Pop quiz: Who chose the garage door that’s currently on your Toronto house? If you did congratulations. You’re among a relatively small percentage of homeowners who can make that claim. For most, the garage door they have now is the garage door that came with the house. That means that most homeowners don’t know the person who selected their garage door. And that’s kind of remarkable when you think about it. After all, the garage door is the largest single component of your home’s exterior and yet someone else picked it out. We’re not suggesting there is necessarily anything wrong with the door you have only that wanting to put your own stamp on your house is one of many reasons why you should think about changing your garage door this year.
Table Of Content
- Modern Garage Doors Come in a Range of Styles. Try on a New One This Year
- Your Home Will be Worth More
- Your Home Will Look Better
- Your Garage Will be a Better Storage Area
- Your Home Will be Safer
- You’ll Save Money On Heating
- You’ll The Door Itself Will be Safer
- You’ll You’ll Save on Maintenance
- Your Door Will be More Dependable
- You’ll Save on Air Conditioning
- Your Car Will Thank You
- You May Save on Home Insurance
- Customization
- It Will be Yours
- The Bottom Line
Modern Garage Doors Come in a Range of Styles. Try on a New One This Year
The garage door is really one of the most important architectural elements on the entire house. Because beyond its simple functional value it also serves an array of other purposes, many of them aesthetic and some economic. If you’ve had your garage door for a while (whether or not you picked it out) you should give serious thought to replacing it this year and here are 13 reasons why:
1. Your Home Will be Worth More
As we mentioned the garage door is the single largest component of the exterior of your home. It’s also the largest moving component of your home. In fact it’s so large that it’s nearly impossible to miss unless it’s shunted away around the side of the house, which few garage doors actually are. This extreme visibility means the garage door has a direct and significant impact on the curb appeal of your home. And anything that affects the visual appeal of your home also affects its value. Real estate agents know the value of our great looking frameless glass garage doors because they see how people react to them every day. A house with a new door that’s a perfect match for the home stylistically and colouristically is worth more than a home with a randomly chosen garage door that’s worn around the edges and squeals and shakes as it rises and falls.
2. Your Home Will Look Better
You’re not selling your home. So why should you be bothered about curb appeal and the like? Because your home is very likely the largest single investment you’ll ever make. As such it’s important that it be properly maintained, but it’s also important that it look the part. Replacing your aging garage door with one that’s a significant step up functionally and aesthetically – perhaps one of our flush garage doors – isn’t the kind of home improvement that’s going to break your bank. But it will return more than 90% on your investment and it will help your house look as good as it possibly can for many years to come. Now that’s a cost effective upgrade.
3. Your Garage Will be a Better Storage Area
If you have an old leaky garage door it affects everything in the garage. From the car itself to all those things you now have to stash in the garage because when you finished the basement you inadvertently cut your available storage space by 90%. A cold, damp garage is going to do a number on that couch you’re storing in there. Same with any rugs you may have rolled up and slid under the workbench. And clothes too. By replacing your old garage door with an insulated one that’s taut and fits the opening properly you not only lower your heating bills (more on that below) you also turn the garage into truly usable storage space. And if it’s one thing everyone needs more of these days it’s storage space.
4. Your Home Will be Safer
An old garage door is not just an eyesore and a draft maker it’s also a security risk. That’s right. A garage door that’s loose in its tracks, that doesn’t have a deadbolt, that has clear windows or doesn’t close properly is an invitation to the local B&E guy to come and get it. (And most B&E guys live in the same neighbourhoods where they “work”.) If you have an old garage door it’s a target, plain and simple. By replacing it with one of our smooth garage doors you make the entire house a safer place for yourself and your loved ones.
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5. You’ll Save Money On Heating
Most homeowners don’t think about it but one reason their energy bills are so high in the winter is because their garage door is a sieve that turns the garage itself into an icebox. When a freezing cold space (the garage) is separated from a heated space (let’s say the kitchen) by a wall the freezing cold space acts like a vacuum and sucks heat right through the wall before venting it through the leaky garage door into the atmosphere. It’s the same if you have a room above the garage. If the old door is letting the ice cold January air into the garage heat is going to be sucked through the floor and lost forever. So next time you’re staring at an outrageous heating bill you might want to think about replacing that old garage door with one of our modern garage doors.
6. The Door Itself Will be Safer
We talked about how a new garage door can make your entire home safer. But when you replace your old garage door with a new one you’re also making the door itself safer. When doors get old their springs get old. And it’s the springs that actually do the lifting of the door, not the motor. Old springs have a tendency to snap and when they do you don’t want to be anywhere near them. Replacing the whole door mechanism means new, safer springs. A new door also means a new auto reverse function. Older doors don’t have this important safety feature. The auto reverse feature is comprised of a beam of light that shines across the width of the door opening. If something (like a child or a pet) breaks this beam while the door is closing the door automatically reverses course, saving the child or pet from serious injury.
7. You’ll Save on Maintenance
Another big plus when it comes to installing a new garage door is that you’ll be free of calling us every couple of months to come and realign the tracks, or replace some broken rollers, or install a new pulley, or replace a broken extension spring, or figure out what’s wrong with the opener, or… well, you get the picture. Old doors may be charming and have plenty of character in their cracked panels and squeaky sound but the truth is they’re a lot of work. And somebody has to pay for all that maintenance work. That would be you. Installing a new garage door this year will enable you to say goodbye to the repairman for a good long time and put your money to better uses.
8. Your Door Will be More Dependable
Nothing’s worse than arriving home in a blinding Toronto snowstorm only to find the overhead door won’t open. It happens with older doors. They get cranky, decide not to open – or only open partially – and then you have to call someone to come fix it. With a new garage door you can rest easy knowing that, no matter the weather, no matter the temperature or the speed of the wind, your door is going to open when you ask it to each and every time.
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9. You’ll Save on Air Conditioning
Just as a freezing cold garage sucks heat out of adjoining rooms a garage that’s hot enough to make toast in the summer makes the air conditioning system work harder than it already is. That’s because the heat from the garage heats the adjoining walls and radiates into whatever room happens to be unlucky enough to be next door. One of our new, fully insulated smooth garage doors that fits the opening like a bug in a rug will help prevent the garage from overheating in the summer so you don’t have to pay through the nose to keep the rest of the house cool. As an added bonus consider this: an air conditioning system that doesn’t have to work as hard doesn’t break down and need repairs as often and will last longer. So savings all around.
10. Your Car Will Thank You
You know that cold Toronto air the old garage door is letting in? The cold air that’s sucking the heat out of your kitchen and sending it off into the atmosphere? Yeah, that cold air. Well it’s not doing your car any favours either. Yes, cars are made of steel and rubber and plastic and aluminum and other kinds of tough stuff. But there’s a reason rich folks don’t leave their expensive cars outside. Because the cold, damp air is tough on cars. Your tires will stiffen up when the temperature drops and then heat up again as you start moving. And just like the freeze/thaw cycle destroys roads it can also degrade the integrity of your tires. Cold air also affects the battery, windshield wipers, the quality of the transmission fluid and more. A nice new door that keeps the garage warm can change all that.
11. You May Save on Home Insurance
When you install your new garage door this year it’s likely you’ll earn a break on your homeowner’s insurance in the process. That’s because your new door will be more effective at warding off intrusions, (as we mentioned above) and the door will be less likely to be the cause of an accident such as happens when old doors come out of their tracks or you or someone you know gets hurt trying to fix the door when in inevitably breaks. Insurance companies hate old garage doors. Get a new door and give yourself a break. Make sure to talk to your insurance agent before you install your new door. They may have useful information that can help you save more.
12. Customization
Today’s garage doors are more beautiful, more versatile and made from a wider range of materials than ever before. Whereas your grandparents pretty much had to accept the same type of white, wood panel door everyone else on the block had you get to choose from wood, aluminum, steel, fiberglass, composite, glass and more. And your door can be fully insulated or non-insulated. Flush garage doors, smooth garage doors or even frameless glass garage doors are all on the table. If you want you can design a totally customized door from scratch. The sky’s the limit.
13. It Will be Yours
We end where we began with the fact that new garage doors, whether flush garage doors, frameless glass garage doors or a replica of the white wooden door your grandparents had will be yours. Your door. Your choice. No more looking at your old door wondering who would have ever chosen such a thing. No more saddling your otherwise beautiful home with someone else’s questionable choice.
The Bottom Line
Modern garage doors are marvels of design and efficiency. They can be quiet as a dormouse, fast as lighting and smooth as silk. And the best part is you don’t have to mortgage the house in order to afford one. For a relatively modest investment you can increase your home’s curb appeal and bottom line value, make everyone inside safer, make sure you get safely into the house during the next blizzard and make a design statement that will be the envy of the neighbourhood.
Centurion Garage Doors are one of the most trusted garage door companies in the Toronto area.
Give us a call today on 289-857-1200 to find out more about how a beautiful new garage door can help you.