A garage door is an important investment in your home’s value and usefulness. This is why choosing the correct garage door for your home is so important. The materials most often used for garage doors are wood and steel. If you want to decide which one you want for your garage, you’ll need to understand the difference between the two. The following gives you a rundown of the pros and cons of steel and wood garage doors.
Wood Garage Doors
Wood has been used for decades to construct garage doors, and it is still an extremely popular material for this purpose, even though a number of alternatives like fiberglass and metal have appeared on the market. Wood garage doors often used in pricier homes because of the look of elegance they provide.
Often, wood garage doors are either semi or fully custom built to match the feel and appearance of the particular home. These doors can be made of real wood or can be from other materials designed to imitate the look or real wood (but requiring less maintenance).
Pros and Cons of Wood Garage Doors
- Attractive Appearance: The doors are viewed as far more luxurious and beautiful than other types and look more expensive (they are).
- Customizable Design: Wood garage doors provide endless style options. They are available in a wide range of designs, sizes, looks and colors to suit almost any home décor.
- Extremely Sturdy: Unlike steel doors, a wooden door will not dent. This means a wood garage door is unlikely to be seriously damaged if you bump into it with your lawnmower or your child hits it with a tricycle.
- Higher Cost: As mentioned previously, if you want the luxury and appearance of a wood garage door, you’ll have to pay a higher price for the more expensive materials and labor involved, particularly if it’s custom-built.
- Maintenance Issues: If not properly maintained, wood garage doors can chip, warp or even rot. Wood garage door owners have to repaint or sand and stain the door regularly. Moisture and termites can also cause damage.
Steel Garage Doors
The design, color and size options for steel garage doors are more limited than for wood, largely because they come directly from a factory. All steel garage doors come in standard sizes, so no customization.
Pros and Cons of Steel Garage Doors
- Low-Price: The biggest advantage of a steel garage door is that it is much less expensive than a wood garage door.
- Easier Maintenance: Homeowners never have to paint, sand or stain a metal garage door. Power washing is all that’s required.
- Lower Weight: Surprisingly, a steel garage door weighs less than a wood garage door. This makes them easier to open manually and to install.
- Tendency to Rust: Particularly in a seaside or rainy climate, steel garage doors tend to rust over the years.
- Easily Damaged: This type of door is much more likely to be dented or otherwise damaged.
Choosing the right garage door for your home is a significant decision. Whether you choose wood or steel will decide how long the door will last and how much maintenance you’ll have to perform, as well as how much it will cost.
Related Resource: Carriage House Garage Door
