Your garage door is the first impression of your home you make to your visitors and passers by. As such, it’s extremely important that your garage door be the best it can be. This means that besides proper care and maintenance of your garage door and installing the appropriate safety features, it’s also important that the Calgary homeowner be able to identify the time is right to invest in a replacement for their old garage door. B&W Garage Door is here with a few tips that will help you decide when it’s time to finally replace that garage door.
1. Deteriorating Materials
Your garage door takes a lot of punishment over the years. Especially in Calgary, where the summers can get hot and winters bitterly cold, this damage to the paneling is inevitable. This damage is especially a bigger risk for wooden garage doors which are prone to water damage after years of snow and rain and metal garage doors can begin to rust and leave holes. Weatherstripping will eventually crumble away as the change in temperatures throughout the years start breaking the material down. While these issues can be mitigated by proper maintenance and patches, eventually, your old garage door will be so far gone that it’s a more practical idea to replace the garage door wholesale instead.
When this starts to happen, it’s probably a good time for you to invest in a new garage door. You can choose to keep using your current material and start the entire process all over again, or invest in a more hardy type of garage door like fiberglass which is far more corrosion and weather resistant.
2. Noisy Mechanisms
The older your garage door gets, the noisier it becomes. The rollers along your garage door will start to rust and get stuck due to the constant moisture and temperature changes as the seasons go by. The railing itself may start rusting and cracking as well. Even vinyl and plastic rollers will break down eventually, causing possible misalignment in the operation of your garage door; which is both unsafe and insecure.
Your garage door opener’s motor will start to make noise each time you use it as the years start to show and the cord that does the pulling for the garage door opener will start to fray and even snap. Older chain drive garage door openers are generally also louder than newer belt drive openers as well. Finally, the springs that hold your garage door closed will rust away as well. When this starts happening, it’s definitely a good idea to have your garage door replaced. Your neighbors will probably be thankful for the quieter operation of your garage door too.
3. Lowering Your Maintenance Costs
Like with most parts of your home, properly caring for your garage door is the best way of keeping it in good condition for longer. But eventually, you’ll be spending a lot of your day offs constantly oiling your garage door rails, or taking days off your holiday patching up weatherstripping or a bit of wood rot.
These things also stack up. Eventually, your garage door will be so covered in patches and half-measures that it’ll degrade its look. Besides that, you’ll end up realizing that all that money you spent maintaining an old, outdated garage door could have instead be spent buying a brand new one.
Before you even reach that point, you should be considering buying a new garage door to replace the old one. Modern models are built to be more resilient to damage, as well as be built with materials that are easier to clean, as well as take apart, lowering your maintenance costs even further.
4. Safety for You and Your Family
Deteriorating materials and rusting mechanisms are definitely unsafe for you and your family. Weakened garage door materials are definitely easier for potential intruders to break into and get to the valuables stored in your garage and home. Noisy, rusting mechanisms can be significant safety threats because the cords and rollers store large amounts of energy and their failure could lead to severe injury. Even if you’ve properly maintained your garage door and think that they could still be a couple of years left in its life, it’s still a good idea to have your garage door replaced.
Modern garage doors have been designed to keep you and your family as safe as possible. Sensors help prevent the garage door from closing if someone is in the way, and the proliferation of smart garage door openers allows you and your family to keep track of what’s happening in the garage from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. The design of the materials used in garage doors these days has also been greatly improved, being far more weather and corrosion resistant while also providing lower maintenance costs.
5. Weatherproofing your Home
Your garage normally doesn’t get heating in the cold winter months, this can be a problem if you like using the space as an extra room for storage, or a playroom for days you can’t go out. Freezing temperatures can also damage your tools and other supplies that you may have kept in the garage for storage.
This can be a massive problem for the cold Calgary winters. While you can always install insulation yourself if your garage door is older, newer garage door choices on the market already provide insulation within the garage door itself, eliminating the need to tack on separate pieces of insulation to the inner side of the garage door.
6. Going for a New Look
Times change, maybe you’re thinking that it’s time to update the look of your home. If you are, then investing in a new garage door is certainly something to consider. Remember that the garage is one of the first things people will notice when they see your home. So keeping an older looking garage door while having an entirely new lawn or house will look particularly jarring. When choosing the right design and material for your new garage door, you’ll want to make sure it matches the aesthetic of the new look you’re giving the home.
Or maybe you just want to redecorate, a new garage door is the perfect way to enhance the look of your current home as well. Like adding a new garage door with windows to add a bit of extra natural light to your garage, or perhaps making your garage door look more in line with what your home looks like after older renovations.
7. Increasing your Home’s Resale Value
If you’re planning on selling the house soon, it is definitely the time to seriously consider a new garage door. A garage door that is starting to break down or very old fashioned will definitely be a detriment to your efforts in seeking a potential buyer. Not to mention that a bad garage door can also lower the overall value of the home itself. Replacing your old garage door with a brand new, up-to-date one will give your home a fresh new look that will match the other areas of the house that you’re fixing up during your preparation for sale. This new addition can be used as a selling point and will serve to raise the price you can put your house up for sale on.
Whatever your reason for replacing your old garage door with a brand new one, we here at B&W have got your back. You can check out in-depth article about the material choices perfect for the Calgary home here. You can also definitely call us at (403) 275-6048 to schedule a free estimate and consultation where we can definitely help you pick out the perfect new garage door that will match your home, and your needs.
