually examine your garage door while it is in operation and observe whether it is being subjected to any obstruction or jerks when it opens or closes. Most often a faulty garage door would make an unwanted noise while it is in operation, which is a good indication that the door requires some maintenance and repair work.
It is advisable to check for any loose nuts, screws and apply grease on the moving parts of a garage door every few months, as these are common causes of mechanical failures of garage doors and can save you the cost of buying a new garage door. A stitch in time saves nine!
Most garage doors work on very basic mechanisms, which implies that most maintenance and repair work does not require specialized expertise. Moreover, problems such as breakage of springs or cables can be conveniently replaced at a nominal cost. In case of simple problems like air escaping through gaps, you can just patch up your garage door without having to replace it.
You should know that wooden or metal garage doors can be fixed with a paint job, which is cheaper than buying a new one. Nevertheless, even if you decide to hire a handyman for repair work or periodic maintenance, the cost would be substantially lower than buying a new garage door.
2. What Sort of Garage Door Should I Get?
As mentioned earlier, in order to select the right garage door, it is imperative to keep in mind what the garage space is intended for. For instance, in case you intend to turn your garage into an office, you may opt for a garage door with soundproofing. On the other hand, the garage door also makes a big impact on the overall exterior outlook of a house and so you would want to select a garage door which compliments the house aesthetically. And, to augment the comfortability of your garage doors, you should buy one of the best garage doors openers. Latest garage door openers are quiet, operators smoothly, easy to install and use.
One of the main concerns about garage door costs is the materials. For a better understanding of how materials can affect your garage door costs, you’ll need to look into details regarding different material types to see which one suits you. Your selection of material can impact the overall garage door cost.
If you are looking for a traditional look, you are likely to opt for a wooden garage door. However, in that case, you must bear in mind that wood might not be as durable as other materials available in the market such as steel or fiberglass and would inevitably require much more regular cleaning and maintenance.
Nevertheless, even in the case of wooden garage doors, you would come across a wide range of products with a varying grade of wood quality and finishing. With the advent of new technology and due to environmental concerns, the wood composite is being widely adopted as a construction material, replacing the historically popular choice of solid wood when it comes to garage doors.
Certainly, a garage door made out of wood composite would cost much lesser than the ones made from solid wood. In addition, garage doors made of the wood composite are claimed to be more durable than the ones made out of solid wood. Another benefit of using wood composite over solid wood is that it can be personalized to a greater extent based on your preference.
Having said that, steel garage doors are generally more robust and durable than other available options, such as wood or fiberglass. From a safety point of view, wood composite contains plastic compounds, which are not fire resistant and therefore pose a fire hazard. Steel garage doors now come in a variety of designs and textures, which you can select from depending on your taste and preference.
Garage doors made of steel generally have more room for customization compared to other materials, which makes them a popular choice for all. Moreover, steel garage doors are usually covered with a thick protective coating, which naturally provides these doors a much higher durability and protection from corrosion and weathering compared to wooden garage doors, which are easily exposed to wear and tear and require regular cleaning and polishing. A simple way of comparing the quality of various steel garage doors is to look at the thickness of the steel. A good quality steel garage door is likely to be a couple of inches thick whereas cheaper varieties would be made of a much thinner sheet of steel.
An important factor, which must be considered while selecting a garage door is the weather to which the garage door will be exposed to over a period of time. In case you intend to use your garage space as a room during winters, you would be interested in looking at garage doors with adequate insulation.
Probably the cheapest variety of garage doors would fall under the Aluminum and fiberglass garage doors category. Typically, these garage doors comprise an aluminum frame fitted with panels of fiberglass. As you would imagine, these garage doors are very lightweight. They are most beneficial in coastal settings as both aluminum and fiberglass are resistant to corrosion caused by sea breeze and moisture.
However, fiberglass is not a very strong or durable material as compared to steel or wood. Both fiberglass and aluminum can be easily damaged. Therefore, even though you might initially avoid the cost of buying a high-quality steel or wood composite garage door by choosing an aluminum and fiberglass garage door, you might eventually have to spend more in the long run as you are most likely going to replace the fiberglass garage door with a new one after a much shorter time compared to the other materials discussed above.
3. What Goes into a Garage Door Budget?
Garage door costs will depend on more than just the price of your door. Garage door options commonly involve new tracks for roller movement. You can find out the costs of such new tracks by calling different contractors who are experienced in garage door installations and repairs to compare different prices for a better idea of your garage door budget. A number of vendors offer special deals, which may include free installation or free annual maintenance or special seasonal discounts.
4. Do I Need Professional help for Garage Door Installations?
Home depots offer garage doors that aren’t really that hard to self-install. That said, instead of installing doors yourselves to save on garage door costs, get in touch with the manufacturers for more information. If the installation seems doable, you can install the doors yourself so that getting professional help doesn’t become an expensive necessity.
In case you have decided to install the garage door yourself, make sure in advance that you have all the necessary tools and supporting material to carry out the task. You must definitely discuss the installation procedure with the manufacturer prior to making an attempt. Go through the instructions manual if it is available.
5. Should I Get a New Garage Door Opener too?
If your garage door opener was functional with the previous garage door, it’ll work just fine for your new one. Having said that, if you get a new garage door that is comparatively heavier than the previous one and your garage door opener can’t manage the extra weight, a new one would make sense. Go for the right garage door replacement so that you won’t have to replace your garage door openers.
Sources:
- A Guide to Garage Door Installation Cost – nerdwallet
- How Much Does A Garage Door Cost To Install Or Replace? – Home Advisor
