Wooden garage doors may be very pretty, but the fact is that they do tend to rot and wear a little more easily than other options, especially in response to harsh weather. Steel is strong and can look very sleek and chic with a post-modern motif, but it can rust and dent a lot. Aluminum is very light, and is one of the cheapest, most common options, but it's definitely one of the leas glamorous looks. Vinyl is a great surface for insulation, but it tends to look pretty fakey and inelegant on the facade of a home.
Garage door materials matter a lot, and each choice has pluses and minuses. When making the decision, you need to take factors like weather, the safety of your neighborhood, activities that will be taking place in and around your garage, and more in mind. If you want the best of all worlds, you might want to try getting yourself a composite door. They bear through weather heroically, they don't dent easily, they are natural insulators, and they come in so many styles and can look veyr much like real wood.
One drawback is that composite materials are not as good at absorbing varnished and finished as, say, wood is. (The fact that they don't absorb liquids is party of what makes them so sturdy!) But this means that if you want to paint or finish your composite garage door, you're going to need to do a little extra planning. Your'e going to need a bottom layer, you can't just go around painting it.
Test out a stain on a small out-of-the-way area of the door to test for sticking and color. Then, go over this bottom coat with another layer of thick, sticky varnish. From there you can paint it any color you like. Be sure to put a top clear coat to protect the new paint job from the elements.
Get a free, in-home, no obligation quote from a trained garage door specialist who will come to your home and take measurements.
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