A garage door can transform your home’s exterior and reflect your lifestyle. To help you find the perfect style for your space, companies offer a wealth of style recommendations, budgeting information, and warranty details.

Steel doors are not a natural insulator, but they can be layered with polyurethane insulation to boost energy efficiency and regulate garage temperatures. Polyurethane also protects against dings and dents.

Overhead Doors

In modern times, garages are used not only for storage but as living areas. As such, doors that separate a garage from the rest of a home are required to ensure that gases like carbon monoxide and exhaust don’t enter the living space.

Overhead roll-up doors, also called slat door sections, are fabricated from metal slats that interlock and coil up onto a drum when they’re opened. They’re popular because they allow homeowners to utilize garage ceiling space effectively while maintaining a high level of security and safety.

Commercial overhead doors are similar to residential ones, but they’re suited for use in service stations, warehouses, and other commercial spaces. They’re often made from aluminum and feature different types of double-paned glass, which helps protect equipment and merchandise.

Many people choose to customize their overhead doors with a variety of decorative hardware including strap hinges, pull handles, ring pulls, and clavos. These add an upscale look and can be a great way to personalize a space. In addition to these, a man door is an excellent accessory for overhead garage doors that help prevent the need to leave a vehicle unattended when opening or closing a door. The man door also provides a convenient place to store tools and other items.

Sectional Doors

Designed to be more durable than single-panel doors, sectional garage doors are made of panels that open vertically and then lay parallel to the ceiling of your garage when they are closed. The panels are connected to each other via hinges, struts, and stiles and are supported by rollers and tracks located on the side and ceiling of your garage.

The rollers help to reduce friction and wear on the panels and tracks. They are also available in a variety of colors and finishes, making them easy to match with the overall design of your home. Additionally, many of these doors are available with a range of insulation options.

These garage doors are often a great choice for homeowners living in areas with frequent burglaries, as they are very difficult to break into. They are also very sturdy and can withstand heavy winds and snowfall. Additionally, they are very easy to maintain and require less regular repair work than other types of garage doors.

However, because they have more parts than rolling steel doors, they are more likely to develop mechanical problems and may need professional repair from time to time. They also take up more space on the ceiling of your garage, which can limit the placement of light fixtures and sprinkler systems. This is particularly a concern for smaller garages.

Sliding Doors

When you’re ready to reclaim your garage space and transform it into the cozy sun-soaked nook or home office you’ve always dreamed of, choosing the right doors is critical. To ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible, consult with experts who can help you iron out all the details and align your vision with practical possibilities.

Once you’ve decided to opt for sliding doors, the first step is preparing the area where the tracks will be installed. Depending on your current setup, this may require a crew to redo the pavement or it may simply mean cleaning the space and ensuring it’s level. After that, you can then get the rollers and tracks positioned on the ground. Sliding doors require a lot of force to open and close, so the track system needs to be sturdy enough to endure a few thousand back-and-forth movements without any snags or jerks.

Another consideration is whether you’re going for an automatic or manual door. Automated sliding doors are great for stowing or retrieving items and can be programmed to partially open for pedestrian access. On the other hand, manual sliding doors are a great option for those who have kids or pets living above the garage and need to ensure their safety. These doors can also be locked to a certain percentage so no one can pry or see inside from across the street.

Roller Doors

Roller doors have a simple design and are also known as overhead rolling doors or coiling garage doors. They are simple to install and can be operated manually or electrically with a motor system bolted onto one end of the roller curtain. They offer great draught exclusion with double-skinned foam-filled slats that provide good insulation.

Unlike sectional doors that require a lot of space above the door opening, a roller door can retract into a housing above your garage door, leaving maximum drive-through height. They can be fitted to almost any size and width of the opening. These doors are very popular because they are easy to maintain and offer excellent security. However, you must ensure that you buy a high-quality product as there are more moving parts than other door types. Look for a supplier with high approval ratings from customers as well as accreditation for peace of mind.

Generally speaking, roller doors are more wallet-friendly than other options on the market. They don’t have as many fancy features that can add up in price and they’re easier to put together, so the materials required tend to be less expensive. However, if you’re looking to cut down on your energy costs and are keen on the best performance in terms of insulation, then other door types may be more suited to you. For instance, a steel sectional door of the same size as a basic roller door will offer a much better ‘U’ value.