ASK THE PROFESSIONALS
Q. I have an old wooden garage door. What would be the benefit of replacing the door?
A. Here are several good reasons to replace your garage door:
Improve the appearance of your home
There are so many aesthetically pleasing garage door designs to choose from today. If your garage is in the front of your home, it accounts for about one-third of the face of your home. Not to mention, the rate of return for installing a new garage door is over 80%!
No more painting!
Do you like to paint? Wood doors require regular maintenance. Metal doors are more sturdy and don’t require painting, thereby reducing your maintenance time and costs. Sounds like a win-win situation to us!
Cut your heating and cooling costs
Consider replacing your old garage door with an insulated one. It will keep the heat out in the summer and the cold out in the winter helping to reducing your energy costs. This is especially true if you have a bedroom above the garage or if you use the garage as a workshop, studio or playroom.
Protect stored items from the elements
Most garages are used to store items that need to be protected from extreme heat or cold. If you select an insulated door with a thermo barrier it will prevent heat or cold from getting inside and damaging your stored items.
Security
The garage door provides easy access to your home. For some owners it’s used more often than the front door because you drive in and out of your garage door every day. To secure access to your home make sure you select a door opener that uses secure access codes.
Prevent the risk of injuries-Keep kids and pets safe!
This means if the door is coming down while a child or pet is passing underneath, it will automatically go back and prevent injury. Electronic eyes are now mandatory on all new garage door installations so when someone or an object crosses the light beam it to rises automatically.
Replacing your garage door will pay for itself by reducing your energy costs, improving your home’s appearance and increasing its value.
Q.If I purchase a new door, is the opener included, or is that a separate purchase?
The garage door opener is a separate purchase. If your current opener is old, you may want to consider replacing it when you have the garage door installed.
Since 1993 garage door openers have been required to be equipped with a safety reversing mechanism. This feature utilizes two sensors about six inches above floor level on both sides of the door. When any object, such as a child or pet, runs through the light beam created by these sensors while the door is closing, the door immediately stops and reverses.
If your garage door opener does not have a safety reversing feature, or if the one it does have no longer works, replacing the opener is highly recommended.
Noise Control
Does your garage door opener wake the dead? If so, a new opener will almost certainly be quieter.
New and improved! The original style of garage door opener opened and closed with a chain drive. If you can see something that looks like a bicycle chain near the motor unit of your opener, consider replacing it with a screw drive or belt drive garage door opener. Even a newer model chain drive unit will likely be quieter than an older model.
Security
Older garage door openers were vulnerable to thieves. Because their remote controls functioned with a fixed code, someone with a special device could sit outside your house and find the code, allowing them to open the garae door.
New garage door openers have a “rolling code” feature, which changes the code every time the unit is used. Thieves can no longer duplicate the code and get into your garage uninvited.
Touch Pad—no key required! Older garage door openers did not offer keypads that could be mounted outside the garage. This handy feature allows you to enter a code into the keypad that will open the garage door. No keys required. You may be able to buy a keypad to install with your existing garage door opener. If not, this might be a good reason to upgrade. Newer keypad units even eliminate the need to remember a code. They operate by touch, using fingerprint detection to open the door. How cool is that?
Battery Backup—Don’t get stuck in your garage. One of the big inconveniences of a power outage is often the inability to operate the garage door opener. Garage door openers are now available with battery backup systems that will kick in automatically when you lose electrical power.