Pros and Cons of a Wooden Garage Door

Your garage door is a sizable part of your home’s exterior and serves as another entrance to your home, so making an informed choice is important on several levels. Selecting the right look and functionality is essential. Wooden garage doors are a popular choice for their classic appearance and natural feel. They’re a timeless selection for anyone who wants to add a distinctive look to their home’s curb appeal.  Learn more about the pros and cons of wooden garage doors to determine whether this is the right option for your home.

Why Choose a Wooden Garage Door?

A wooden garage door offers style, class, and sophistication. It’s hard to go wrong with a wooden garage door if you’re looking for high-quality and timeless aesthetics. This material has been a long-standing favorite for many convincing reasons. Wood is an unmatched option for your home if you’re willing to provide the care and maintenance it requires. You can enjoy years of the beauty wood delivers when you do.

Pros of a Wooden Garage Door

There are a variety of positive benefits of having a wooden garage door including:

Variety

Wooden garage doors are available in a wide range of woods, presenting diverse colors and grain patterns. Teak, hemlock, redwood, mahogany, and cedar are popular garage door options. You’ll find a variety of designs, from classic flat panels to gorgeous intricate inlays. Furthermore, you can stain or paint your wooden garage door to pair perfectly with the rest of your home.

Strength

Wooden garage doors offer superior strength when compared to most other materials. While steel doors are likely to dent, a wooden door will stand up to impact much better. This makes wooden doors a great choice for families with children or teens who are likelier to put the door through its paces.

Aesthetics

The beauty of wood is one of its greatest selling points. It’s hard to top the stylish beauty of a solid wood door stained to suit your home’s overall style. From contemporary to traditional, a wooden garage door can fit in with nearly any type of home, elevating its visual charm.

Cons of a Wooden Garage Door

Although wooden garage doors have many benefits, there are also some cons to having one.

Price

Wooden garage doors are among the more expensive options for your home. While wooden doors offer opportunities for customization, many of these come with an added price. If you’re trying to keep your home budget low, a wooden garage door might not be the right choice for your needs. Remember, however, that you can expect a wooden garage door to last for 15 to 30 years, so you’ll enjoy your investment for a long time.

Energy Efficiency

If your garage is climate-controlled, energy efficiency will be a major concern. A solid wood garage door doesn’t provide optimal insulation. However, you can opt for an insulated garage door that has wood panels on the outside and insulation on the inside. This type of door will cost more, but it will help lower your energy bills if you’re heating and cooling this part of your home.

Maintenance

Wooden doors require regular maintenance over the years; the wood may crack or rot if you don’t provide routine care and cleaning. The beauty of a wooden garage door only lasts if you regularly wash and refinish the wood. A neglected wooden door will look worse than one made from a different material. If your door has suffered from some neglect, investing in restoration services will bring it back to its prior glory.

Comparing Wooden Garage Doors With Other Materials

Wood is just one of several materials that you can choose for your home’s garage door. If you’re planning on getting a new garage door installed, it’s worth considering all your options before you make a choice. Most garage doors can last for around 20 years, so this is an investment that you’ll live with for a while. Consider some of your other options to determine whether wood is the best choice for you.

Wood vs. Faux Wood

Natural wood and faux wood look similar at first glance, so faux wood is a popular substitute for people who don’t want to invest in a pricey solid wood garage door. A faux wood garage door typically has a steel core covered with a wood overlay. This provides better insulation and requires less maintenance. However, a faux wood door isn’t as durable as solid wood and doesn’t carry the same value if you want to sell your home.

Wood vs. Aluminum

Aluminum is a lower maintenance and cost alternative to a wooden garage door. Aluminum is water-resistant, so you don’t have to worry about rot like you might with a wooden door. However, aluminum is lightweight and prone to dents, so it won’t have nearly the same appeal, nor will it stand up to the years.

Wood vs. Fiberglass

Fiberglass garage doors feature a steel core wrapped in a fiberglass exterior. You can also opt for a fiberglass door with a polyurethane coating for added energy efficiency. Fiberglass is low maintenance, but it’s also lightweight. This means the fiberglass is more vulnerable to scratches, dents, and cracks in situations where your wood door would withstand impacts and show few signs of damage.

Wood vs. Steel

Steel garage doors provide excellent insulation, which makes them a popular choice for climate-controlled garages. Steel is less expensive than wood and requires less maintenance as well. However, steel doors are lighter in weight than wood and can dent more easily. A dented steel door is not easy to repair.

Professional Maintenance and Restoration for Your Wooden Garage Door in Southern California

Professional restoration and maintenance services can make a dramatic difference in the look and feel of your wooden garage door. While you can tackle some basic maintenance tasks independently, there’s no comparison to the skilled touch of a professional. Our team members at Teak Master have years of experience restoring wooden garage doors of all kinds. Contact us for a consultation and estimate on your project.