10 Reasons Why You Should Buy a New Garage Door and When is The Right Time to Do It

If your home has a two-car garage, the garage door may constitute 20% or more of the face your house presents to passersby. If the profile of your home is somewhat offset to the street, the garage door may constitute as much as 50% of what people see when they look at your house. So if your garage door is a problem, it’s the problem people will see; regardless of how beautifully realized the rest of the home’s exterior might be.

The Benefits of Installing New Garage Doors in Your Westminster Home

Replacing a garage door is a big decision but there are plenty of good reasons why you’ll want to go ahead with it in the coming year. Here are 10 in no particular order.

1. Enhanced Appearance - Perhaps your current garage door is old and displaying some wear and tear. Or maybe you inherited it from a previous owner whose idea of stylish looks an awful lot like tacky to you. Whatever the cause, if you’ve been living with a garage door that you really don’t like to look at it’s time to make a change; for your sake and the sake of your home.
2. Increased Home Value - Questions of style aside, if your garage door is old and creaky it can significantly impact your ability to close on your house should you decide to sell it. As mentioned earlier a garage door is a huge part of what people see from the street; and you never get a second chance to make a first impression as they say. Replacing a dog-eared old door with something quiet and elegant will change the way the entire house is perceived by would-be buyers.
3. Increased Safety - Old garage doors with thousands of open/close cycles to their credit represent a genuine safety risk. That’s because the more cycles, the weaker the spring gets. If it’s never been replaced and/or has been less than perfectly maintained it could snap at any time. Take our word for it, you don’t want to be under an open garage door when the torsion spring snaps. It’s times like that you realize just how heavy a garage door really is.
4. Increased Energy Efficiency - An old garage door that rattles around in its tracks, contains loose panels and has inadequate or worn out weather stripping creates a walk-in freezer attached to your house. Any rooms that abut the garage will have their heat pulled through the wall and any room unlucky enough to be above the garage will need to have the heat cranked constantly on cold nights. A new insulated garage door will seal your garage up tight and help keep the entire home warmer for less.
5. Increased Possibilities - Once your garage is sealed up tight with new, insulated garage doors you can start to think about putting the garage to practical use. Perhaps you’d like to have a woodworking shop in the garage but it’s always been too cold in the winter. Or maybe you’ve wanted to store things there but the extreme cold and invading elements have always made that impractical. Not anymore!
6. Increased Personal Security - An old, ill-fitting garage door is more than a threat to property stored in the garage; it’s also a personal threat to everyone living in the home. A significant portion of home invasions occur through garage doors and most of those through doors that are more than 10 years old. Today’s doors are marvels of modern security. Get an insulated, steel garage door with a code changing system for the automatic opener and go back to resting easy at night.
7. Less Maintenance - An old garage door is likely to require maintenance on a fairly regular basis. Something is always giving out, whether it’s the spring, the cables, the panels, the track or something else. Either that or it needs to be repainted. A new garage door will eliminate the need for everything but a once a year maintenance check from the folks at A Better Garage Door to keep it running smooth, quiet and trouble-free.
8. Lower Insurance Premiums - Once you remove the “welcome” sign to burglars that an old garage door represents it’s likely you can enjoy a reduction in your home insurance premiums. Discuss the prospect of replacing your garage door with your insurance agent. They may be able to offer advice about exactly which type of door to buy in order to enjoy the greatest savings.
9. Noise Reduction - An old door can sound like a tank is rolling through your house when it opens; rattling and clanging its way up and down the tracks. Likewise an old, loose door with lots of gaps between panels and around the edges will allow a lot of street noise to penetrate the house. Replacing your garage door with a new tight-fitting, insulated door will eliminate noise pollution from both inside and outside the home.
10. ROI - Replacing a garage door can be one of the most attractive home improvements you can make from an investment standpoint. Studies indicate that only front door replacement will yield a higher ROI than garage door replacement when it comes to mid-priced home enhancements. Considering that garage door replacement is also one of the most affordable improvements you can make to your home it’s a winning proposition no matter how you look at it.

Remember, that a garage door will only last around 15-30 years, check out this article to ensure that it lasts as long as possible.

Replacing garage doors is one of the smartest, easiest, most cost-effective improvements homeowners in Thornton and Westminster can make to their property. Even if you are not driven by a desire to replace an unattractive or creaky old door you could still enjoy significant benefits from replacing the garage door you have. Those benefits start with aesthetics but don’t stop there: safety, energy efficiency, lower insurance premiums, noise reduction and more are just some of the additional benefits of replacing your garage door.

Now that you know all the reasons why a new garage door can benefit you and your family lets take a look at when you should throw in the towel and get a new garage door.

Is it Time to Throw in the Towel on Your Garage Door?

When properly installed and maintained garage doors will typically give you 10 or even 20 years of service. But there comes a time in the life of every door when repairing it may no longer make sense. In those instances you’ll need to pick out a new door and have a professional garage door company install it for you. But how do you know that your door has breathed its last? Well, you could talk to the company that does your maintenance for you or you could read the tea leaves and decide for yourself. But what signs are you looking for that tell you it’s time to replace your garage door? Below we’ll lay some out for you.

It’s Time to Replace the Garage Door if...

Your garage door will usually send you signals that it’s had enough. The key is knowing how to read and interpret them. Some folks stick with their old door long after they should have replaced it and in the process waste money trying to keep the Titanic afloat. So what are the signs that it’s time to throw in the towel and opt for garage door replacement?

• The Door is Repeatedly Breaking Down - Garage doors are like cars or any other mechanical device; the older they get the more frequently they break down and the more (financial) attention they need. It’s called the law of diminishing returns. If you find yourself calling the garage door repair company once a month it’s time to seriously consider installing a new door. A responsible garage door company will tell you just that, even if it means they’ll lose the income from coming out to your place every month to effect repairs.


• The Door is Rockin’ and Rollin’ - A properly functioning garage door should slide effortless up and down the tracks, like Fred Astaire gliding across the dance floor. Maybe a wee bit of squeaking is to be expected with age and that’s okay. But if the door is truly rockin’ and rollin’ all night long and acts more like a refugee from a mosh pit than a ballerina it’s probably time to pack it in and go searching for a replacement. Stuttering and vibrating can be signs of serious underlying problems with the tracks, rollers, springs, motor or some combination of them all. So if you find yourself crossing your fingers every time you hit “up”, it’s probably time to run the white flag up the pole and start looking at replacement garage doors.


• The Door Presents a Security Risk - The fact that the garage door covers the largest opening on your home’s exterior should tell you all you need to know about the important role it plays in your home’s security profile. If the door is old and lose with cracked panels that have spaces between them it’s putting your entire family in jeopardy. We can joke about the door rockin’ and rollin’ but the role it plays in keeping the bad guys outside is no laughing matter. All a determined crook needs to break into your home through a broken down old garage door is a crowbar and about 30 seconds. Don’t invite trouble. Install a new door before your luck runs out.


• There are Several Panels that Need Attention - If you have an old wooden door that has multiple cracked and splintered panels it’s probably time for garage door replacement. That’s because the wood has likely reached the end of its usefulness so as soon as you replace a few of the panels cracks will appear in others. By the time you replace all the panels some other problem will arise with the motor or the springs and you’ll continue to shell out money trying to stave off the inevitable. If you have more than one or two cracked and splintered panels start shopping around for a new door.


• The Design is Hopelessly Antiquated - Never underestimate the impact your garage door has on the curb appeal of your home and, by extension, its value. If your door can remember when the Berlin Wall came down it’s probably time to replace it just on general aesthetic principles. Today’s garage doors are marvels of efficiency and have embraced leading edge materials and designs so by replacing your cold war vet you can give your entire property a significant boost.

The Bottom Line

There’s no reason to replace a garage door at the first sign of trouble. But if your door has been around the block a few too many times and is turning into more of a money pit than a convenience it’s time to throw in the towel and call A Better Garage Door. We have an array of replacement garage doors ready to go at a moment’s notice that are stylish, energy efficient, safe and affordable. General rule of thumb if your Garage Door is over 15 years old, which many of them in the Commerce City Reunion area are then it's a good time to consider an upgrade