Garage doors are made from wood, steel, aluminum and fiberglass. Though each of these has its benefits, wood and steel garage doors are--by far--the favorites.
Wood Doors. Wood is preferred more for its natural look, affordability and easy tooling than for its durability. Because wood expands and contracts and can warp or crack as it weathers, it demands regular maintenance--repainting or refinishing every couple of years.
The easiest to build and most affordable type of door is a tilt-up wood door. In many cases, it can be built right in the driveway by applying a skin of exterior plywood--usually 3/8-inch thick--to a frame of Douglas fir, spruce or a similar softwood. Or the frame and plywood can be covered with siding to match the house. This type of flush construction is quite strong, stable and affordable: for a 16-foot by 7-foot flush wood door, you can expect to pay from $400 to $700.
Sections of roll-up wood doors may have either flush or panel construction. Flush sections are made by fastening a plywood panel over a wooden frame, like a small version of the flush door described above. For panel doors, manufacturers fit several separate, rectangular panels into a wooden frame. The skeletal framework is built of fir or some other common softwood; panels are made from a variety of materials.
Panels for a door meant to be painted may be flat surfaces of plywood, hardboard, or they may be three-dimensional raised or recessed panels. Cladwood, made from composites with resin-impregnated overlays, or wood look-alikes like Masonite's SureWood raised panels are commonly used for the three-dimensional variety. Cladwood composite panels come with a 20-year warranty but most wood doors are warranted for only 1-year). Installed, an average-sized (16 by 7-foot) paint-grade sectional door normally costs from about $800 to $1000.
Appearance-grade wood doors--those meant to be stained rather than painted--have solid wood panel inserts. These doors may be all cedar, redwood, or may have softwood frames with oak, mahogany, or other hardwood panels. When buying one of these, be sure to find out whether the panels are made from a single, solid piece or made from several widths edge-glued together (the joint between glued-up lengths may show).
Appearance-grade wood doors are the most expensive garage doors available. One with redwood panels will run you about $1500; an all-cedar or an oak-paneled door may cost $2000 or more.
Steel Doors. Steel garage doors are much stronger and more secure than wood, aluminum, or fiberglass ones. Thanks primarily to new technologies in embossing metals with wood-grain patterns, and new durable coatings, today's steel doors rival the look of wood without the maintenance headaches. Steel doors won't warp, crack, delaminate or fall apart because of weather. And, because most are made of hot-dipped, galvanized steel that is vinyl clad or given a baked-on polyester finish, they don't rust or require repainting as often as wood doors. Most warranties guarantee the door won't rust for as long as you own the house, but do not protect against fading. On the downside, steel does dent and can be difficult to repair.
Premium-quality garage doors have cores of rigid polystyrene or polyurethane foam insulation. Not only does this insulation help keep the garage warm in winter and cool in summer, but it makes the door lighter, quieter and easier to operate, and less likely to sag or warp over time.
You can usually discern a steel door's quality both by its thickness and by the thickness of its cladding. A premium door is often a full 2 inches thick, filled with insulation, and clad in 24-gauge steel. Less-expensive doors are usually thinner and made of 28 gauge steel (the lower the number, the thicker the metal).
Doors may be single skin, with a frame that shows from inside, or double skin, sandwiching the foam insulation between panels on both outside and inside. The double-skin construction is much more durable and is attractive from inside the garage.
Weatherstripping is another measure of quality. The best-made doors have a full-width vinyl bubble weatherstripping along the bottom edge of the door that conforms to the floor. They also have rigid-vinyl end caps along the sides of the door panels, a vinyl top cap and weather seals between each section.
Styles imitate those of wood doors: flush, recessed panel and raised panel. You can also get metal doors with a horizontal, ribbed design.
For an average-sized steel door (16 by 7 feet), expect to pay from $750 to $1200 installed.
Aluminum Doors. Aluminum garage doors have enjoyed many of the same advances as steel--wood-grain embossing and durable finishes are typical. Aluminum single-piece, tilt-up doors are fairly popular because they are extremely lightweight, will not rust and are relatively inexpensive--from $400 to $700. Unfortunately, aluminum has a major drawback: it's very easily dented.
Fiberglass Doors. Fiberglass doors actually have an aluminum frame with fiberglass sections. Like aluminum, fiberglass is very lightweight. Other advantages of fiberglass are resistance to salt air corrosion and translucency--fiberglass doors are sometimes chosen for locations where light transmission is important or in corrosive ocean climates. For more standard uses, fiberglass isn't a very popular material because it is a poor insulator, it yellows with age, and it breaks relatively easily, especially when it's cold.
