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Garage Door Materials: What’s Best for Florida Homes?
When selecting a new garage door for your Florida home, several key elements should be considered. Types, styles, colors, materials, and prices all combine to create a mix that can be challenging for homeowners to navigate. Luckily, you can rely on the expert advice of professionals to help you choose the best garage door material for Florida, ensuring that your needs and budget are met.
The perfect door should offer a balanced combination of durability and aesthetic appeal. Hence, it’s crucial to research and understand all your options before making any purchase.
The best part is that you don’t have to do it alone. With the help of experts like Holt’s Reliable Garage Door Repair, you can make the right choice, whether it’s wood vs. steel garage doors or aluminum vs. fiberglass doors.
4 Popular Garage Door Materials in Florida
Although several materials are available to make a great garage door, Florida’s weather, especially in cities closer to the coast, makes certain materials more popular than others due to their higher durability and resistance to weather. This way, weather and maintenance requirements are two fundamental factors when choosing the best garage door material for Florida.
1. Steel Garage Doors
Along with wood, steel is one of the most popular materials for doors in Florida due to its durability, security, and cost-effectiveness. Hence, it’s not uncommon for homeowners to become embroiled in the debate over wood vs. steel garage doors.
Pros:
- Steel doors are incredibly durable, making them top choices for weather-resistant garage doors.
- Their high resistance to impact makes them hard to break, increasing your home’s security against break-ins.
- Steel garage doors require minimal maintenance, which makes them a preferred choice for some homeowners in the wood vs steel garage door battle.
- They have multiple finishes and styles to match your home’s appearance, including wood textures.
Cons:
- They can increase your home’s energy consumption if they’re not insulated, as steel (a metal) tends to absorb a lot of heat during the day. Still, insulated steel garage doors consistently rank at the top of the best garage door materials for Florida.
- Depending on the gauge of the steel, these doors can get dented with impact, affecting your home’s curb appeal.
- Steel garage doors are also vulnerable to rust and corrosion over time.
2. Aluminum Garage Doors
Aluminum is a popular material in coastal areas like Jensen Beach or Hobe Sound due to its high corrosion resistance. They also provide a sleek and modern appearance, especially when paired with glass panels, which is excellent for contemporary homes.
Pros:
- Aluminum doors are lightweight, making them easier to install and, therefore, reducing installation costs. They also reduce the strain on the opener, potentially increasing its lifespan.
- Due to its natural corrosion resistance, aluminum can be a better choice for homes in coastal areas with salty air and high humidity when selecting the best garage door material for Florida.
- Aluminum is also a great eco-friendly material, as it’s completely recyclable once the doors reach the end of their life. Besides, when you opt for aluminum insulated garage doors, you can enhance the home’s energy efficiency.
Cons:
- Although its lightweight nature makes aluminum easier to install, it also makes it more susceptible to dents and damage from wind and debris impacts, which must be considered in hurricane-prone areas, such as cities located on the southeast coast of Florida.
- Aluminum is typically more expensive than steel and may be out of reach for some households’ budgets.
- Though you can get aluminum insulated garage doors, this metal doesn’t provide the same levels of insulation as other materials, such as steel or wood.
3. Wood Garage Doors
Wood provides a natural and classic look that enhances your home’s curb appeal and makes it a winner for many homeowners in the “best garage door material for Florida battle”. They can also be refinished multiple times, making them a durable and long-lasting option for garage doors.
Pros:
- Wood is highly customizable, allowing you to enhance its looks with different stains, paints, and designs that can be enjoyable for enthusiasts of home design.
- They offer natural insulation that helps keep the garage cooler in summer. If energy efficiency is one of your primary concerns and you’re browsing wood vs. steel garage doors, wood insulation can be the decisive factor.
- Wood doors offer a timeless aesthetic that can increase your home’s appeal over time.
Cons:
- Wood is prone to warping and rotting due to humidity; hence, it requires higher levels of maintenance than other materials, especially in the Florida climate. Although wood can be highly durable and among the best garage door materials for Florida, it requires regular maintenance to maintain its optimal condition.
- Wood needs to be coated to create weather-resistant garage doors that can withstand the harsh weather conditions on the Treasure Coast, thereby preventing rot and water damage.
- Wood garage doors are heavier than those made from other materials, and they can put a higher strain on your door opener, potentially hindering its helpful life.
4. Vinyl Garage Doors
Vinyl doors have gained popularity among Florida homeowners due to their remarkable durability, particularly against dents and moisture, as well as their low maintenance requirements. Thus, they’re often used in areas with harsh weather conditions such as Port St. Lucie and Stuart.
Pros:
- Just like aluminum, vinyl is highly resistant to rust and corrosion, making it one of the best garage door materials for Florida homeowners, especially those in coastal areas.
- Vinyl doors are easy to clean, often requiring an occasional wipe. Since they’re virtually maintenance-free, they can be excellent options for those unwilling to commit to more strict maintenance routines.
- They’re highly resistant to dents, cracks, and scratches, making them excellent options for weather-resistant garage doors.
Cons:
- By itself, vinyl doesn’t do much to prevent heat transfer. Hence, if you’re looking for insulated garage doors to prevent heat absorption during the day, you’ll need to add insulation to vinyl doors.
- The color of vinyl garage doors is embedded in the resin itself; hence, they’re not easy to repaint, unlike materials like wood or steel. If you ever feel like renovating your home’s facade, you’ll likely need to replace the door so it matches the new facade.
- Vinyl ranks among the best garage door materials for Florida lists due to its high weather resistance, but its color can fade with prolonged exposure to UV rays. Thus, it’s vital to look for doors with UV protective coatings to ensure they maintain their appearance for years.
Get the perfect garage door for your needs in Florida with Holt’s Reliable Garage Door Repair.
Serving customers across all the Treasure Coast and North Palm Beaches, Holt’s prides itself in being one of the most reliable garage door companies out there. And we’re not bragging; this is what the voters in The Official Community Choice Awards have said for four years in a row, so you can trust that our team is more than qualified to help you choose the best garage door material for Florida weather, meeting your wants and needs.
Whether you’re just browsing for a future replacement or are still debating the merits of wood vs. steel garage doors, give us a call today and let our 15 years of experience guide you to the best choice for your new door. We serve:
- North Palm Beach
- Martin County: Stuart, Jensen Beach, Palm City, Vero Beach, Hobe Sound.
- Saint Lucie County: Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce
- Indian River County
- And all of the Treasure Coast!
