Getting Your Garage Ready for Summer and Keeping It Cool
Do I need to check my garage door for summer? The answer is almost definitely yes. The Chicago area can get notoriously hot in the summer, usually hitting between 78 and 92 degrees on a typical summer day. This can cause your garage to get quite toasty if you don’t know a few tricks to help make your garage cool in the summer. The garage is one of the most overlooked areas that can have a big impact on your home efficiency, and makes for a more enjoyable car temperature!
Getting a Garage Door Ready for Summer
Much of the secret to keeping a garage cool is in the garage door. What can you do to get a garage door ready for the heat? Here are a few garage prep ideas for summer:
Insulate
Make sure to properly line your garage with quality insulation that prevents heat transfer into the garage. Furthermore, if you’re ready to purchase a new garage door, you can choose a Clopay® door with polystyrene or Intellicore® insulation with a high R-value to block heat from coming in and prevent cool air from escaping. Few people realize that this insulation helps protect from the heat just as much as it helps with colder winter weather.
Also, check and see, does the garage door’s weather-stripping need to be replaced? Any cracks or tears in the weather stripping, or places where it is peeling off, is an opportunity for hot air to find its way into your garage.
Investigate
Make sure your garage door is working properly. If it doesn’t close all the way or if there are defects in the door, it could hurt the door’s ability to block heat transfer.
Check That the Garage Door Is Working Properly
To prep your garage door for the summer, you’ll want to make sure it is working properly. Consider the following questions:
- Does the door not move right away when you activate the garage door opener?
- Does it fail to roll up and down smoothly?
- Is it excessively loud?
- Does it shudder or shake?
- Does it get stuck?
- When closed, is there any light coming through the bottom?
Any of these are signs you may want to have a professional look at the door – a properly maintained and well-working door helps not only make it more efficient, it also keeps your home more secure.
Be prepared for Any Situation With These Guides From A-All Style Garage Door
- Does My Garage Door Need a Tune-Up?
- What to Do If Your Garage Door Is Frozen Shut
- Garage Door Safety and Security Tips
- Winterizing Your Garage Door for Cold Weather
- Power Outage? Here’s How to Open Your Garage Door
Contact A-All Style Garage Door to Ready Your Garage for the Chicago Suburbs Summer
In the southwest Chicago suburbs, the company to contact to make sure your garage is ready for the summer is A-All Style Garage Door. We can check your weather seals, adjust the balance and make sure your door is functioning as it’s supposed to. We can also install new, higher R-value Clopay® garage doors in your home. For a free estimate, contact us today!
Clopay Garage Door Color Matching and Touch-up Paint
Love your Clopay garage door color, but want the rest of your house to match? We frequently get this request from homeowners looking to match trim, doors, accents and other areas of their home to their garage door color. You now have the ability to coordinate the exterior of your home to your garage door for greater curb appeal, or to match a specific home design.
In addition, many homeowners are looking for touch-up paint for their Clopay garage door. This is an inexpensive way to get the matching paint color for your garage door for minor paint fixes. Note that if your garage door is older, it may have weathered and no longer be an exact match.
For matching and touch-ups, visit your neighborhood paint store to get the perfect color match. For the most precise color matching, Behr® offers coded paint colors that precisely match Clopay Garage Door Colors.
How to get the matching color trim/touch-up paint for Clopay garage doors:
- For all paint colors and Ultra-Grain® Colors, request a steel color chip of the proper door color and take it to your local Sherwin Williams retail store (or other) paint supplier. These stores will use the chip to match the paint sold in the store.
- For solid paint colors, visit your local Behr® paint supplier and use the following CBP codes to get a color match in Behr Marquee®, Behr Premium Plus Ultra® or Behr Premium Plus® exterior paint.
Learn More About Stylizing Your Garage Door Colors
What Color Should I Paint My Garage Door?
Check out our Behr Clopay Color chart below for CBP Codes:
Live in the Naperville area, and have questions about matching your new garage door to your home or about touch-up paint for an existing garage door? Contact us at A-All Style Garage Door for help. If you are looking for a custom color for a garage door, we can help with that also – check out our color blast program for more information!
Wood vs. Steel Garage Doors: The Pros and Cons
When it comes time to install or replace your garage door, one of the biggest questions is: steel or wood? With so many styles available nowadays in a wide range of colors and finishes, it can be hard to determine which is the best for your home.
To help you choose, we’ve put together a list of the pros and cons of each material:
Steel Garage Doors
Pros:
Low maintenance: In general, steel garage doors don’t require much maintenance. Their corrosion-resistant coatings keep them from rusting and acquiring small dings or blemishes.
- Insulation: Steel offers good temperature and sound insulation. Adding additional insulation is easy and many Clopay steel garage doors come with insulation pre-installed.
- Resistance: One of the greatest advantages of steel is the resistance to warping, splitting and other effects from harsh weather. Steel doors are the best option in extremely humid climates.
Cons:
- Damage: While thicker gauge steel doors are durable and resistant, thinner gauges steel doors can get dented. Small dents can be removed, but larger ones may be difficult to repair.
- Rust: Over time coatings can eventually wear off or get scratched, at which point lower-quality steel doors can start to rust. Maintaining coatings can help older steel garage doors from rusting.
Wood Garage Doors
Pros:
- Appearance: Many customers prefer the natural style and beauty of a natural wood garage door over steel. This is especially true for older homes with a traditional style.
- Aging: Wood garage doors tend to ‘age’ well. Due to the natural grain and varying patterns, small scratches and scuffs don’t tend to show up as much as with steel doors.
Cons:
- Maintenance: There’s no denying that wood garage doors can require more maintenance. This is why it’s important to choose a wood that is adapted to the humidity and temperature climate of your area.
- Insulation: While the natural insulation properties can vary, in general, wood will offer slightly lower insulation versus similar-priced steel doors. Added insulation to the door can help with this.
Choosing the Right Door for Your Home
As you can see, choosing a garage door can depend on a variety of factors and can vary based on geographic location and preference. If you are really undecided, there is also an option to cover a steel or aluminum door with an Ultra Grain wood finish which helps give you the best of both worlds.
No matter what you choose, be sure to select a high-quality garage door brand, such as Clopay. These doors are designed to look great and work well for years, with much lower maintenance than less comparable brands.
At A-All Style Garage Door, we carry a large section of steel and wood doors from Clopay. In all cases, you’re getting top-quality materials, construction and finishes that maximize durability and minimize maintenance.
Maintenance Tips For Wood Garage Doors
To make sure that your wooden garage doors are looking their best and last a long time, we suggest several maintenance tips for reliable upkeep:
- Keep them clean. The simple step of regularly cleaning your wood garage doors makes a huge difference in how they look and last. Build-up of dirt or moisture can cause garage doors to bend and warp.
- Keep them protected. The other key to proper wood garage door upkeep is keeping them protected. The sun and harsh weather can shorten the life of natural wood garage doors, so make sure they are refinished every few years. Use stains and paints suggested by your door manufacturer.
- Perform regular maintenance. Problems with the hinges, tracks and lift mechanisms of your garage doors can affect how long they last. The wood panels can be damaged if your doors aren’t lifting up straight due to an issue with the tracks for example.
There’s a reason so many customers choose wood garage doors. These doors, and especially Clopay Brand Wood Doors, are built to high standards, with top-quality stains on all six sides for maximum protection against the elements.
Keep Your Garage Door Running Smoothly With A-All StyleGarage Door’s Troubleshooting Guides.
- Garage Door or Opener Installation: DIY vs. Professional
- How LED Lights Cause Interference With Your Garage Door Opener
- Solutions for Common Garage Door Problems
- Troubleshoot Programming A Garage Door Opener For Your Car
- Troubleshooting Garage Door Sensors
Keep Your Door Looking Great
If you are in the Chicago Southwest Suburbs, contact our garage door experts here at A-All Style Garage today and we’ll work with you to select the perfect wood garage doors for your home. For existing wood garage doors, we can provide regular maintenance to ensure your door keeps its natural beauty and functionality for years to come.
Types of Garage Door Styles
Garage Door Styles
Your home’s curb appeal, or how attractive it looks, can be a major selling point when you list a property for sale. Even if you aren’t planning on selling anytime soon, having a home that looks beautiful and attractive still matters and can provide a great return on investment in the long run.
One thing that affects your home’s curb appeal is the garage door. Different styles of garage doors complement different styles of houses. If you’ve never given much thought to the doors on your garage, or if they need an update or refresh, this guide will help you understand the different styles available. It’ll also play matchmaker, helping you pick the kind of garage door that works best with your particular home style.
Types of Garage Doors
You can divide overhead garage door styles into three major categories. Within each category, you’re likely to find an assortment of different kinds of garage doors, made from a variety of materials and featuring multiple design features, such as windows or raised panels. The three major garage door options are:
1. Carriage House Style
Carriage house-style garage doors look like the swing-out doors you are likely to see on classic carriage houses, but with a few key differences. Today’s carriage-style doors open overhead, rather than swinging out, combining Old World charm with modern convenience. You can often customize carriage house-style garage doors with features such as windows and exterior hardware.
2. Traditional Style
Traditional-style garage door materials are either wood or steel. Raised panels are a standard feature on traditional garage doors. The panels are usually rectangular and evenly positioned across the width and height of the door.
As with carriage house-style doors, you can customize traditional doors by choosing the materials, color and panel designs.
3. Modern or Contemporary Style
Modern or contemporary-style garage doors complement the look of modern homes. They emphasize clean lines and few visual distractions. You can find modern or contemporary style garage doors made of steel, aluminum, glass or wood. A range of colors is available, as is the option to install windows on the door.
Types of Garage Door by Category
Your options are pretty much endless when it comes to the styles of garage door available in each category. Clopay designs a variety of different doors, all of which fall into one of the three categories. Once you know the general style you are interested in, you can narrow down your options by type and category.
Carriage House Garage Door Options
Some of the Clopay doors available in a carriage house style include:
- Canyon Ridge Collection Limited Edition
- Canyon Ridge Collection Ultra-Grain
- Coachman Collection
- Gallery Collection
- Grand Harbor Collection
- Reserve Wood Semi-Custom Collection
- Reserve Wood Custom Collection
- Reserve Wood Limited-Edition Collection
Traditional-Style Garage Door Options
If you’re looking for a traditional-style garage door, you might consider the following options from Clopay:
Modern or Contemporary Garage Door Options
If you’re in a contemporary or modern-style home, the following garage door options might be just right for you:
- Avante Collection
- Canyon Ridge Modern Collection
- Modern Steel Collection
- Reserve Wood Collection Modern Series
- Reserve Wood Collection Custom Series
Types of Homes and Garage Door Styles to Match
When choosing a garage door, it helps to pick a style that will complement the style of home you have. Across the U.S. and throughout the southwest suburbs of Chicago, you’re bound to see a variety of different styles of home. Home styles vary based on the age of the building and the tastes of the owner.
Although you could take an eclectic approach to your home design, if your goal is to make your property attractive and to boost your curb appeal, you’ll want to pick a garage door that coordinates nicely with the overall architectural style of your home.
Scroll through the list below to find your house’s architectural style and some garage door ideas that will work with it.
Colonial Style
The colonial-style house is as American as Mom and apple pie. As you might guess from its name, this style of home dates back to the colonial era. Like many people who traveled to what’s now the U.S. from Europe, the colonial-style home first laid down roots in New England and on the East Coast and worked its way west. You’ll find colonials all across Chicago’s southwestern suburbs, for example.
How do you know if you have a colonial house? They all have a few features in common. First, colonials are symmetrical. They are rectangular and have a front door in the center. There are the same number of windows on the left side of the door as on the right.
Other identifying characteristics of colonial-style homes include a steep roof with no overhang and chimneys. Because the homes are even and symmetrical, the chimney will either be in the center of the roof, or there will be one chimney on each end.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Colonial-Style Home
Colonial-style homes usually aren’t flashy and typically have a minimalist design. For that reason, you’ll want to pick a garage door that pairs well with a simple, restrained design. Some of your best bets include:
Country Style
Country-style houses owe a debt to colonial homes, but are usually somewhat newer and often feature more details, such as big porches and wider windows. You’re likely to see wood accents on a country-style house as well as shutters. If you’re having difficulty picturing a country home, close your eyes and think of a Norman Rockwell painting.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Country-Style Home
Since country-style homes have a lot in common with colonial houses, many of the garage door styles that work with colonial homes will also match a country-style home nicely. Here are a few options:
Ranch or Rambler Style
The ranch-style home, sometimes called the rambler or California ranch, dates back to the 1930s, making it a modern style, especially when compared to the colonial home. In the middle of the 20th century, the ranch topped the list of most popular home styles in the U.S. Into the 21st century, the style was among the most popular in 34 states, including Illinois.
The feature that sets the rambler or ranch-style home apart from the rest is the fact that it’s a single story. The inside of a ranch home usually has an open-concept floor plan, meaning you can see the living, dining and kitchen areas no matter where you’re standing in the central area of the home.
On the outside of a ranch home, you’re likely to find a mix of building materials, such as stone, brick, wood or stucco. Another defining characteristic of a rambler/ranch home is its shape. Although some ranch homes are a straight line, an L- or U-shaped design is more common.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Ranch/Rambler-Style Home
Although ranch homes are more modern than other styles of home, they still have a vintage feel to them. For that reason, they work best with garage doors that have an old-fashioned design.
Cottage Style
A cottage is usually a small house that often has a large front porch and a second story that’s right under the roof of the house. Cottages tend to be more popular in the South than in the Northeast or Midwest, but you can find this style of home all over the country.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Cottage-Style Home
The feature that makes a cottage style house appealing to many owners is its charm. Often, cottage homes evoke a fairy or folk tale. If there is a garage attached to a cottage or next to one, it needs to have a charming, understated door to best complement that quaint vibe of the home style.
Craftsman Style
Like the ranch home, the craftsman-style house became very popular in the 20th century and remains an in-demand house style today. The craftsman style came out of the Arts & Crafts movement, a design and art movement that aimed to reject mass production in favor of a slower pace of life and a return to human-made craftsmanship. Credit for the specific style of a craftsman house goes to Gustav Stickley, who published plans for the style of house in his magazine, “The Craftsman.”
Some of the defining characteristics of a craftsman house are a pitched roof with overhanging eaves and a wide front porch fully covered by the roof. There’s often a dormer window as well as two columns on either side of the entryway of the home.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Craftsman-Style Home
The materials on the exterior of a craftsman home tend to evoke nature. Unfinished stone and rough-hewn wood are common. When looking at residential garage door styles that coordinate with a craftsman-style home, you’ll want to keep an eye out for natural materials and a vintage look. Here are some ideas:
Farmhouse Style
You don’t have to live on a real farm to live in a farmhouse-style home. Although traditionally, a “farmhouse” was a structure for farmers and homesteaders to live in, the style evolved as needs changed. Original farmhouses tended to be made from whatever materials were close at hand. At infrastructure across the U.S. improved and it became easier to ship materials, the houses began to be made from things like lumber or brick.
Farmhouses tend to have big windows and large front porches. Like the classic colonial, they also often have simple lines, although it is possible to find styles with more intricate details, such as eaves that cover the entire porch.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Farmhouse-Style Home
When choosing a garage door for a farmhouse-style home, it helps to remember garages connected to farmhouses might have once been carriage houses. For that reason, you might want to find a carriage house-style garage door, such as:
French Provincial
The French provincial house style dates back to the 17th century, but first made its way to the U.S. in the 20th century. An elegant and refined style of home, French provincial is easy to spot by looking for details such as copper or slate roofs, brick facades and intricate porch balustrades. The windows on the front of the home usually have shutters, while an arch often tops the second-floor windows.
Best Types of Garage Door for a French Provincial-Style Home
The style of garage door that works best with a French provincial home features natural materials and elegant details. Some options include:
Modern or Prefab Style
Think minimalism, and you’ll have a good idea of the key characteristics of a modern or prefab-style house. The modern style dates back to the early-mid 20th century. The exterior of the modern/prefab style typically features straight lines and flat roofs, as well as wide, horizontally positioned windows. Inside, the lines are clean, and there is minimal decor.
In many cases, the critical components of a modern/prefab style house were constructed off-site, then shipped to the property and put together.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Modern or Prefab-Style Home
The ideal garage door for a modern or prefab-style home will feature modern materials and echo the clean lines and minimal appearance of the home.
Southern Style
Think of the house in “Gone With the Wind,” and you have a pretty good idea of what a classic Southern-style home looks like. Often, Southern-style homes began as one thing, but after a series of additions and renovations, ended up something else entirely. A Southern-style house might share features in common with a Greek or colonial revival home, such as a wide porch that stretches across the entire front of the house or tall columns on either side of the front door.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Southern-Style Home
The garage door options that pair best with a Southern-style home depend on the most prominent features of the house. A few options include:
Spanish Eclectic
While you aren’t likely to find many Spanish eclectic-style homes in Illinois, if you are lucky enough to live in one, you know the style has its charms. The style is most common on the West Coast and in Florida, and draws heavy influence from the design of Spanish mission houses. A key design feature of the architecture is a low-pitched tile roof. Other features include rounded doors and windows and a stucco exterior. Some Spanish eclectic-style homes have balconies as well as decorative tiling by the doors and windows.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Spanish Eclectic-Style Home
If you have a Spanish eclectic home, you want a garage door that matches its unique style. Here are some choices:
European Style
A European-style home looks across the Atlantic for inspiration, but doesn’t settle on any particular architectural style. Instead, you’re likely to see design elements from old-style French palaces, details from English country homes and designs from Italian villas. Materials used might include marble, plaster, stone and wood.
Best Types of Garage Door for a European-Style Home
The best garage door for a European-style home will be elegant in appearance and practical in function. Here are a couple of ideas:
Mediterranean Style
Sometimes known as Mediterranean revival, a Mediterranean-style home looks to the shores of Italy, France and Spain and the sprawling villas you’re likely to find there for inspiration. In many ways, no design choice is too decadent for a Mediterranean-style home. Do you want a large fountain in front of the house? Do it. Are you looking for a luxurious courtyard and garden? It’ll be right at home.
Some of the critical features of the Mediterranean style include tile roofs, stucco walls and arched doors and windows. There’s likely to be at least one balcony, which often will have an intricately designed wrought-iron grille. Given that the style originates from a part of the world where the weather is beautiful year-round, there is a lot of focus on outdoor space in the Mediterranean style. Along with fountains and gardens, don’t be surprised to find swimming pools on the grounds of most Mediterranean-style properties.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Mediterranean-Style Home
The best garage door for a Mediterranean-style home will place a lot of emphasis on style and function. Door styles that allow for customization often work perfectly. Here are two picks:
- Canyon Ridge Collection
- Gallery Collection (photo of door here perhaps one with a wrought iron grate on it?)
Traditional Style
If you’ve spent any time in the suburbs of southwest Chicago, you’ve most likely seen a traditional-style house or two. The traditional style takes elements of the colonial style, including the Dutch colonial, federalist and Georgian branches, as well as styles such as ranch, craftsman and Victorian, and merges them. As a result, you might find elements such as a covered front porch, symmetry and dormer windows.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Traditional-Style Home
When looking for a garage door to complement a traditional-style home, consider the most prominent design elements of the house. Often, your best bet is to pick a door that allows for plenty of customization.
Tudor Style
Tudor-style homes — at least, those in the U.S. — don’t date back to the Tudor era. Instead, the style of architecture became popular in the 1920s in the U.S. It’s a particularly popular style in the suburbs.
The major design feature of a Tudor-style home is the presence of timber on the front of the house, usually on the upper story and by the windows. Some Tudor homes have large stone chimneys and stone walls, as well as rounded doorways. Although many Tudor homes were built in the 20th century, their looks and charm transport you to a completely different era.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Tudor-Style Home
Since the look and feel of a Tudor home is a throwback, the style of garage door that will work best with this type of door should have some vintage elements to it, too. Carriage house-style doors work well.
Victorian Style
The Victorian era, starting in the latter part of the 19th century, was a wild time when it came to advances in technology and design. You can see that interest in technological and design advances when you look at Victorian homes across the U.S.
Thanks to newly available mass-production techniques, many Victorian homes have intricately designed shingles, brackets and spindles. You’ll also see those same details in homes built in the Victorian style after the Victorian era ended.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Victorian-Style Home
If you’re looking to add or replace a garage door on a Victorian-style home, look for a style that allows you to customize the design and to add intricate details. Here are two top picks:
Gothic Victorian Style
Also called Gothic revival, the Gothic Victorian style predates the Victorian style by a few decades. Like the Victorian style, the Gothic revival style draws partial inspiration from the Industrial Revolution and technological advances. Another influence is the Romantic era and its embrace of nature and individualism.
Some of the key characteristics of the Gothic revival/Victorian style include pointed arches, steep roofs and the occasional tower. The doors of Gothic Victorian homes often feature a trim with intricately detailed and designed wood.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Gothic Victorian-Style Home
There are two directions you can go when choosing a garage door for a Gothic Victorian home: You can embrace the classic design of the house and pick a door with custom-designed details, or you can mix and match and choose a modern-style door that will let the intricate design of the house speak for itself.
Log Cabin Style
Initially, the log cabin style was more about function over form. Early European settlers needed to build sturdy homes quickly, so they used logs and other readily available materials. Today, log cabin-style homes are more about form than function. If you live in a log cabin, it’s likely you chose to do so because the rustic look appealed to you.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Log Cabin-Style Home
While the original log cabins didn’t have a garage, most modern versions do. You want your cabin’s garage to echo the rustic look and feel of the cabin itself. Choosing a wood garage door with minimal design or with a carriage house style will help you do that.
Prairie Style
The prairie style comes from suburban Chicago and the mind of Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the best-known American architects. Wright designed the first prairie house in 1893, taking the flatness of the Midwestern plains as his inspiration.
Usually, the prairie style is either symmetrical and box-shaped or low-lying and asymmetrical. The roofs tend to be flat and also often extend over the sides of the building. Porches, often held up with large, square supports, usually surround prairie-style homes.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Prairie-Style Home
The horizontal lines and modern aesthetic of a prairie-style home call for a sleek, stylish garage door.
Cape Cod Style
The Cape Cod style has a lot in common with the colonial style, but on a smaller scale. Some Cape Cod homes on the East Coast date to the 1600s. Many of the Cape Cod homes available today date to the time after the Second World War.
Like colonial houses, Cape Cod houses are rectangular in shape and symmetrical. Unlike colonials, they are usually single-story homes, although some have a “half story.” The roof of a Cape Cod home is usually steep and gabled.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Cape Cod-Style Home
The best garage door style for a Cape Cod-style home is one that nods to the style’s heritage as one of the first home styles in the U.S. A door with a simple design also pairs well with this style of home.
Art Deco Style
The art deco style was popular from the 1920s until about 1940. When you think of vintage Hollywood and classic old movies, art deco is probably what comes to mind, even if you haven’t heard the phrase before.
Although art deco was more common in commercial buildings, you can find some homes that use it. These homes often feature stucco exteriors, flat roofs and bold decorative touches on the exterior.
Best Types of Garage Door for an Art Deco-Style Home
A truly modern style, art deco calls for a truly modern garage door. Here are two top picks:
Bungalow Style
The bungalow style has lived a busy life. It comes from India and dates to the middle of the 19th century. From there, it traveled to the UK before making its way across the ocean to the U.S. Although the style is big in California and on the West Coast, you’ll find some bungalows in the Midwest and on the East Coast.
There are specific types of bungalow home, such as the prairie and craftsman styles mentioned above. There are also bungalows that don’t fit neatly into a particular category but are still technically bungalows because they are a single story, have two columns in the front and a porch that stretches across the front of the home.
Best Types of Garage Door for a Bungalow-Style Home
Although a bungalow is a relatively modern style of home, its quaint design often makes it better-suited to a more traditional style of garage door.
Other Things to Consider When Choosing Garage Door Styles
When it comes to choosing the right residential garage door, there’s more to consider beyond its appearance. You also want to think about how you use the garage and whether you’ll need certain features such as windows or insulation. Before you choose your next garage door, spend a few minutes standing in front of your home, visualizing what you want the next door to look like.
Here are a few things worth contemplating.
The Shape of Your House
Many types of garage door feature panels across the width. Should you choose long panels or short ones? The answer depends in part on the shape of your house. If your house has an elongated, rectangular shape, such as a prairie or ranch-style home, long, rectangular panels will work best. But if you have a box-shaped, square home, such as a Cape Cod or colonial, square panels on the garage door will be a better match.
Some houses, such as Tudor-style homes, seem to draw the eye up and down. If your house has a vertical style, it can be a good idea to choose a garage door that has vertical paneling rather than horizontal panels.
Your Home’s Windows
To see inside the garage or not see inside the garage: that is the question. Like the panels on the door, windows can complement the overall style of your home.
Take a close look at the windows on your house and make a list of the different styles. Do you have arched windows above the doors, double-hung windows or a big picture window? Choose the garage door style windows you want to match when picking out your door. You can match the most dominant window style or call attention to a single, eye-catching window by having your garage door echo it.
Garage Door Materials
Whether your garage door is made of steel or wood or aluminum and glass not only affects the look and style of the door. Some materials might be better suited to certain areas than others.
Another thing worth considering when you’re choosing the material of the door is your tolerance for maintenance and repairs. Wooden garage doors might look beautiful and offer a lot of options for custom design. But they tend also tend to need more care and maintenance than steel doors. One way to compromise is to choose a door with an Ultra-Grain finish. Ultra-Grain provides the look of wood, minus the upkeep.
The color of the door you want can also influence the type of material you end up choosing. You can paint steel doors pretty much any color under the sun, while wood and Ultra-Grain doors often come in a range of finishes. Aluminum and glass doors typically offer some color choices as well, but not as many as steel or wood.
When you’re choosing the color of your door, look at the details on your home. If you have brick, stone or another natural material on the facade, it can be helpful to pick one color out of the material and choose a garage door that matches it. Staining or painting your door to match one detail on your home can create a cohesive design and boost the curb appeal of your property.
Should You Insulate or Not?
One last factor to consider when picking out a garage door is whether you need a door with a high R-value. The R-value refers to how much insulation the door provides. The higher the value, the better the door will be at keeping your garage nice and toasty. Of course, if you’re only using your garage for storage, and not for your kid’s band practice or as a secondary rec room, you might not need a door with a higher R-value.
Check Out Our Other Style Guides From A-All Style Garage Door
- Clopay® Slate Finish Garage Doors
- Garage Door Materials – Wood vs Steel vs Aluminum
- Benefits of Ultra Grain Garage Door Finish
- Garage Door Trends
If you live in Bolingbrook, Plainfield, Lockport, Naperville or another southwestern Chicago suburb and are hoping to replace your existing garage door with one that better suits the overall style of your home and the needs of your family, A-All Style Garage Door is here to help. We specialize in installing and repairing overhead garage door styles and are an authorized Clopay dealer. If you’re ready to give your home’s exterior a refresh, get in touch with us today to schedule a free garage door inspection.
Updated on: 03/22/2019
Benefits of Ultra Grain Garage Door Finish
When choosing your garage door you need to consider factors like insulation value, durability and appearance. If you want a top-quality door that requires little maintenance and offers a natural look at a fraction of the price of real wood, an Ultra Grain door finish is an excellent choice.
Get the Look of Wood with Less Maintenance and Cost
Available for aluminum and steel Clopay garage doors, Ultra Grain perfectly mimics the natural beauty and grain of wooden garage doors but with several benefits:
- Aluminum and steel garage doors don’t warp or crack due to humidity, leaving your Ultra Grain finish looking great for years with little to no maintenance. No staining or painting required.
- The Ultra Grain finish is a durable three-layer construction that adds to the heat and sound insulation properties of your steel or aluminum garage door.
- You can clean Ultra Grain with standard exterior wash products, with no special treatments require. Unlike wood, which often needs to be treated with fungicides.
- Thanks to a wide selection of colors and styles, you can find an Ultra Grain garage door finish that matches the appearance of your home. Matching trims are also available.
It’s possible to get the best of both worlds when it comes to your residential garage doors — the durability and insulation of aluminum and steel doors with the beautiful natural appearance of an attractive wood grain finish.
Check Out Our Other Style Guides From A-All Style Garage Door
- Clopay® Slate Finish Garage Doors
- Garage Door Materials – Wood vs Steel vs Aluminum
- Garage Door Trends
- Types of Garage Door Styles
Trust A-All Style Garage Door for your Ultra Grain Installation
As a leading garage door installer and service company in the Southwest Chicago suburbs, A-All Style Garage Door is proud to offer a large selection of Clopay Garage Doors. Designed to look great and offer years of trouble-free service, Clopay doors are a welcome addition to any home.
Contact us today for a free estimate and consultation. We’ll help you choose the Clopay Ultra Grain garage door that suits your style and gives you the insulation and durability you’re looking for at a fraction of the cost. You’ll benefit from the maintenance-free beauty of Ultra Grain with the look of natural wood garage doors.
What to Do If Your Garage Door Is Frozen Shut
As the temperature drops and the snow starts to fly, problems with your garage door can arise. While it’s not a common problem, from time to time you might find your garage door frozen shut. This is obviously a major inconvenience, especially if your vehicle is inside and you can’t get it out. It can also prevent you from parking your car inside at night, leaving it exposed to harsh weather and freezing temperatures.
If you find your garage door is frozen shut, there are a few steps you can take to open it without causing damage:
- Remove ice: In most cases when your garage door won’t open in winter, it’s because it’s literally frozen to the ground or frame. Blowing snow can force its way around your garage door seals and create an icy barrier, freezing your garage door in place. You can carefully chip away at large ice build-ups along the bottom of your door, but be careful not to damage your door or doorframe.
- Loosen door from seal: When your garage door is frozen against the seal, you shouldn’t try to raise and lower your door. This can damage the seals or your automatic garage door opener. If after an initial try it won’t go up, go outside and push with moderate force along the edges and bottom of your door. You don’t want to force it out of the track, but simply break the ice seal that has formed.
- Add heat: If it seems that the ice keeping your door blocked still won’t let go, you can use a hairdryer to melt it. This will create water, which can quickly freeze again in cold weather, so you need to quickly mop it up and dry your seals so that it doesn’t freeze again.
To make sure your garage door doesn’t freeze again next time it gets cold, here are some handy tips:
- Remove all snow and ice debris from around your door. Snow and ice around the door for prolonged periods of time can cause your garage door to freeze in place quickly.
- Don’t heat your car up in the garage. The heat from your exhaust can melt snow around your seal, which freezes as soon as you shut your door again.
- Keep your seals clean and in good shape. Broken and worn seals tend to absorb more moisture and freeze more quickly than new, smooth seals.
Be prepared for Any Situation With These Guides From A-All Style Garage Door
- Does My Garage Door Need a Tune-Up?
- Garage Door Safety and Security Tips
- Garage Door Preparation for Summer
- Winterizing Your Garage Door for Cold Weather
- Power Outage? Here’s How to Open Your Garage Door
Being stuck in your garage is never fun, and your safety is always first priority. If you are in Naperville, Bolingbrook, Plainfield and surrounding Chicago Southwest Suburbs, simply give us a call or schedule a repair. Our team at A-All Style Garage Door will respond as quickly as possible to get your garage door open safely.
Choosing the Perfect Garage Door Color — Choosing the Right Color for Your Home
If you’ve never had a new garage door before, you probably haven’t given much thought to what color to paint a garage door. But choosing a garage door color is an extremely important decision. A garage door represents a large portion of your home’s exterior, and choosing garage door paint colors that don’t match or complement the colors of your home can create an unbalanced, unattractive look. Following are the considerations you should take into account when looking for good garage paint colors:
Does the Color Complement Your Home?
Some popular garage paint colors may not be a good fit because of the color scheme of your home’s exterior. This doesn’t mean your garage door has to match your home exactly, but the color scheme should make sense. For example, you may want to add some color to a white-painted home by getting a garage door that is brown or gray.
If your home is an earth tone, consider using a white garage door to add a clean, bright aspect to your home’s appearance. If you do decide to match directly, we recommend that your garage door matches the main color of the house and not the trim or accent colors. This will make your home appear larger and not draw extra attention to the garage door.
Do You Want a Stain Instead of a Paint Finish?
Wood garage doors have a classic look that is tough to duplicate. If you want to capture that wood look, you may opt for a wood-grain stain instead of a paint finish. This works especially well with traditional-style homes.
Where Is Your Home Located?
The position of your home relative to the street can make a big difference when it comes to choosing your garage door. A home in a shady area, set off from the street and surrounded by trees, demands a brightly colored or light-colored door to capture attention. A dark color can make the garage appear to be swallowed up by darkness.
If your home is closer to the street and gets more light, a darker garage door color may work better.
What Type of Home Do You Have?
The material of your home’s exterior may dictate what color you choose. For example, do you know what color to paint a garage door on a brick house? Muted reds and browns that blend well with the brick coloring can work well, as can a neutral tone.
What Do You Want Your Paint to Do?
There are specialty paints that do a lot more than just give your garage door some color. For example, the Color Blast® system from Clopay® and Sherwin-Williams not only provides vibrant, quality color, but it can also protect your garage door against impacts and the effects of extreme heat.
Do You Want Your Garage Door to Reflect Your Personality?
You may be tempted to go big and let your personality shine through in a garage door color – maybe with a bright red or similarly bold color. There’s nothing wrong with bright red – if it fits in with the rest of your home. Don’t make a personal decision unless that garage door color works within the existing colors and appearance of your home.
What Will Your Door Look Like?
Don’t just guess at what garage door color would look best at your home. Take advantage of online tools like Clopay’s Door Imagination System, which lets you upload a photo of your home and test out different materials, designs and color options before you schedule a consultation. This tool, in addition to brochures and online pictures, can help you to give an initial idea and visualize color options.
Learn More About Stylizing Your Garage Door Colors
Clopay Garage Door Color Matching
Have You Seen Swatches or Samples?
A good garage door company will be able to offer swatches and samples of their products so you can finalize your design decisions at your home during a design consultation. This helps to avoid guessing on “will it match my home” or disappointment from discovering that a color looked lighter or darker in a brochure or on a monitor.
A-All Style Garage Door has been working with Naperville-area homeowners and in surrounding areas since 1981, helping them create the perfect look and style with a new garage door. When you have questions about garage door colors or how to make the most of your investment in a new garage, we’re here to help.
We always carry samples and swatches in our trucks so that we can help you finalize your decision during our free design and color consultation at your home, along with practical advice on choosing the best product based on years of experience. Get in touch with us regarding new installation, replacement garage doors, repair, maintenance, service and more.
Contact us today for a free design consultation and estimate!
Power Outage? Here’s How to Open Your Garage Door
The Dangers of Cheap Garage Door Service and Products
Many homeowners don’t know where to start when searching for garage door products and services. They may look online for local providers, or they may ask friends and neighbors for recommendations. The process that leads you to your garage door product and service provider is incredibly important to the success of your project. It’s important to look at other factors in addition to the lowest price if you want to avoid the dangers of cheap garage doors or garage door service. Here are a few ideas for making sure you find the best service provider for your home.
Finding the Best Service Provider
It’s always tempting to go with the low bidder on home improvement projects, but you often get what you pay for in terms of garage door service. It’s better to look for a blend of characteristics, including a reasonable bid, plus other important factors.
When searching for a garage door installation or repair professional, consider how long they’ve been in business. Not only is this a reflection of experience, but it’s also an indication they are doing quality work with the ability to sustain a long-term pipeline of customers. An established full-time business – rather than working from an unmarked truck or as a side job – also indicates a commitment to the industry and a dedication to doing quality work.
Make sure your garage door pro is insured and they give you a contract in writing before work begins. You also want to ensure that the company you hire to work at your home knows and complies with all local rules and regulations.
You can also take advantage of the many online tools available for researching prospective service professionals. Check the company’s standing with the Better Business Bureau as well as Google+ customer reviews, and take a look at review sites like Angie’s List. It’s far better to discover something about a service provider before work begins than during a project.
The Dangers of Cheap Garage Doors
When it comes to searching for your next garage door, think in terms of value rather than price. For example, you may find a garage door for half the price of one that looks similar, but there’s often a good reason why one garage door is more expensive than the other – even when they look the same. One might be made of a stronger material, one that will last much longer and help save you money in the long run. Perhaps one includes insulation that will help make your home more efficient and save you money on heating and cooling.
A garage door should be tough and durable – qualities you’ll rarely find in a cheap product. We experience harsh winters here in the Southwest Chicago suburbs, and only tough and durable garage doors can properly withstand the snow, wind and ice that come our way during the coldest months of the year. A tough, durable garage door can also withstand the daily demands of a household. A garage door is often a front door for families – the main point of entry into a home. All that raising and lowering of a garage door takes a toll after a while, and a cheap garage door product will fail and need extensive repairs far earlier than something more substantial.
Avoid Low Quality Garage Door Openers
What applies to garage door products also applies to garage door openers. A garage door opener is an electric appliance that should be able to work without issue for many years. That means quality design and construction, as well as features that will keep your garage door opener operating even in the case of power surges, outages, severe weather and other similar situations.
It’s always a good idea to look for well-known brands such as Liftmaster or Clopay. These trusted manufacturers – both for garage doors and garage door openers – have track records of success in connecting customers with quality products for their homes. Beware the off-brand garage door or garage door opener that’s trying hard to look like a product from a trusted brand – but without the long track record of quality design and construction, as well as dependable performance.
Check Out Our Other Buyer’s Guides From A-All Style Garage Door
- Maximizing Your Return on Investment With A Garage Door
- How to Avoid Garage Door Repair Scams
- Benefits of an Insulated Garage Door
- Five Incredible Ways to Add Value to Your Home
- Garage Door Repair vs. Replacement
- Garage Door Installation Cost
Why Choose A-All Style Garage Door
A garage door is an investment in your home, one that should help make it safer and more attractive. When you’re looking for the perfect garage door service provider in Naperville and surrounding communities, look no further than A-All Style Garage Door. We’ve been proudly serving this area since 1981, and offer a three-year warranty on garage doors and one-year on openers.
We offer high-quality Clopay® garage doors and LiftMaster® garage door openers, and our team of highly trained technicians delivers the fast and effective service you deserve. Don’t settle for just any garage door service provider – choose the company that is committed to doing things the right way.
Contact A-All Style Garage Door to schedule a repair or get a free estimate on a