Question:
My situation is a new addition attached three car garage with three
seperate doors the garage is insulated and the architect is calling
for 9' X 8' size doors. I don't want wood doors but do want
insulated. It will either be installed by the contractor or sub
contracted out if he decides (haven't picked the GC yet.)
There will be a room above the garage bays so if one is quiet that
would be nice as well. Thanks for your help.
Also, each door will also have electronic door openers, I don't know
which brand yet.
Answer:
-I install and service garage doors for a living. The answer is ....depends.
If you could provide a little more information about your application,
wants, etc. I'll give you my opinion.
Wood or steel, insulated or non-insulated, attached or detached garage,
single or double width, installed by you or a professional. All of this
must be considered before I could make any recommendations.
-The biggest problem with an off the shelf wood door is the materials they
are made with these days. Mostly mfd and fiberboard. They just don't last
in the weather unless you work on them every time the seasons change.
Kinda' like an old wood boat. Even then, I've seen them deteriorate really
quick. (Just drive around and look at the bottom sections of wooden doors
in any subdivision that is over 5 years old, and you'll see what I mean.)
The alternative is custom made wood doors which can be VERY pricey.
A non-insulated steel door is an option,but here's why I don't recommend
that for any garage attached to a home. Sooner or later you will want it
insulated. By the time you either buy the insulation kit or pay somebody to
insulate, you will have spent the same amount of money that a double steel
insulted door would have cost in the first place. (On a good 70% of the
hollow pan doors I've installed in attached garages, I've returned within a
year to insulate them and collected another $180 from the homeowner. If
they would have bought the double steel insulated door to start with, they
would have saved about $30 and had a better door.)
My biggest nightmare as an installer is putting a door up in a basement
garage. (fair warning) This is mainly because of the amount of headroom
available for the door to go up in. Headroom is the distance from the top
of the door to the ceiling. For example, if your ceiling is 8' high and you
door is 7' high, you have 12 inches of headroom. If you have less than 12
full inches for the door to transition from vertical to horizontal, you
would be best to have a professional install it. Standard track and
fixtures won't work. It all has to be modified in one way or another and
the whole thing can get a little hairy. If, on the other hand, you have
enough headroom, I'd be glad to give you more advice in putting it up
yourself.
