How do you know if your garage door actually needs to be replaced vs. just being fixed?
If you’re like us, you will deliberate, and deliberate until you make the decision to make a big purchase. Are you more liable to get Band-Aids put on something until it just falls apart?
There are a few reasons that you should replace your garage door rather than repair it!
Sometimes garage doors are just really old. Doors are made out of a several different materials, but the most common are steel, wood, or fiberglass.
Fiberglass garage doors are often older doors, commonly one-piece swing out, although one-piece doors can be made of wood and steel as well.
Steel sectional doors started getting installed in the late 80’s.
Wood doors are often times also sectional doors as well but aren’t installed as new doors very often anymore.
One Piece Swing Out Doors:
These doors are the original type of mechanized garage doors. These doors are not installed in homes anymore, and are VERY difficult to find parts for if they are broken. Usually if one of our service guys gets called to a job with a one-piece door with a broken spring or other integral part broken, we usually recommend replacing the door. This is because the doors are simply such an old system that it’s difficult to get a new part for it.
Steel Doors:
There are many reasons that these doors may need a replacement, but the biggest one is when there are three or more of the doors panels are broken.
Typically, steel panels are sold separately and do not include the cost of labor to install the new panels. With the combined cost of the new panels as well as the labor, it’s usually more cost effective to get the entire door replaced.
Another reason to get a steel door replaced is if you have an un-insulated door in an insulated garage. Having a door that is not insulated is as if you had an entire wall in your space that wasn’t insulated. It saps energy and typically costs you money to have, as heating and cooling bills are higher.
Wood Doors:
Wood doors have a tenancy to get warped after many years due to prolonged weather exposure. One of the most common things we see happen is something called “smiling”. Smiling is when both sides of the garage pull up, and the middle of the door is still sitting on the ground. This problem can’t be fixed since the issue is the wood itself being warped. This means that the shape of the door is going to start messing with the way that it travels on the tracks, and creates undue pressure on the door system, so that it won’t run a well as it should.
Since wood is so porous, it sucks in water, and swells in the wet months, and dries up in the hot months. This leads to the warping of the door.
Of course, significant damage to the door is enough to warrant a replacement. Wood doors used to be the most common doors installed in homes, but their prevalence has been replaced by steel. Because of them not being commonly installed any more, standard wood doors aren’t typically made. Wood doors are still made, but they are more commonly custom. Because of this, replacing even one wood panel on a door can be exceedingly expensive. It becomes more cost effective once again to just get the whole door replaced.
If you find yourself doing repairs on your door super often, (whatever it’s made of) it may be time to get a new door. Garage door systems simply get worn out over time. For many of us, the garage is our main point of entry to our home, so the doors are being opened and closed several times a day, everyday. When doors get worn out they often times need to be repaired. If they doors are starting to get tired and need to be looked at often, it may be a good idea to just get a new system.
There are several reasons doors may need to be replaced rather than repaired. The biggest reason across the board is when they have been damaged significantly. But sometimes they just need a refresh!
Call us today to get a free quote on replacing your garage door!