Fiberglass Garage Doors

Last on our list of possible popular garage door materials is fiberglass, a relatively new material when compared to materials like wood, but it is something that was only a matter of time before coming to the garage door world. Fiberglass is a unique material and has some unique properties which make the material a great choice for a portion of the market and so should see some growth, however at this point fiberglass is not a largely popular choice for garage doors. Fiberglass doors in many ways replicate older steel doors and so have a few of the same properties. Fiber glass is a strong yet light material that has many applications, making sure it is the right choice for your garage door is a case of knowing what your needs are and the materials that would best suit those needs. The material of garage doors are important for two main reason, form and function. The best looking garage door material in the world is worthless if it requires 24/7 maintenance and offers no insulation or security. The perfect garage door material then must juggle these two principles in order to best suit a home homeowner. Learning about your garage door's material is important to knowing what type of things you should suggest to your garage door installer in order to get the best possible garage door for your home.

Fiberglass door's main advantage and attractive point are that they are not wooden doors. There is no chance that they will warp or rot and they are often even lighter than wood garage doors. Fiberglass doors are also much more dent resistant than all but the most expensive varieties of metal doors. This allows you to install a fiberglass garage door a bit like a set and forget installation. Aside from maintenance on the actual opener many fiberglass garage doors require no maintenance and only need to be dealt with if you are looking to change something like the color. Otherwise you will find that your fiberglass garage door stands up to the elements relatively well without much maintenance at all.

One way that fiberglass doors can over time show their age is that because they aren't made out of totally natural fibers their color can fade from things like the wind, rain and sunlight. However, when compared to other garage door types one place where they faired better than other garage doors is in the amount of corrosion from salt water. This makes the fiberglass garage door the obvious choice for many coastal regions where things like salt water are a regular occurrence that can quickly reduce the lifetime of a garage door.

Coastal regions are perfectly suited for the use of a fiberglass garage door because they are typically more temperate in climate than non coastal regions. With that said one of the drawbacks of a fiberglass garage door is that they offer very little insulation. This means that extra insulation upon installation will be necessary in order to keep things like heat or cool air in and to cut down on the noise emanating from and penetrating into your garage door. After market insulation is not the worst thing in the world, but it does mean that you will have to rely on an experienced and competent installer to make sure that all your garage door's seals and insulations are properly installed in order to get the most insulation out of your home's insulation.

If the speed of your garage door's opening and closing is a priority, and you have the right sort of garage door opener, then fiberglass could be a good choice of garage door for you. Fiberglass is extremely light and so with the right garage door opener can provide fast speeds rivaled only by aluminum garage doors. Fiberglass garage doors also have the benefit of being much more dent resistant than aluminum doors giving you the combination of speed and strength.

Fiberglass garage doors, much like the other garage door material choices available, can be painted and styled to complement the rest of the home. They are not as convincing when used to mimic exotic wood grains but suit other styles very well. The fiberglass garage door can be painted in order to complement and suit most styles of homes just like any other garage door material. Despite fiberglass's small current share of the garage door market it can be expected that they will grow to represent a larger portion of the market as advances in their construction continue.

Fiberglass garage doors are perfect for coastal homes that require a lot of upkeep do to saltwater. Homes in these regions typically require more maintenance for everything, so one thing that is more suited for less maintenance is a great thing. A fiberglass garage door can add strength and speed to any garage and will look great given the right stylistic changes and the right complementing home. With that said however fiberglass garage doors are not the best suited for every region and every home. Fiberglass garage doors require a fair bit of adjustments in order to be properly insulated and so most likely do not suit climates that require for a great deal of insulation. They also are not well suited for those homeowners who are hoping to use their garage as a workshop or as a livable room. Fiberglass garage doors will require a great deal of insulation so that they reduce the noise coming from the garage and the noise penetrating the garage. In any case if you feel that your home is best suited for a fiberglass garage door then contact your local garage door professional, let them know and see what they might have to say about why or why not you are correct.