Garage doors are built to last. However, while they may last for more than ten or twenty years, and still function, this doesn’t mean they don’t need replacement. Nothing is forever, and even if it was, this is the human nature: we love shopping, we like new things, we like to make changes from time to time, although we could, for instance, solve insulation problems by buying a garage door insulation kit for much less than the price of a new door. Some of us may have other reasons for buying new things instead of repairing the old ones: they have enough money and they don’t have enough skills for a proper repair.

Here are a few considerations you may not have thought of when you went for a garage door repair each time something got broken.

Old garage doors are prone to making some strange noises, like rattling, therefore getting straight on your nerves each time you open and shut them. If you have a positive attitude towards this issue, think at your neighbors who need to endure this garage door violin concerto each time you need to use your car.

As beautiful and elegant as they are, wooden garage doors will inevitably crack, or warp (or both) in time and become misaligned, because the wood changes its size and shape thanks to bad weather conditions.

Rollers and tracks will wear with time and will probably get rusted. Replacing all these elements is a difficult attempt and it may be quite expensive, so you need to estimate at a point in time that you may be in advantage if you bought a new door instead of repairing the old one.

If you live in areas with periods of high humidity levels, your garage door will get sagging moldings which are almost impossible to eliminate completely. Mold is dangerous to health and it may trigger severe respiratory reactions in case of mold allergy sufferers.

When your door gets old and warped, the dust will enter in your garage through the cracks, or from under the door. If you live in a windy region, this could be very embarrassing, and you’ll always have a dirty car, despite the fact that you keep it in the garage.

Last but not least, technology is in continuous progress, new materials and building methods appear, and you may want to take advantage. For example, old doors were not as well insulated as modern ones. The R-value is the measure of the insulation level: the bigger the R-value, the netter your garage door insulation.

Look at your garage door and say is it can still be repaired or it’s time for a new one.

Tags: Replacing Garage Doors // Add Comment »