Help me pick a garage door brand

[Cult Hero]

I am looking at some carriage doors for my new garage and have been doing some research and determined that wood is too expensive. I have narrowed it down to these choices and any feedback would be great.

Jeld-Wen - Composite Garage doors. Look good, many options, several dealers in the area, competitive pricing. Downside I have heard from one dealer is that they delaminate and the customer service is lacking.

Doortech - Composites also. Look good, and really cost effective, but very few dealers for the carriage door style and limited experience with them from the dealer I have found.

Any one know of any other brands I have to check out.

Just FYI, for two 8 x 7 carriage door style composites, with the hardware and openers installed is running me around $5500.

Cheers!

 

[JMURiz]

I always thought the WanyeDalton doors looked nice, but have no experience with them.

 

[Wile1Coyote]

Second for Wayne Dalton

 

[SuperKid]

Have you looked at Raynor?

http://www.raynor.com/index.cfm

 

[nova65ss]

Do yourself a favor and do not get the W Dalton. Trust me on this! If you look at their website or any of the literature you'll notice they never list the steel gauge of their doors. Not to mention on their carriage doors the crossbucks and design trim is actually magnetic or glued to the face of the door which in time will eventually come off.

Jeldwen is a popular brand and a pretty large co. We actually just received some literature and pricing on their doors a few months ago and seem to be pretty nice looking doors.

Amarr makes a steel insulated door that is 3 sections which offers less visual breaks than a standard 4 or 5 section door. Makes it look more like a true carriage door. They come insulated and offer 32 different styles that can be painted any color you like. Amarr.com has the info look under residential steel and then the Classica collection. That is what I have on my garage.

Jimmy

 

[bahamasair]

I just installed 4 Jeldwen doors this week for a customer I was helping out. ( I do access control, Gate motors etc but not garage doors as a rule. I hate installing the ******** things) They went on a $14,000,000 house and do look nice on the outside but as far as Im concerned they are ****. They were left in the crates they came in for about 3 weeks till I gave in and said Id install them. When we opened the crates most of the panels were curved and if I put a straight edge accross them there was a 2" gap in the middle they had sagged so much. Jeldwen said no problem the hurricane stiffners would fix it. I put em on today and now its bent with a bunch of bent stiffners attatched to it lol. The fancy carriage design on the outside is 1/4" thick material that looks something like hardy plank and has a bunch of small holes where it was stapled onto the door panel which seems to be made of fiber board type stuff. I can only hope they used stainless staples since this place is on the waterfront and I can already picture the rust stains running down the face of the door. On the plus side the Collier hardware we used is nice and they have a cool hurricane system that you could easilly copy and make yourself for cheap. Sorry for the long rant lol.

 

[boiler7904]

I'm with SuperKid. Take a look at Raynor. We use their commercial products all of the time. We don't have problems. Because of that, we spec Raynor Doors unless a client asks for something else. They make an excellent product that is usually very competitive in price to other manufacturers.

Here's some unsolicited advice. Ragardless of what brand you end up with, buy the door, operator, and controls from one source. A door dealer will (almost) always size them together to work as a system. The dealer is your best source of information and they know what will work for your application in your area.

 

[Paradise Ridge]

Cult,

You mention carriage doors. Are you going for the look of carriage style or do they have to operate (outswing) like real doors?

Here is a pair of regular 9x9 doors I had installed in my carriage house/shop. Steel inside and out, R-7.2, Genie ProMax openers, etc. Installed price $2400.00 for both. Doors are Mfg here in the northwest, but I'm sure you could find something comparable locally.

I spent another $125.00 for the fake handles and hinges and installed them myself. I'm planning on running a 1/4" wide pinstriping tape from the top to the bottom to make them look more like individual doors.

My Nickels Worth,

Scott

 

[Cult Hero]

I am looking for the rollup faux carriage door style. Here is what I have been looking at. I am leaning towards the Jeld - wen as they are a big name and seem to have been at it a while, but I am finding more problems with them and others. I think that is in part to their size. They have more doors out there, more doors means more problems. Not sure why the pics aren't showing up?

 

[nova65ss]

The Jeld-Wen door is a composite material. It is similar to the composite deck boards you can buy at the hardware store. Supposedly you can submerse them in water for several days unpainted with no ill effects. I have installed some very simialr doors made by Ankmar out of Colorado that are the same material. They look bad when they come out of the box but after they are painted they look very good. Here is the description of the Jeld-Wen door

Thermal set melamine resins combined with refined cellulose fibers create an exterior door skin that is virtually impervious to moisture, cracking, rotting, sub-zero freezing, desert heat and the damaging effect of the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
Durable
The JELD-WEN Advanced Polymer skin and trim boards won't crack, split, separate, shrink, expand, rust or dent. All the materials on the face of the door are made in the same plant and of the exact same materials. The result is an incredibly durable exterior.


Raynor makes a very good door also. They are always a very heavy gauge steel usually 22-24 gauge.


Jimmy

 

[JMURiz]

nova65ss, thanks for the warning on W-D doors.

Anyone have experience with Clopay doors? Just saw that's what they sell at Home Depot, just wondering, thanks.

 

[nova65ss]

nova65ss, thanks for the warning on W-D doors.

Anyone have experience with Clopay doors? Just saw that's what they sell at Home Depot, just wondering, thanks.

Clopay doors are good if you get the upper end doors, otherwise the ones they sell at the Depot are thin gauge steel and their DIY door. Personally I 'd stay away from them as well.

Jimmy

 

[Cult Hero]

Clopay doors are good if you get the upper end doors, otherwise the ones they sell at the Depot are thin gauge steel and their DIY door. Personally I 'd stay away from them as well.

Jimmy

I think I am going with the Jeld-Wen. I spoke to a third party installer today and he said that they are tricky to install but if you do them right they are great door. He said he has done hundreds of them and the main problem is that people don't take the time to align the panels and so they see warpage. They also should be installed as soon as you get them.

 

[D-Cal]

I have two 8x9 T16 Steelcraft doors recently installed in my garage. Satisfied with the quality so far, was toasty warm all winter.

http://www.steelcraft.com

 

[jpkemp]

Try Amarr garage doors. I purchased two of them last October. Both are steel insulated doors with inserts that have the look of carriage doors. The price was right also.