How To Buy Garage Doors: Step-by-Step Buyer’s Guide

How To Buy Garage Doors: Materials, Styles, and Costs

A new garage door can bring many benefits to your home, from beautification to increasing security and even reducing energy bills. But the process of buying the right garage door can seem daunting, especially if you’ve never bought one before. This article will serve as a guide, discussing the advantages of a new garage door, what factors to consider when choosing one, and how to find the perfect door for your home. 

Why Buy a Garage Door?

There are many home improvement projects you could undertake. The one that would benefit your house the most depends on your circumstances, but a new garage door is often a great choice.

Here are some benefits you can enjoy with a new door for your garage:

• Increased curb appeal: “Curb appeal” is a real estate term that denotes how attractive a home looks from the street. Garage doors often feature prominently on a house, so a beautiful new garage door can make the whole home more appealing. This can increase the value of your property and buyer appeal when you sell your home.
• Minimal investment required: Not only can a garage door boost your home’s value, but buying one is the most cost-effective home renovation option. In fact, garage doors routinely add more value to a home than the cost to purchase and install them.
• Energy efficiency: An insulated garage door provides an often overlooked benefit to homes because it reduces thermal transfer. In attached garages, the door is often a place where air can easily escape a home. This means hot air leaves in winter and cool air exits in summer. With the right insulation, the garage can maintain the house’s temperature more effectively, reducing the cost of heating and air conditioning.
• Safety and privacy: A new, sturdy garage door can act as a better barrier to people who may want to infiltrate your home. An insulated garage door also provides a measure of soundproofing, increasing privacy.
• Style: Although the above practical benefits are great, you should also consider the importance of the right garage door style. You can create a facade for your house that looks beautiful and communicates a sense of your personal aesthetic.

How To Buy a Garage Door: Step-by-Step

Clearly, there are many good reasons to invest in a new garage door. Now, let’s explore how to choose and purchase the right door. Here are some steps you can follow:

Step 1: Assess Your Needs and Budget 

It’s important to determine what you can comfortably spend before looking at new garage doors. While installing a new garage door is less expensive than other home improvements, it’s still a significant purchase. Garage door prices can vary, so it’s helpful to consider what matters most to you. If you have an attached garage and/or you like to spend time in your garage, then it might be wise to consider features that fit your lifestyle, such as an insulated garage door.

Step 2: Measure Your Garage Door Opening

As the old carpenter’s saying goes, “Measure twice, cut once.” Meaning, if you don’t measure properly, you could cut the wrong length of wood and potentially waste useful lumber. A garage door is a valuable investment, and it can be challenging to correct mistakes, so it is important to get the dimensions of your garage opening correct. 

Step 3: Choose the Right Garage Door Material 

A wood garage door is beautiful and sturdy, but keep in mind that wood can be heavy, which can affect the infrastructure required for an overhead door. Steel garage doors are also sturdy and offer good durability. Aluminum garage doors are the lightest option while still offering an impressive strength-to-weight ratio.

If you prefer the look of wood doors but are concerned about their weight and the necessary maintenance (making sure they don’t stay damp), consider faux-wood finishes. The right paint can give aluminum or steel doors the look of a wood garage door. Whatever you choose, make sure to pick a garage door manufacturer that uses high-quality materials to maximize the lifespan of your door and minimize the amount of garage door repair and maintenance it requires.

Step 4: Select a Garage Door Style 

Remember, there’s no such thing as the perfect garage door — only the right door for your home. Consider what styles you like and which ones fit your house. Think about what hardware you want, from handles to windows. Window placement is also key. Do you want large windows to maximize natural light or smaller, higher windows to maintain privacy?

Step 5: Select Features and Technology

It’s important to consider accessories, such as the garage door opener. The most advanced door openers come with apps and sophisticated features that can integrate with smart home technologies to maximize convenience and security.

Amarr’s Garage Door Collections

If you’re wondering which door style works best for your home, find some inspiration by perusing your options with an Amarr garage door. Explore our collection from stately Carriage House doors to the homey Heritage line to the modern look of our Vista doors. You can even design your own garage door to get the perfect look for your house.

Garage Door Installation Considerations

The last step in buying a garage door is installing it. But should you install it yourself?

The answer is (probably) no. Even handy people experienced in DIY can struggle to maneuver a heavy garage door while figuring out where to install brackets and the torsion spring. Letting the professionals handle garage door installation means less work for you and confidence that the job was done right, reducing the likelihood of needing excessive garage door repair and maintenance in the future.

FAQs About How To Buy Garage Doors

Here are some frequently asked questions about buying a residential garage door:

How Much Should I Budget for a New Garage Door?

Some estimates put the average cost of a new garage door installation at $1,200. But prices can deviate from the average significantly depending on various factors. One major consideration is material choice. The cheapest material might only be $300, but this would likely be a case of “You get what you pay for.”

High-quality but still affordable materials, such as steel, can come in under that $1,200 mark, but high-end materials, like certain types of wood, can cost in the thousands. Professional installation will likely add a few hundred dollars to the total cost, but this depends on geography, as labor costs vary by location. And remember that getting the right door at the right price depends on your circumstances.

What’s the Best Garage Door Size?

This is entirely subjective; the best door size is the one that fits your garage opening. Garage doors are most commonly multi-panel units, so the number of panels affects the size. You can read more about garage door sizing here.

What’s Better: A 1 ¼ HP or ¾ HP Garage Door Opener?

Garage door openers come with different amounts of horsepower (HP). For single doors made of lightweight materials, a ⅓ HP opener may suffice. For oversized and heavy doors, a ¾ HP door may be necessary, or even a 1 ¼ HP opener for especially heavy doors (such as wooden garage doors). However, for most single and double doors, a ½ HP opener is the recommended option.

What Are Some Common Garage Door-Buying Mistakes To Avoid?

Beginning a new garage door journey without a budget in mind is a common mistake that can have bad consequences down the line. Focusing too much on price and opting for a less-than-high-quality door can end up costing more if you have to repair or replace it soon. 

It’s also important to do some research before buying a door. Sometimes people pay more for an expensive door when a more affordable one will do. And then there’s the basic — yet costly — mistake of not measuring your current door and the surrounding area. 

Last, there are common mistakes surrounding garage door installation. These range from not opting for professional installation at all to not clearing and cleaning the area before the installers arrive. You can learn more about choosing a garage door here.

How To Buy a Garage Door? Start With Amarr

At Amarr, we know that choosing a new garage door can feel overwhelming. We try to make the process as simple as possible, presenting all the many options we have available in a streamlined, straightforward way on our website. There, you can follow each step and search for the door that fits your exact needs.

If you already know what kind of door you want, your next step is to find a garage door dealer near you. You can do that on our Find a Dealer page.