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Residential Garage Doors
Products we represent
The following manufacturers produce a full line of commercial and residential overhead garage doors and accessories. Each brand has stood the test of time, and each produces a high quality product they stand behind. Browse through each site, and call us to help you select the door that is right for you.
Selecting a garage door
When it comes time to select a garage door for your new home or to replace an old or damaged door, you will quickly find that there are many possibilities to choose from.
What style of door? What structural material? Insulation...Windows...on and on. We'll run through some of the basics of garage doors.
- The basic selections in a garage door
- Material to choose
- Construction of a door
- Insulated or non-insulated
- Style of door
- Windows
- Windload
- Locks and accessories
Material
Garage doors are constructed using 2 types of material...Steel or wood. In the past, a large number of doors used wood as base material. Wood accepts paint or stain well and gives a natural apperance to the door. A great many of very high-end custom doors are wood. A major disadvantage with wood is the additional maintainence the it entails. You must periodically refinish the door, and be vigilant for signs of deterioration.
Steel doors come pre-finished in many colors. The standard still seems to be white, but there is large number of factory applied finishes available. The steel panels are typically stamped at the factory to different panel configurations that give the door a panel effect. See the Styles section. Steel doors can also be painted to a color of your choice, but must be prepped correctly if you hope for the paint to hold. When comparing steel doors, pay attention to the thickness, or gauge, of the steel. Here, a smaller number is better. For example, a 24 gauge steel door has thicker steel panels than a 25 gauge door. For a relatively maintainence free door, steel is a good choice.
Construction
The vast majority of residential door are sectional doors. This is the typical door you are used to seeing. The door is composed of several short sections which follow a track as is goes up or down. Each section has an exterior surface that is fastened to structural components on the edges and spaced throughout the interior of the door. A 'pan' style door stops with only those components. There is the exterior surface, and the structural components. 'Sandwich' style doors have an additional steel or wood interior surface bonded to the structural components as well. This gives the door additional strength, and can be helpful in windloading. Another type in between is the 'soft back' door. This is where a material such as vinyl is used for the interior surface. It provides a nice finished surface inside, but provides no structure to the door.
Insulation
With energy costs always on an upward spiral, insulation is always a major consideration. Unless a garage door is on an unheated utility space, we always recommend insulation. Most insulated garage doors use polystyrene insulation. This type of insulation has an approximate R-value of 5-6 per inch. Another popular insulation material in doors is urethane foam. This foam is sprayed in the doors interior and has roughly twice the insulation value of polystyrene.
A word about insulation values when you are comparing doors. The standards for testing insulation are not always ridgidly followed, so there are discrepancies amongst manufacturers R-value numbers. Make certain that the standards being compared are the same.
Garage door styles
This is broad subject. There all types of garage door styles out there. Each manufacturer has their own method of stating what their distictions are. We'll hit on the generalaties, and leave it to you and one of our representatives to narrow down what you like.
The most basic door is a 'flush' door. The exterior surface is flat with no embossed design other than some very shallow embossing, typically to mimic a wood texture.
A very typical style is a panel door. Each section has some sort of panel configuration stamped in the exterior skin. There are several different types of panel looks, and they vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Of these panel type doors, they are typically either a short panel or a long 'ranch' panel. The long panels are usually seen on longer doors, such a 16' wide door.
Another major door style is the carriage house door. These have gained in popularity over the past several years. A carriage house door simulates the design used in years past on stables, garages, and carriage houses. There is an almost infinite variety of designs in this category, so you can really use your imagination in selecting one.
Coincidentally, Accent Doors trims our own custom doors, many of them in the carriage house styles. Take a look at our designs at Custom doors.
Windows
Windows in your garage door are a great addition. They let natural light into your garage, and can enhance your door's exterior. As with styles, each manufacturer has their own window series, and they typically show the window style that will go with a particular door model on their website.
CHI sunburst window
One of your decisions in selecting windows is insulated or non-insulated glass. If your space is heated, you should probably select insulated glass. Otherwise, you probably will not see a great deal of difference in the garage temperature with the non-insulated glass.
CHI designer glass-somerset
There are several other options to select. You can select for several different glass finishes...clear, tinted, obscure, etc. Each different finish controls how well you can see through the glass panel, and how much natural sunlight comes through the glass. Designer glass is also available, and optional inserts that snap into the lites and break the glass panel up into smaller patterned sections.
Windload
Did you know that there are standards in place to ensure that your garage door will withstand high winds? There are, and they are know as wind-load ratings.
The Kansas City area is in Exposure Category B, which means wind speeds can reach 90mph for a 3-second gust. A garage door built to withstand the pressures introduced by high winds will be constructed heavier and may have additional struts installed to meet the criteria required.
The manufacturing methods to achieve wind rating are based on work by the International Residential Code. The City of Olathe has a short article that may be helpful in learning more. Another resource is DASMA, Door and Access Systems Manufacturers Association.
Locks and accessories
The majority of residential garage doors installed today do not have an outside lock installed by default. With the popularity of door openers, the outside lock has become unnecessary. One can be installed by our installers if you choose.
Standard on all new doors Accent Doors installs in an inside lock. This will allow you to lock your door from the inside if you are gone for a long period.
A nice addition for some circumstances is the door release lock. This is a keyed cylinder installed in a door panel with a long cable running up to your opener release handle. In the event you are not able to raise your door with the opener, you can open this lock and pull on the cable, thereby releasing your opener from the door.
Openers are of course a favorite option on garage doors. We carry a full line of LiftMaster openers and accessories.
If you have a carriage house style door, we can get almost any style of hardware for your door. Call us and we will help you select the hardware that will best accent your door.
