Choosing the Right Garage Door for Your Garage Needs

High Security

A secure garage door is useful for a variety of reasons. For starters, you may store valuable items in the garage, such as yard equipment, and a secure door is better at keeping out potential burglars. Similarly, if you have an attached garage, a burglar could access your home via the garage, giving them access to everything you own and your family.

The most secure types of garage doors are steel and solid wood. They typically come in the form of sectional garage doors, which are also a secure option. When made of steel or solid wood, these doors are heavy, making them hard to force open unless the person knows the door opener code.

Side-hinged doors that open like swinging doors are also commonly made of wood or steel. Since these materials are durable, criminals will struggle to break through the door, but because they don’t have to lift the door to open it, they can easily enter if you forgot to lock the garage door.

Insulating Properties

Some people convert their garages into living space like a gym, game room, or an extra bedroom. If this is the case, you should focus on insulation properties. Natural wood is a good insulator, but many people prefer steel garage doors with insulation inside because wood does not last as long as steel and is harder to maintain.

More insulation will help keep the temperature inside the garage more comfortable, which is important regardless of whether or not your garage is connected to the HVAC system. If it is connected to the HVAC system, however, ensuring your garage is insulated can also help with energy loss. A garage door with little to no insulation and worn weather-stripping allows for the transfer of heat.

As an added benefit, the insulation inside steel garage doors offers some noise dampening. This is useful for keeping noisy outside sounds from bothering you, but it also prevents you from bothering your neighbors if you get too loud in your garage.

Windows

While adding more windows is often a popular choice for homes, garage windows have unique pros and cons to consider. The leading benefit is that windows allow natural light to enter the garage. This can be useful regardless of how you use your garage because it provides more light to help you see and navigate. In some cases, you may not even need to use the garage light, which saves money.

The leading downside of garage windows is the lack of privacy, which may be uncomfortable. For example, if you transformed your garage into a gym, you may not want passersby to look at you.

The lack of privacy also poses additional risks. Windows give potential burglars a great view of everything you have that they can steal. If they spot something they like, they may be more inclined to break into your garage. If they can’t see inside, they may be less inclined to take the risk since they don’t know the potential reward. Fortunately window options on garage doors now includes translucent, frosted, mirrored and obscured options to allow the light in but prevent seeing inside your garage.

Choosing the right garage door for your needs requires a bit of planning, but planning means fewer headaches in the future. If you would like to learn more, contact us at Plano Overhead Garage Door today.

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