Tag Archives: steel garage door
Phone Conversation: “My garage door is frozen!”
Homeowner: My garage door is stuck from the Winter’s cold? What can I do to unstuck it?
Garage Door Dealer: Can you see ice at the bottom of the door?
Homeowner: Ah, yes.
Garage Door Dealer: Well then your garage doors weather seal is probably frozen to the concrete. This happens when the bottom of the door sits in water or wet snow that eventually freezes when the temperature dips.
Homeowner: So what do I do?
Garage Door Dealer: Well, to get the door unstuck, break off the ice or use warm water to melt the ice. Then raise your garage door and clean and dry the area to prevent the door from refreezing when you’ve finished.
Homeowner: That sounds simple. I tried to force my door open and break the ice.
Garage Door Dealer: That could rip your weather seal and then water, snow and cold air could get into your garage. Then you’d have to replace the weather seal.
Homeowner: I don’t want to do that. Well thank you for your information.
Garage Door Dealer: Just one more idea. Think about waxing your door with the same wax they use on cars. This can be a great way to prevent ice from sticking to your [more]
Adore Your Garage Door
Whether you’re planning to build a new home or are doing a remodel, it’s unlikely you think much about your garage door. Still, it’s the largest moving part in your home and the broadest piece of curb appeal on display. Today’s best garage doors are detailed to blend into the aesthetics of the home’s design. Their architectural frame occupies a major portion of the front landscape and has a major impact on the street perception of the home.
Garage doors can have character too. In many homes, the garage doors often incorporate carriage house motifs that greatly enhance the architectural character of the home and the neighborhood. The latest garage doors offer increased style and function that can enhance the aesthetics of any home. And they are safer to use than ever before.
Decorative options are helping homeowners differentiate their doors adding a dynamic architectural accentuation to their home with a selection of glass inserts and new styles of hardware. Homeowners and builders alike are expressing increased interest in carriage-style garage doors, designed to fool the eye and mimic old-style sliding or swing-up doors. These are drawing the most attention due to their distinctive architectural styling and for traditionally styled homes this is [more]
Is It Time for a New Garage Door?
You’ve repaired and replaced, repaired and replaced, but your old garage door still isn’t working right. There comes a time when pouring all that time and money into a faulty door just doesn’t make good fiscal sense anymore. In some parts of the country, garage doors are continuously pounded by harsh weather conditions including snow, sleet, ice, and hot sunshine. Here are some ways that homeowners can know when it’s finally time to get a new garage door.
Dents: A dented garage door is not necessarily a safety hazard, but it is certainly an eyesore! Even if your yard is immaculately kept and the rest of your house looks terrific, the sight of a dent or dents in the garage door will wipe out any positive impression when people drive up to your property: and this could result in a loss of value to your home too if you’re considering selling.
Rust: Rust is not only unsightly, but it is also a sign that your garage door will soon be experiencing operational problems if it isn’t already. Rust is a symptom of corrosion in a door’s metal parts, and these parts may break or fall apart unexpectedly resulting in inconvenience or even [more]
Cleaning and Preventative Maintenance
Make your garage door last longer and operate efficiently
On a busy day your garage door may open and close 20 times, so routine maintenance is a must to keep it in good working order. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Regular garage door cleaning and maintenance will guarantee a great look and longer life of your door.
Appearance
Clean your garage door regularly with mild soap (like dishwashing detergent) and a soft bristle brush. Avoid using abrasive cleaners and very strong liquid cleaners which could damage the paint or cause delaminating. If you have a steel garage door, you can revive its luster by applying a car wax as it will protect against acid rain and dust. It is best to avoid waxing in direct sunlight to achieve better results. If there’s exposed wood, be sure to paint it.
Exterior Weather-Stripping
Clean the weather stripping around the frame and bottom edge with a good all-purpose cleaner. Lubricate it every 2 or 3 months with a Silicone-based lubricant to keep the stripping pliable. Never use a petroleum-based lubricant on weather-stripping as it will dry up and crack. It is important to let your weather-strip hang 1/2″ below the door base [more]
Make Your Garage Door System Family Friendly
Garage doors are very large in size and the last thing you want is for it to harm a member of your family, especially when each year there can be up to 30,000 injuries caused by garage door
accidents. Although garage doors are already designed to be safe, there are some extra precautions that you can take to keep your garage door system safe for your family and avoid any injuries.
Keep Your Remote In A Safe Place
Do not leave your remote lying around for just anyone to grab. Secure it somewhere in your car so that it cannot easily be stolen or played with. Some features allow you to connect your garage door with your car or mobile device and no remote is necessary. Practice safety with your remote to avoid unfortunate accidents.
Inform Your Children On Garage Safety
Make sure your children know not to play around with the remote or garage. Remind them to stand away from the garage and wait when trying to enter or exit. In addition, hanging or playing on any parts of the garage should never occur because that is the quickest way for an accident to happen. Inform your children on the dangers of misusing [more]
GARAGE DOORS: WE’RE #1
In the new 2016 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com), an upscale garage door replacement leaped to the top spot in the rankings of 11 upscale projects studied, while a mid-range garage door replacement again ranked third of 19 mid-range projects. The 2016 report compares the average cost for 30 popular remodeling projects with the value those projects retain at resale in nine U.S. regions and 100 U.S. markets. Garage doors have been included in the annual report since 2010.
We’re #1!
In the new study, the approximate $3,140 cost for an upscale garage door replacement delivered an estimated value at sale of $2,830, equating to a 90.1 percent Return On Investment (ROI). Far behind in second place was upscale siding replacement (fiber-cement) at a 78.1 percent ROI. The garage door’s new status as the number one upscale project should help to boost sales of upscale doors in 2016. The typical $1,652 cost for a mid-range garage door had an estimated value at sale of $1,512, or 91.5 percent of the original cost. Topping the list was attic insulation, recouping 116.9 percent, followed by manufactured stone veneer at 92.9 percent. At 91.5 percent, a garage door replacement still holds excellent value as [more]
The Ficticious R Factor
The garage door industry association, the Door & Access Systems Manufacturing Association (DASMA ) is in the process of performing U factor testing and eliminating R rating on all garage doors. This has been expected for some time as the major manufacturers (Clopay, Overhead Door, Wayne Dalton, CHI, Amarr/Entramatic and others) have been battling over who has the highest R-Factor.
Forty years ago a company, by the name of McKee Door, did testing on a 10′ x 10′ insulated door that didn’t have weather seals around the perimeter. They determined that they may as well have a 12 inch diameter hole in the center of the door due to air leakage. Perimeter seals are a major factor in buying an insulated garage door. Regrettably no one in our industry provides anything close to the kind of seals that the window entry door industries provide on their products.
So while consumers and door dealers get hung up on polystyrene/urethane doors with fictitiously high R-Factors, they are doing nothing less than selling the consumer a bill of goods. It’s reminiscent of the same commotion that energy tax credits and pinch-proof doors provided and flooded the industry for a number of years.
A conditioned air space and an [more]
Are Cheap Garage Doors Really Worth It?
It’s easy to see where you may want to try and save money anyway you possibly can when it comes to buying a new garage door.
You think cheaper always better?
Obviously, the answer is no. Are there less expensive garage doors that are still high quality products? You bet!
There are some basic factors that you need to consider before choosing the one that would fit your specifications. These are the qualities of materials used, design and of course the garage door prices. The first thing that you need to do is to determine the design and style that you want and then allocate your budget. Once you have pictured something in your mind it will be easier for you to narrow down your search and focus on how much the door of your choice would cost.
It is normal to be worried about garage door prices because you want to get your money’s worth, right? If you are not careful you might end in getting a door with substandard quality or materials yet with a high price, the best technique here is to survey everything on offer and be selective. You should shop around and look at the various options and prices [more]
Garage Doors: To Insulate or Not to Insulate
Deciding if you really need insulation in your garage door depends on where you live, so the benefits of an insulated garage door and how to select the right degree of insulation to best suit your needs will differ quite a bit.
The amount of insulation you need in your garage door depends on if your climate is typically cold, hot, or somewhere in-between. With the garage usually being the primary entrance to the home and with living space often above or beside it, it’s best to keep the temperature in the garage as comfortable as possible. This is especially true in very cold or very hot regions. You can choose garage doors with varying degrees of insulation to best suit your needs.
The effectiveness of the insulation is expressed as an R-value. The higher the R-value, the better the insulation in the door.
Another point to consider is that an insulated door is generally quieter and has a more attractive interior than a non-insulated door.
Lastly, pests and insects enjoy nesting in the back of uninsulated garage doors. An insulated door doesn’t give them a place to call their own.
Painting Your Garage Door Means Getting the Right Stuff
Selecting the garage door paint depends upon so many considerations.
The first consideration is the color of the house and whether the garage door is exposed to sunlight or not. Whenever you decide to paint garage doors, you must think about the color of your house and the garage door paint colors will largely depend on that.
If your house is of bright color you may use some color which will match with other exteriors of the house or you may decide to go for a contrast selection. If the garage door is exposed to sun rays during the day then you may not go for a bright color as bright colors tend to fade away very quickly in sun and the door will require very frequent repainting.
For selecting the type of paint that should be applied, in cases when you are repainting garage doors, it is important to know the type of paint which is already there on the doors. If you have oil based paint, you can apply latex paint or oil based paint but if you have latex paint then you can apply only latex paint over it. In case when you cannot confirm the type of paint which [more]