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Thanks K'! If there's anyone advice on here that I don't question, it would be yours!
Amarr is the preference!
Here is what I have now, from 2000 when house was built. I suspect you've probably seen a few of these in your day. Garage itself is a mess, last on our improvements list once I'm done making messes in it for the rest of the projects inside the house.
A little closer look, and you'd be able to see where the wood joints are starting to spread. I am impressed with how these have held up though. When the driveway was done, it's pretty clear they came and put the final coat on without thinking too hard about drainage, as they stopped about 6 inches from the concrete skirt to the garage entrance, leaving a flat area that in a downpour fill up and slowly drains off towards the front of the house. I'm surprised the bottoms of these doors are completely rotten by now...
Question - do 3 panel doors require a different angle of curvature for their track? I see some 3 panel (instead of 4) for the same height that look pretty nice, but not sure of benefit or drawbacks for 3 over 4? Since we're on a corner lot and our driveway is about as influential to the curb appeal of the area as our front door is, I'm willing to spend a bit extra here, but not too wild.
Question - do 3 panel doors require a different angle of curvature for their track?
It's possible a 3-panel door might not work on some 4-or-more panel installations, but changing out the curve piece should be all that's required, assuming the tracks are in good enough shape to reuse. A 3-panel will have a deeper inside radius as it opens and closes - that is, a 4-panel might clear the back of an SUV parked close to the door, but a 3-panel might cross into that space.
It's possible a 3-panel door might not work on some 4-or-more panel installations, but changing out the curve piece should be all that's required, assuming the tracks are in good enough shape to reuse. A 3-panel will have a deeper inside radius as it opens and closes - that is, a 4-panel might clear the back of an SUV parked close to the door, but a 3-panel might cross into that space.
I follow you're points here as well. We're going to pull the old tracks too with the replacement and go with new ones. I have some room on both doors to raise the tracks, maybe a foot on the big door, and the little can actually go to the ceiling if we wanted after removing the storage racks. Our limitation on height is really that gray beam running down the middle of the ceiling, which marks the linear line of the front of the house in general. The single-side of the garage is more like a "bump out" in terms of design of the home.
I'd like a 3 panel if it could work, but I see your point about the curvature as the door would travel the turn in the track.
Ok, it is indeed looking like Amarr is our door brand, a 3 layer (CL3000) for best insulation factor of 13. It will also be a 3 panel instead of 4, as we have the room to make that work.
We've agreed on a design without needing divorce mediation. Wife and I rarely agree on this sort of stuff.
Now we're down to color choice and accessories. White with some accessories, or a wood finish (Walnut).
What do you guys think? The photo above is our current doors. Photos below are samples of replacements, and a couple of internet photo examples.
How realistic is the wood finish on these metal doors? Sales rep says it is a dead ringer, spot on, can't tell the difference without being close up and knocking on the metal.
Doubt we'll go with windows here. I don't like the lack of privacy in our setting for windows (considering I'm about to install 14 green giant arborvitae trees to enhance our privacy in general)!
Yes I agree, the "wood-look" are quite convincing. But I certainly wouldn't say that @3'- from the street, yes!
The color/finish is totally up to you- but if you have an HOA... and if the overwhelming majority is painted the same as the trim then I'd go the white route and paint to match.
Ok, well I think the time is upon us for a pair of new garage doors soon, a double (194 inches wide) and a single (96 inches wide). We have nearly 20 year old wood doors that are starting to fall apart (you know the type - recessed squares that feel like some kind of extra strong cardboard surrounded by actual wood - think Caddy Shack specials).
Our garage faces SW and we get a lot of wind on that side of the house. The doors on there now are HEAVY suckers! I like that aspect as the wind doesn't budge them. But I don't like that aspect as they're total death traps now as they're sagging in the middle when up. If they were to fall off the tracks, it's lights out below...
I'm on a relatively tight budget on this one. I'd like a luxury door, but not willing to pony up to the $8k territory to do it. Have other plans that need to be included this year. We'd like a carriage house type appearance though.
Metal is fine, but needs to be insulated. Not sure what r-value to go for though. I want just enough to slow the transfer of outdoor/indoor temp changes, but also realize that it doesn't really matter too much once you open one in general. I'd rather focus on stability in the wind.
Any suggestions out there for a brand they like? Hoping for the $4k-$5k territory for both installed. I already have the openers to use, will need new tracks and convert the single from the side hanging spring to a torsion spring. Is this a big-box type deal, or are the savings and/or quality that much better if I go to a "garage door company" type route instead?
2019....here we go....
Garage doors must've gone up a lot since I replaced mine. I had one like yours ... wood and something like Masonite for the panels. Weighed a ton, and was falling apart after just a few years. I replaced mine with a steel, foam insulated, glass panels, 16' wide, new hardware all around, and it was about $700, which included installation. Overhead Door was the company I bought it from. I put my own opener in, a Chamberlain WhisperQuiet belt drive with battery backup. Cost was about $200.
Guess things are really expensive in the northeast because we have insulated metal garage doors and they didn't cost anywhere near $4-5k.
Additionally, ours are probably pushing 20 something years old, if not longer. They've showed no signs of needing to replace. Maybe the trim around it, I guess, but not the actual door. I'm pretty certain there are a lot of original doors in my neighborhood.
Well got the first quote, ranged between $7200 and $7900 for the mid grade insulated and top grade insulated. About $2k of junk the quote though. I’m getting several quotes before we do anything.
We have a situation in our neighborhood, I call it the gated20 as in everything automatically costs 20% more than it should once the contractors come through the entrance gates. Have to haggle every time while also being fair to the guys. I can’t blame them for trying as I’d do the exact same thing myself, as there are several in this neighborhood that don’t live in budget-land quite like I have to.
I suspect we’ll pull this off for right around $5,000 - $5,500. We want top notch steel doors here and ok to pay a bit more for them, as our garage side actually functions more like our front door 99% of the time and a big part of our overall curb appeal being on a corner lot.
Yep, it's looking like $5k is the sweet spot to get exactly what we want, now that we've collected several bids. Time to see if the one who put in the most effort will lower a little bit more to compete. We're going with the wood color (Walnut) after polling the neighbors opinions..
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