Garage door recommendations needed

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

My lovely bride and 10 y/o son managed to close the overhead garage door today while backing out. I don't have all the specifics on how this happened, but it happened.....while I was at work nonetheless. The door is 13 years old, stamped steel with some thin insulation inserts on the backside. I'm sure it's pretty much a builders grade steel door. The upper guide rails are both bowed out in the middle and multiple wheels were dropping off as 4 of us fought to at least get it back down. It most likely has at least a small bow in multiple panels and I can't see putting much money back into this door to hope it functions smoothly. I will probably replace this double door with something decent and replace the third car garage door as well since I'd like them to match.

That said, I've browsed Lowe's and HD's Pella doors and Clopay online. I have an installer I trust coming Monday to look at the damage and I will get his opinion as well. I don't know the R values of these doors but they can't be higher then 3-6. They seem to be one step up from just a single layer of stamped steel. I live in Kansas City and our winters are relatively mild--IMO.

We do plan on staying in this home for probably 10-15 years so I'd like to get something decent without sacrificing my retirement. Has anyone recently went through this process and would you care to share your findings? I would like to add doors that have glass windows for the added light. My shop isn't in the garage but the window versions also add to the curb appeal. Thanks.

[Bryan11]

We just replaced our garage door on our two-car garage this last fall. After doing a lot of research, we got one selected and installed that works quite well.

Here's a quick summary of what some points learned.

- There seem to be three classes of doors. The lowest has stamped metal with no insulation, the middle is a bit heavier with insulation inserts, and the highest has metal inside and outside with insulation in the middle plus heavier hinges and other metal parts.
- Many installers sell doors from Amarr and Delden who manufacture panels and hardware. They may be researched online.
- Some two-car doors can sag if they aren't installed with metal struts on some inside panels the keep that part of the door straight. The door we got came with some struts at no extra cost.
- The price of the door and installation varied considerably between installers even for the same door. Research agreed that using an experienced installer with a good reputation was important. Small adjustments in the installation of hardware, leveling, and such make a big difference.
- The price between the lowest cost door to the highest was under $300. The higher end door with metal on the inside looks better, has better insulation, and is quieter.

[Robert Adams]

Door brand is very dependent on where you are as its a very regional thing. Stanley is one of the bigger manufacturers but most of their doors are sold under other names. So being a regional thing brands don't really mean much.

Just make sure to get the thicker metal of what they offer and for insulation the best is where they put the metal on the inside and inject the foam. The cheaper ones use foam panels.

All doors should have the horizontal braces mentioned already even narrow ones. Without them they will be destroyed by the door opener. A wind rated door will have quite a bit of bracing to it.

Make sure it is a torsion spring. The cheaper doors use the long coil springs. On the old wood doors that they used to use here the door was built the same as a wood exterior door but from cedar and very heavy. They had big springs that have to be bought from a door supplier as the depot ones are too small... When they break it's loud and dangerous. They break at the loop bend. I had several break and one while I was in the garage and it's scary when it lets go and luckily I was on the other side of the garage.
Because of that no coil springs.

For rollers you want the good plastic ones. They are much quieter than the steel ones and last longer.

And never get a Wayne Dalton garage door opener. There is a reason it's only sold in a small market and why lift master/chamberlain and genie are available everywhere. There is a German brand that is very good and I can't remember what they are sold under here but they are pricey and very different.

As for pricing that will depend on the other half. You can easily get a good 16' door installed for under 1k but if loml sees the brochure with the fancy panels it will cost a fortune.
This is also one item where often the local installer can install a better door for less than you can buy a cheap door at the borgs unless you have a menards as their door prices are usually much better than the other two supploers.

[JosephP]

Regarding insulation: Even if the door panels have high insulation, they don't have perfect seal on the edges, so that R value will go down. Having said that, the better quality doors will have better insulation...so they kinda go hand in hand.

For insulation, I found the ones I was looking at had two different options: polystyrene vs polyurethane. The polyurethane, as I understand it is a little stiffer. Polystyrene is the white styrofoam that is used for packaging material. Polyurethane is denser.

[WaterlooMarc]

Having had 2 houses with clopay doors that is all I will comment on. I would rather burn my house down and live in a ditch before I used them again. Pure flat out crap IMO. To make matters worse they seem to make minor changes yearly that render parts incompatible. Perhaps this isn't intentional but just the result of shoddy manufacturing - but the result is the same. You will lose your mind trying to replace panels. And you will have to replace panels because they are so poorly made!

I think most door come with struts now, especially if you want to use an opener.

[meackerman]

I went through HD for the garage doors for my shop.

when the installer come we got to talking, I could have saved a few hundred a door going directly to them instead of though HD.

stupid me.

[Mardagora]

I apologize for the bump...
I've been battling heat in my shop since I moved into my current home eight years ago. I live in SoCal, and my garage door faces west. The afternoon sun has always heated up the shop to levels that make me spend less time in the shop.

I added a mini-split HVAC, and that helped enormously. But in the summer, when the outdoor temps can get over 90 degrees (sometimes over 100), and the afternoon sun is beating on the garage door, my mini-split had no hope of keeping up, and shop temps would climb.

I insulated the walls and ceiling, and that definitely helped. But my mini-split was still no match for the summer afternoon heat.

So, I got a thermal imaging camera. I learned a few important things that have helped get the heat under control.

First, the uninsulated steel garage doors were acting as a giant radiator. I knew that, but I didn't realize just how much that contributed to the problem. On those 90 degree days with the sun beating on the door, the temp of the outside of the garage doors would get over 120 degrees. The inside of the doors would get over 110. Since my shop is a 3-car garage, that's a lot of heat! No wonder the inside of the shop kept getting so warm.

I bought those garage door insulation kits from a big box store like this https://mechanicguides.com/best-garage-d...ation-kit/

(I think HD). That made a significant difference, but the doors were still a big radiator. Instead of the inside of the door registering 110 degrees, it would get up to the high 90s. That's a 10-15 degree drop, but my mini-split still struggled to take all that heat out of the shop.

A few months ago, I upgraded my garage doors to some of those R-18 super-insulated garage doors (with no windows). That has made an enormous difference. We haven't yet had any 90+ degree weather this year, but so far, the inside of my garage doors has stayed pretty close to the ambient temp in my shop. So, whatever heat the sun is putting onto the garage door's exterior is mostly not making its way into the shop.

People get fixated on seals. In some circumstances, bad seals can be the culprit. But keep in mind that the job of the seals is to keep the heat/cold in the AMBIENT air outside from getting inside. When you have a West-facing garage door and the sun is beating on your garage door in the afternoon, the ambient outside temperate is really not the problem. The problem is that the sun is super-heating the exterior surface of your garage door to a temperature that can be 20-30 degrees hotter than the outside air. That's a much bigger problem than bad seals. I'm not saying that seals don't matter; I am saying that getting as much insulation as possible on the surface of your garage door is much more critical than seals for controlling heat if you have a West-facing door and you want to keep your shop cool. At least, that has been my experience.

The thermal imaging camera also gave me some additional insights. I had extensive fluorescent lighting throughout the shop, and the camera showed just how much heat those were putting out. So, I changed to LED lighting. Enormous 

[stilinsm]

If you have high ceilings, definitely look into the high lift option.   Was definitely worth the few extra $$s and gives a much more open feeling when the doors are open.

[Woodenfish]

Regarding insulation:  Even if the door panels have high insulation, they don't have perfect seal on the edges, so that R value will go down.  Having said that, the better quality doors will have better insulation...so they kinda go hand in hand.

For insulation, I found the ones I was looking at had two different options:  polystyrene vs polyurethane.  The polyurethane, as I understand it is a little stiffer.  Polystyrene is the white styrofoam that is used for packaging material.  Polyurethane is denser.

You might want to look into http://www.greenhingesystem.com for better sealing.

[fixtureman]

Just remember that when you put the door up you are opening a hole big enough to drive a car through.  that lets out a lot of heat.