From two-bedroom homes in the suburbs to industrial buildings in a rural community, the material your garage door is built with is crucial in ensuring that you feel safe and secure and that your door lasts for years to come.
The best materials for your garage door can depend on multiple factors including:
The terrain you live on
The aesthetic that you’re looking for
The intended use of the building
Garage doors are built from many different types of materials. Each has its benefits depending on your needs. Steel, aluminum, fiberglass and glass are the most common options and all are potentially great choices for your garage door. Let's take a closer look at what each of these different materials has to offer.
Steel and Aluminum: Reliable and Trustworthy
Steel
Steel is an immensely popular material for garage doors. It's used for a wide range of homes and businesses due to its overall affordability and the sense of safety that it brings. Steel is lightweight, low-maintenance, and steel garage doors provide a great amount of insulation across seasons. An added benefit of steel may be lower electricity costs.
Steel is incredibly versatile and can be fashioned into different colors, styles, and designs. It gives you a great number of options to further personalize your home's aesthetic.
Aluminum
Aluminum is another popular material that garage doors utilize. Like steel, it is a lightweight and malleable material that can be customized to fit a number of aesthetic choices. Aluminum tends to be less expensive and weighs less than steel garage doors while still providing great insulation. It's a low-maintenance product and a wonderful option to consider if you’re on a budget.
Fiberglass: Low Maintenance and Fashionable
Fiberglass is a excellent material when it comes to providing lightweight protection along with unique aesthetic options. While fiberglass is not a great insulator in and of itself, fiberglass doors are steel doors that have a fiberglass coating – which augments the benefits of both materials.
The biggest advantage of a fiberglass garage door is its longevity. Fiberglass is a material that can stand the tests of time with little to moderate amounts of maintenance. It's also versatile and can resemble natural wood or a smooth surface. Consider this option when you want to add unique customization to your garage.
Being a wonderfully lightweight material, fiberglass garage doors are much less likely to cause wear and tear on your garage door's gears, and is a great material when you need to manually open and close your garage door.
While being slightly more expensive than steel garage doors, fiberglass is still an affordable option that's especially well-suited to humid areas where it can be difficult to maintain the integrity of your garage door.
Glass: Modern and Chic
Glass garage doors offer a variety of benefits, especially for business buildings. First off, the natural light that these garage doors let in is an absolute game changer. Glass allows businesses - large or small - to showcase their space in a natural and stylish manner.
Secondly, glass garage doors are made out of tempered glass, so they hold up extremely well in terms of stability.
Third, without needing to be painted or remodeled, these garage doors are an amazing low-maintenance option for those that are looking for a more modern and cultured look.
It should be noted that glass garage doors do not have the benefit of extra insulation like other garage doors such as steel and fiberglass have. Keep this factor in mind when thinking of your business or home.
What Material is Best for Your Garage Door?
With so many great and diverse options, what’s the best garage door for you? Ultimately, you’ll want to pick a material that best fits your lifestyle and compliments your home's or building’s aesthetic. Here at Metro Garage Door, we’re passionate about finding the garage door for your home. Please reach out to us with any questions or to set up a consultation. We look forward to hearing from you!