Pre-Purchase Considerations
Because there are so many garage door manufacturers, and types of doors available, it is important to understand the different types of door construction. Each type of construction has it's advantages and disadvantages.
- Are relatively expensive and require a good bit of maintenance.
- They need to be painted or stained when new, and refinished every couple of years. (Depending on the degree of sun and moisture exposure).
- A stained, Hemlock raised panel wood door certainly looks nice; but the high initial cost, and required maintenance are a turn-off to most people.
Wood doors
- With a "pan" type steel door the outside and the inside of the door is the same single sheet of steel. When you look at the inside of the door you see the inverse of the outside. An advantage of the "pan" type door lower cost. Insulation can be added to these doors. The thickness of the steel used for garage doors generally ranges from 24 gauge (thickest) to 26 gauge.
- Another type of steel door is similar to the "pan" door except that a thin layer of insulation is laminated to the steel "skin" of the door. Most, if not all of, these doors are "builder grade"(inexpensive). There are drawbacks to these doors. The insulation is usually very thin, and because it is laminated to the steel outer skin, the manufacturers are able to use very thin steel (as thin as 30 gauge). They dent very easily, and are not very durable.
- The best type of Steel door is the "sandwich" type door. A "sandwich" door has seperate pieces of steel for the outside and the inside of the door, and has polystyrene or polyurathane insulation bonded between the inner and outer sheets of steel. The best "sandwhich" doors have a "thermal break" which disrupts the transference of heat and cold from outside to inside and vice verse.
Steel doors come in a variety of production styles
- Torsion springs are slightly more expensive but are smoother working and safer. Torsion springs mount on a shaft above the door and raise the door by spooling the door cables onto drums at each end of the shaft. (Caliber Door uses only torsion springs when possible)
- Extension springs stretch from the front of the upper track to the rear of the upper track. When the door is down the springs are fully streched, as the door opens the springs contract . (In some low-clearance installations extension springs may be necessary).
- Commercial doors all have torsion springs