From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein
DETROIT, June 1, 2023 ~ It’s the most cluttered space in American homes and 24% of us admit we would be embarrassed to leave the door open.
The “space” is the garage and the door we are talking about is the vehicular access door that can occupy up to one-third of the square footage of our front elevation.
Garage doors have been cited in history as long ago as 450 B.C. when Roman chariots were stored in gatehouses. As recently as 1902, Cornell Iron Works advertised their “Float Over Door,” which was a single-panel door that rose over and above a parked car in the garage.
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Buildings dedicated to car storage were initially relegated to the back of the property as carriage houses were converted to store that new car purchase during the winter months.
Garages have evolved from a luxury to a necessity as they are commonly 20% to 50% of the footprint occupied by a home and can add 20% to nearly 40% to the value of a home, depending on its location.
Today, 80% of homes and condominiums in the U.S. have an attached garage or carport and that front-facing garage door has become a visual focal point.
In fact, in recent cost-to-value surveys, garage doors offer a return on investment, ROI, of 80% to 90%. Couple that with a typical ROI of up to 100% for new front doors, and you can readily see the value in choosing a higher quality and design for that door.
Garage doors are often the literal front door of the home, gaining visual prominence in the past several decades and averaging three to five opening cycles per day for commuter families. A “standard” garage door size is 9 X 7 with the width of the unit always the first dimension given. Average installation costs for this are $1,000 – $1,500. Openers add $300-$500 to the investment.
But price variations can be much wider as the material changes along with door type and size. While standard height is 7 feet, typical widths range from 8 to 20 feet for single openings.
Door height can also be customized, with 8 feet becoming more common and use of even taller doors for RV storage and commercial use.
Door materials are typically steel or aluminum with stamped or embossed wood patterns. Thickness or gauge of the metal tends to reflect quality, value and pricing with heavier gauges providing greater value over time.
Insulated doors offer better thermal and sound protection and are generally even quieter during operation. Special order products can be made from wood, vinyl, composites, copper, glass or Fiberglas.
Doors may be a conventional panel unit, roll up, single panel, side hinged like the old carriage style or top mounted roller that people often refer to as a “barn-door” style. Automatic openers are typically either belt or chain driven with the chain drive often preferred for greater longevity and heavier doors.
Garage doors are not a DIY project. Even the less expensive units can weigh more than 150 pounds and require professional balancing to operate smoothly and safely.
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