With good looks, modest cost, and solid return on your investment, the best garage door is the Triple Crown of curb appeal projects. According to the “Remodelling Impact Report” from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, the national median cost of a garage door replacement project is $2,300 and recovers 87% of your investment if you sell your house — one of the highest percentage of recovered costs in the “Report.” Also the fact that a forward-looking garage door can eat up right around 20% of your home's front exterior. With that much at stake, a ragged out, the beat-up garage door can be a genuine obligation. No wonder that a big majority of homeowners responding to the “Report” gave a garage door replacement project a Joy Score of 9.4 — a rating based on those who said they were happy or satisfied with their remodeling, with 10 being the highest rating and 1 the lowest. Particularly on houses where the garage is up front, the garage door really needs to look great. What's more, it needs to work easily: Canadians use the garage more than some other section to enter the house, including the front door. All the more reason for it to be strong to last longer.
Types of Best Garage Doors
Garage doors come in four basic types: They may swing out, swing up, roll up, or slide to the side. Swing-out carriage-house doors or sliding barn doors are a good choice if you need to keep the ceiling clear or if you want their distinctive look. Otherwise, the most popular option by far is the sectional roll-up door. Before purchasing a roll-up door, measure the space between the top of the garage door opening and the ceiling or overhead framing. Standard tracks require headroom of about 14 inches. If you don’t have that, you can get a low-headroom track, which costs about $100 more. There are also tracks specially made for garages with unusually high walls or cathedral ceilings.
The Options and Costs of the Best Garage Doors: Choosing the Right Style
It’s important to pick a door that suits the style of your house. If you live in a Craftsman bungalow, for example, you might want something that looks like the swing-out doors found on garages behind early Craftsman houses. Manufacturers of modern roll-up doors make them in styles that mimic the old swing doors, complete with faux strap hinges on the sides and a pair of handles flanking a deep groove in the center. Most styles, whether traditional or contemporary, feature panels, trim, and other detailing. Doors with true frame-and-panel construction tend to be sturdier than those with decorative detail that is merely glued or nailed on. Many styles have glass panels on the top row, which looks inviting from the street and brings daylight inside. You can also find roll-up doors with shatterproof glass or frosted plastic in all the panels, for a more modern look.