Find The Right Garage Door For Your New Home In The Northern United States

The garage door of a house, like all parts of a house, must be built for the area and climate that the house is in. For families trying to build a new home and stay within budget, a garage door must also be affordable. If you're working with a contractor to construct a new home in the northern United States, here are some tips to help you select a garage door that will hold up to your area's cold winters and won't break your budget.

Look for an Insulated Garage Door

You may have to pay a little more upfront for an insulated garage door, but getting an insulated door will save you money over time. An insulated garage door will help keep heat from escaping through your garage. Garages often aren't heated, but they are typically the largest room in a house, so a lot of heat can escape through the door if it's not insulated—especially during the northern U.S.'s cold winters.

Garage doors usually last 15 to 30 years, so even a little energy savings will add up to a significant amount over your garage door's life span.

Opt for an Aluminum Garage Door

Aluminum is well-suited for the northern U.S.'s climate, and it's one of the most affordable garage door materials.

First, unlike stainless steel, aluminum won't rust. Stainless steel is only stainless as long as it isn't scratched. If a stainless-steel garage door is scratched, the iron in the stainless steel can rust. Because aluminum doesn't contain any iron, it won't rust—even if it's scratched or dented. This is an especially important consideration in the northern U.S., where salt is regularly used on roads in the winter and can cause corrosion.

Second, aluminum garage doors are often less expensive than stainless steel ones because aluminum costs less on the commodities market than stainless steel. Metal prices fluctuate daily, but aluminum usually costs less than stainless steel. Since the raw material costs less, aluminum garage doors can be sold at lower prices than stainless steel ones.

Get a Lower-Powered Garage Door Opener

Aluminum is also a lightweight metal, so garage doors made from aluminum are extremely light. Since they aren't as heavy as other garage doors, aluminum garage doors can be safely opened and closed with a lower-powered opener than heavier stainless steel and wood doors.

Thus, by getting an aluminum garage door, you'll likely be able to save a little money on an automatic garage door opener because you won't need one that has a large motor. Lifting an aluminum garage door will also strain your garage door opener's motor less, so the opener should last longer than it would if you had a heavier door.

Skip Glass Windows

Glass windows can look nice in a garage door, but they increase the cost of a garage door in several ways.

First, having glass windows put into a garage door will increase how much the door costs. As HomeAdvisor notes, windows usually aren't included in basic garage doors.

Second, glass windows will reduce your garage door's ability to keep heat in your garage during the winter. Even if a garage door is insulated, heat will be able to escape through the glass windows.

Finally, glass windows are susceptible to breaking. If a tree branch is blown down in a storm and hits a metal garage door, it'll likely cause minimal damage, if any at all. If the branch hits a glass window, though, it could break the window. Getting the window repaired would add to the garage door's maintenance costs.

For more information on garage doors, check out websites like http://aladdindoorsraleigh.com/.