Garage Door Styles

Meghan: So today is all about garage doors and all the different types of garage door styles. But before I take you to go see all the different options, I thought it would be kind of fun to take a quick driving tour to see what the average garage door looks like and from what I can tell so far, this is going to be pretty interesting. I am hitting the road searching for answers and finding great design. It is a quest for beauty, function and of course inspiration. Oh! Look at that beauty. Wow! Yes. You would think that their garage doors look really good because they are on the front of the house on many cases. A lot of people have their garage door facing the street. But you know, obviously, that is not just a priority. Either that or they do not look at the front of their house that often. As you can see, it is not that most garage doors are ugly. It is just that they are not interesting. And when a garage door takes up that much space in your home, you really want it to be a focal point which is now we are now—we are going to stop taking this driving tour and it is time to go see all of the different garage store styles that are available. I am sure you are probably thinking that I brought you to talk about updated garage door styles simply for superficial reasons but I promise you it is not. updating your garage door style can actually increase the value of your home but before I start talking too much about current appeal I got to go find Pat Lowsey. She is the marketing manager at Clopay and she knows far more about this than I do. I have heard that if you update your garage door and make it look nicer, that you can actually increase the value of your home. Pat: You can. We did a realtor study, Clopay did a realtor study where realtors did say if you select the right door for the home, it has to be the right door that you can increase the value of the home anywhere from 1% to 4%. Meghan: So what do you mean by the right door? Pat: Well the door has to look right on the home and what is great about the products that are out today is there are more design options than ever before. So it is much easier to select the right door for the home. Meghan: So, can you find a style for any style home? It is just not like it is the standard garage door you think of, there are more options? Pat: You can select the right door for the right home today. It was not that way ten years ago but today there are a lot more design options. Meghan: The trick to selecting the perfect garage door is using your home style as a guide. Before shopping, stand far away from your home and look at its architectural details. If your home has lots of straight lines, your garage door should mirror that. If your home has arches, you might select a garage door with arched windows. Pat: This is what we call an arch window and we have a square so that if there is other arched Palladian type windows on the exterior of the home, you could pick up that design with this arch or of the windows are square, more of a craftsman style home, then we have square windows to pick up more of the rectangular designs on those styles of homes. Meghan: Once you selected the right style garage door for your home, you need to consider how important customization is to you. The three common materials garage doors are made of are wood, steel and aluminum. Wood requires the most maintenance but it is also the most versatile because wood can be both stained and painted to match the exterior of your home. Steel can also be painted but it cannot be stained. While the standard wood, steel and aluminum garage doors look fine on their own, the way to really make them stand out is adding accessories. Windows, door handles, door notches and strap hinges turn your garage doors into stunning focal points that in some cases are more impressive than your front door and I know what you are thinking, to get a garage door that looks that god, it must cost a fortune but apparently, that is not the case. So then, we are back at the wood door or even like the—style you showed or even th