7 Signs You Need To Replace Your Garage Door
Garage doors are an important part of your home, however, it’s easy to take them for granted or overlook them during regular maintenance of your home. Keeping your garage door working efficiently and looking great plays a major role in improving your curb appeal, security and value of your property.
While garage door repair and maintenance should always be your first alternative, it reaches a point when garage door replacement makes more financial sense. Over time, your garage door will undergo wear and tear, age, and stop functioning correctly. Here is how to know that you need to replace your garage door.
Repeat breakdowns
If your garage door is experiencing repeated trouble opening or closing as well as persistent breakdowns, you should consider replacing it. The time and money spent on repair service calls, labor, and garage door parts replacement can become costly warranting replacement with a new door model. Other than the cost, a garage door that keeps breaking down can be a safety risk to your valuables and your loved ones. It therefore makes economic sense to replace your garage door if major persistent issues are present.
Your garage door is making too much noise
Garage doors often start making noise over time, and a little tune-up can improve the situation. However, if you notice excessive grinding, straining, cracking and creaky noises, it might be time for a new garage door installation. New louder noises are clear signs that your door is deteriorating. This could cause more serious problems that will lead to additional repair costs. Replacing your door in time can prevent potential injuries often associated with garage doors.
Aging design
Over the years, garage doors have undergone numerous improvements in design, architecture, and function. Newer and more stylish doors have now been developed and most of the designs can greatly improve the curb appeal of your home and subsequently add value to your property. You can now get garage doors in a variety of formats and styles with windows, iodized frames and other accessories that improve the look, functionality, and impact. If you’ve always admired a custom wooden garage door, now could be the best time to go for it and kick out that old, dated aluminum door.
Your Door is Full of Dings and Dents
Minor dents and dings can always be patched up to renew the look of your garage door to some extent. But this dents and dings add up over time as you regularly use your door. Some of the most common causes of bruises and bumps are accidental collisions from your vehicles, your kids' toys, and effects of weather elements. Eventually, the cumulative effect of these things cause the function and look of your door, and the overall perceived value of your property to suffer
Your garage door is not energy efficient
Modern garage doors are designed with safety and energy efficiency in mind. Some important energy efficiency features include insulation, bottom seals, sealing joints and weather strips which keep the heat in and the cold out. This, in essence, reduces your energy consumption while keeping your family warm and safe. If your door lacks most of these components, you should consider replacing it with a new modern one.
Lack of safety and security issues
Older garage doors don’t have the high level of security that we see on new models today. Construction methods, materials, and features have evolved over time resulting in garage door models with studier designs and additional smart locking mechanisms. Most thieves now target older style doors which almost always the weakest link in security.
Modern doors also incorporate safety garage door parts and features such as sensors and auto-retraction to minimize accidents. Other models even come with smart garage door openers that can be linked to mobile apps for remote monitoring and control. If this sound appealing enough to you then it’s high time you did an upgrade.
Your garage door has broken handles, hinges, and wires
Broken garage door parts such as broken handles, hinges, and wires are a serious sign a new garage door installation is due. Hanging wires and broken door handles will limit your door use as well as present a safety hazard to you and your family.
Bottom line
As already mentioned, a simple malfunction or flaw doesn’t warranty replacement of the entire garage door system, as a garage door repair might be all you need. However, if you see one or more of the signs listed above, you should seriously consider replacing your garage door for safety, security and functionality reasons. As a rule of thumb, always seek for the professional door repair and installation services when anticipating major upgrades such as installing a new garage door.
