Carriage House Garage Door Guide
If you want to remodel your Colonial or mid-century modern house, consider upgrading you garage door to a carriage house design. A carriage-style garage door will increase the value of your home and provide a historic charm to your property. At AAA Garage Door in Omaha, Neb., we offer a variety of materials, colors, window designs and hardware for the exterior look of your overhead door. Use this buying guide to explore our carriage house garage doors for sale.
Table of Contents
- Types of carriage house doors
- What are carriage house garage doors?
- Features of carriage house doors
- Cost of carriage house doors
- Best windows for carriage house doors
- Best openers for carriage house doors
Different Types of Carriage House Garage Doors
1. Steel Carriage House Garage Doors
The steel carriage house garage doors in our inventory feature durable, insulated steel panels with wood composite overlays, providing your home with a unique and sophisticated design. With steel and a fresh coat of Ultra-Grain® finish, your door could have the appearance of natural wood, but with less maintenance and higher durability.
We provide a variety of collections with elegant charm to complement the historic appeal of your property.
- GALLERY® Collection: The vintage look and feel of the products in the GALLERY® Collection make these traditional raised steel panel doors stand out from the rest. You can customize your grooved-panel steel garage door from this collection with the right thickness of insulation for your climate. The color you choose should complement the theme of the rest of your house. Complete the look of your carriage house door with wrought-iron decorative hardware.
- COACHMAN® Collection: The COACHMAN® Collection has a reputation for its ideal mix of practicality and beauty. If you choose a carriage house garage door from this series, you’ll have a product that looks like wood but contains low-maintenance, long-lasting steel and insulation. A wood-grain textured composite overlay completes the design of the door, which you could also personalize according to your taste.
- GRAND HARBOR® Collection: The doors from the GRAND HARBOR® Collection are a cost-effective, low-maintenance option for a coastal, yet historic, aesthetic for your home, especially in new construction. Our manufacturers apply a protective coating over the thick layer of steel to maintain the appearance and durability of the door.
- CANYON RIDGE® Collection LIMITED EDITION Series: The LIMITED EDITION Series of this beautiful collection features energy-efficient carriage house doors with a steel base and Intellicore® insulation. The wood composite cladding and overlays contain natural wood fibers to give the material the appearance of various species of wood.
2. Wood Carriage House Garage Doors
A natural wood carriage house garage door would complement the appearance of any Craftsman or Colonial house. The RESERVE® WOOD Collection LIMITED EDITION Series showcases products with authentic carriage house designs paired with historical charm and character, with the convenience of an overhead operation. You can choose from eight designs and multiple wood species to fit the style of your home.
3. Faux Carriage House Garage Doors
Faux wood, or wood composite, gives your door a luxurious appearance but with less maintenance. In the CANYON RIDGE® Collection ULTRA-GRAIN® Series, you have an economical alternative to the Limited Edition Series, featuring the durability of steel paired with the natural beauty of stained wood. With its two-inch-thick Intellicore® insulation, a door from this series has an R-value of 18.4.
4. Custom Carriage House Garage Doors
If you can’t find the ideal garage door for your style home, you could create a one-of-a-kind wood garage door from the RESERVE® WOOD Collection CUSTOM Series. If you can dream it, we can design it, no matter the color or the size. Our Door Imagination System can help you brainstorm which color, material, panel and window options would go perfectly with your living space. You could upload a picture of your house to envision how your custom garage door would look on your property.
What Are Carriage House Garage Doors?
Carriage house collection garage doors reflect the design of a traditional barn or stable door, giving your home’s exterior a mid-century modern appearance. While carriage-style doors complement rustic homes, they also provide a pleasant contrast to contemporary ones. This carriage house style door will boost your home’s curb appeal with a versatile design and enhance its energy efficiency depending on the insulation options you choose.
Even though original carriage house doors were wood doors, we offer other low-maintenance options for your garage door, including steel and wood composite, besides natural wood garage doors. You could also design your garage door to look like an old-fashioned carriage door with elegant window designs and decorative lift handles and other hardware.
Features of Carriage House Garage Doors
After choosing an energy-efficient material to complement the exterior design of your property, you could personalize the following features of your garage door based on what the design brochure includes for each collection.
- Insulation: If you have a steel collection garage door, you could choose one-, two- or three-layer construction of galvanized steel for more insulation. Wood naturally has a high R-value, but you could add more insulation to your garage door for better noise reduction and temperature regulation. The insulation options for most collections are 1-3/8″ or 2″ Intellicore® polyurethane, 1-3/8″ or 2″ polystyrene or 1-5/16″ vinyl-backed polystyrene. Combined with any of these insulation materials, your energy-efficient door could have an R-value between 5.9 to 20.4.
- Colors: Our inventory of carriage house doors provides a total of 12 factory finishe options for your selection, including several Ultra-Grain® wood finishes to give your modern steel or faux wood garage door the appearance of natural wood.
- Overlay pattern: If the door you choose for your garage features wood composite overlay and cladding, you could customize the design of these faux wood panels. Most overlays come in a criss-cross pattern, but you may also choose to create vertical or horizontal lines instead.
- Hardware: The decorative hardware of your carriage house garage door gives it the appearance of a swing-out door. Select from a variety of metal hinges, lift handles and step plates to enhance your home’s historic look.
Replacing your garage door with a carriage-house style offers the following benefits:
- It increases your home’s value and curb appeal.
- It keeps your home safe from intruders.
- It makes your home more energy-efficient.
- It reduces the noise from your operating system and outside activity.
- It reduces the number of garage door repairs you’ll need each year.
- It prevents accidental injury to your family or property.
If you’re considering a residential carriage house garage door for your home, AAA Garage Door is a full-service company that provides quality residential Clopay® doors and LiftMaster openers. After you choose a garage door to complement the style of your home, we’ll discuss the next steps of the installation process, including scheduling annual inspections and repairing worn-out parts over the years.
How Do Carriage House Garage Doors Open?
The original design of carriage house doors featured intricately carved wooden panel doors and wrought-iron hardware. Metal hinges on the ends of the entryway gave it the ability to swing out and make space for horse-drawn carriages. Modern carriage house garage doors still have the same design, but with a more updated operating system to accommodate automated vehicles.
How Much Does a Carriage House Garage Door Cost?
If you’re trying to plan a full remodel of the exterior of your house, you should think about the garage door cost. The price to install and design your carriage house door depends on several factors, but you could customize this entryway to fit within your budget.
Consider these factors that affect the price of your door to help you decide what you should personalize.
- Materials: Steel is the most affordable material, followed by wood composite and natural wood. If you choose natural wood, keep in mind that you also need to paint and reseal your wooden panels every couple of years to increase its resistance to moisture.
- Insulation: An energy-efficient door will reduce your monthly energy bill and provide a more comfortable temperature for your home. While an insulated garage door with a high R-value will cost more money up front, you’ll save money on your utility bill.
- Location: Where you live affects the cost of your installation project due to the availability of the materials and the fees local contractors charge. If you choose a bulkier door, you should also be aware that they tend to be more expensive to install because the installer might need to hire a team to help carry the door.
What Are Barn-Style Garage Doors?
You might also hear people call carriage house garage doors barn-style garage doors because they look like stable or barn doors. Until the 20th century, people used horse-drawn carriages as a means of transportation, and they would store their wagons in carriage houses. These barn doors initially consisted of natural wood, and they would swing out to allow the driver to park their vehicle.
Even if you drive an automatic car, you could still have the traditional elegance of a barn door-style garage door to protect the place where you park your vehicle. The country-style residential garage door features faux wood overlay design options, as well as various window options and patterns for your selection. You may choose a natural wood door to stay true to the original design, or you could create a steel door with an Ultra-Grain® wood finish for less maintenance.
Carriage House Garage Door Windows
Complete your carriage house garage door with a unique window design. Browse through the brochure of each of the collections we offer to find out the specific windows available for your desired product. In general, you could personalize any of the following features.
- Window size: Whether you have a one-car or two-car garage, you could choose a long or short windowpane pattern across your door. We recommend square windows for carriage style doors.
- Window shape: Carriage house-style garage doors with windows often have rectangular or arch shapes on the top.
- Window type: Some of our collections offer unique window types, aside from the rectangular or arch shape, such as the Kristin, the Trenton, the Clayton and the Wrought Iron. You could review the design brochures of these collections to discover how they would look against your house.
- Single and double-top section: You could choose one or two rows of small windows for the top part of your garage door. The upper row features a traditional arched design.
- Grille pattern: The decorative grilles are available in rectangular, square, vertical, horizontal or vertical and horizontal. You can easily remove them when you need to clean them.
- Glass option: You could choose faux or real glass for your windows. The glass design options include clear, frosted, seeded, obscure, rain, frosted gluechip, delta frost and narrow reed.
What’s the Best Garage Door Opener for a Carriage House Garage Door?
You need a robust carriage house garage door opener from the LiftMaster Elite Series with the horsepower to operate your sturdy garage door. Several of our openers from this series are compatible with the MyQ® app to allow you to control your door from anywhere you have internet access, even if there is a power outage.
The garage door openers from the LiftMaster Elite Series include the following.
- LiftMaster Elite Series 8550WLB: This belt drive garage door opener has Wi-Fi capability and includes a DC battery backup. The DC motor allows quiet and smooth operation, especially for lifting wood grain texture doors and composite wood doors. You would install this opener on your ceiling.
- LiftMaster Elite Series 8587W: This AC chain drive garage door opener can also connect to the internet and mounts on the ceiling. It has 3/4 horsepower and an I-beam rail system that provide it with the strength to lift a heavy door, especially a door with a wood overlay design. Even though it’s tough, it’s also nearly silent.
- LiftMaster Elite Series 8500: This wall mount garage door opener saves you ceiling space by sticking to the wall next to the garage door opening. The DC battery backup allows the garage door to work, even during a power outage.
- LiftMaster Elite Series 8500W: This wall mount opener in the Elite Series is a step above the 8500, with Wi-Fi capability to operate your garage door from anywhere in the world. Its DC battery backup gives it the ability to continue holding up your garage door during the power outage. It reduces the noise and vibration to provide smooth operation.
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Carriage House Garage Door Company in Omaha
At AAA Garage Door, we will provide the perfect Clopay® residential garage door for your property in Omaha, Neb. Our quiet, energy-efficient LiftMaster garage door openers will also improve the quality of your home. Browse through our inventory on our website, and contact us online or call us at 402-727-0789 to request an estimate.
How To Choose The Right Material For Your Garage Door
The Pros and Cons of Popular Garage Door Materials
Installing a new garage door in your home will not only add value to your property but can also improve its overall appearance. Nowadays, overhead doors for your garage come in a range of materials with an option to suit the style of every home. Here at AAA Garage Door Inc., we pride ourselves on providing the very best garage doors with durable, long-lasting materials.
As you explore what garage doors are made of, you may wonder how to determine which one is best. It’s easier to make your decision once you know the pros and cons of common garage door materials. Learn more about the different garage door types below.
Steel Garage Doors
- Cost: Low to medium
- Climates: All
For homeowners that want the widest selection of design options, insulation and pricing, Clopay® steel garage doors are a fantastic option. Clopay® is sure to have what you want, whether that’s a classic raised panel garage door or an overhead door with a sleek modern finish.
The pros of steel garage doors include:
- Durability: Steel garage doors can tolerate frequent heavy use and can resist fire, weather and damage, making them suitable for all climates.
- Low maintenance: You must wash and repaint your door to maintain its appearance.
- Insulated: Insulation reduces noise, maintains your garage’s temperature, lowers your energy bills and provides protection from the weather.
- Design flexibility: Different garage door collections offer different benefits, such as reinforced WindCode doors for those living in areas with high winds, an Ultra-Grain® finish that gives a natural wood grain texture and a range of hardware, window and paint options to give you more than 100 different styles to choose from.
The cons of steel garage doors include:
- Rust: Lower-quality steel doors are prone to rust.
- Higher energy bills: If you choose an uninsulated steel door, your monthly energy bills will probably increase.
- Dents: Minor accidents can cause thinner doors to dent.
View Our Most Popular Steel Garage Door
Aluminum and Glass Garage Doors
- Cost: Medium to high
- Climates: All
Homeowners looking to bring some contemporary flair to their homes should consider an aluminum garage door. With this door’s glass panels, more natural light and warmth can be infused into your space, creating an area that you can fully utilize. For more privacy, you can choose a glass finish that provides the right balance of obscurity and light transmission to give you the result you want.
The pros of aluminum and glass garage doors include:
- Durability: Featuring tempered glass and rust-proof and corrosion-resistant metal, these Clopay® doors are built to last. Tempered glass is four times stronger than standard glass, and heat- and scratch-resistant.
- Design flexibility: Not only will this style of garage door help you to modernize the overall look of your Omaha home, but you can also match it to the existing color scheme of your house.
- Increased natural light: Glass doors allow the maximum amount of natural light into your garage, brightening the space and allowing you to spend more time in there.
- Low maintenance: You only have to clean the glass to maintain your garage door’s appearance.
The cons of aluminum and glass garage doors include:
- Weight: Aluminum garage doors are heavier than others. They require an opener that can handle their weight.
- Cost: Glass garage doors cost more than others because of their manufacturing process, materials and installation.
- Insulation: The glass panels allow sunlight and heat into your garage. Depending on the season and climate, this may make your garage uncomfortable. You can choose a double-paned product or one with a coating to mitigate this effect.
Wood Garage Doors
- Cost: Medium to high
- Climates: Mild
Wood garage doors are a classic option. They provide your home with a beautiful and authentic material that no other door can replicate.
The pros of wood garage doors include:
- Customization: You can customize wood garage doors to meet your specifications.
- Durability: These doors resist scratches, dents and other minor damage.
- Natural insulation: Wood is a natural insulator, so wood garage doors block out extreme cold and heat and loud sounds.
The cons of wood garage doors include:
- Cost: They’re more expensive upfront, but wood garage doors offer a greater return on investment by increasing your property’s value.
- Weight: Like glass and aluminum doors, wood ones are heavier and require an opener that can handle their weight.
- Regular maintenance: These doors require regular maintenance to look their best. In climates with extreme temperatures, they may swell, rot or warp.
Vinyl Garage Doors
- Cost: Medium to high
- Climates: All
Vinyl is a durable synthetic material that adds luxury to your garage. These garage doors have many features to keep your garage safe and customize its look.
Here are some pros of vinyl doors:
- Durability: Vinyl garage doors are practically indestructible. Even if scratches or scuffs occur, they’re less noticeable. Additionally, they’re weather-resistant and rust-proof, so they can withstand any climate.
- Low maintenance: You don’t have to repaint vinyl garage doors.
- Cost: These doors are more expensive than steel, but they’re more affordable than most other options. Their longevity and durability make them a cost-effective choice.
The cons of vinyl doors include:
- Customization: After you choose what color you want your garage door to be, you can’t repaint it.
- Insulation: A vinyl overhead door will only maintain the temperature in your garage if you purchase one with an insulation layer.
Wood Composite Garage Doors
- Cost: Low to medium
- Climates: All
Wood composite doors are composed of recycled materials, like wood pieces and plastic fibers. These doors resemble wood doors but cost less.
Some pros of wood composite doors include:
- Visual appeal: These doors replicate the beauty and elegance of wood overhead doors.
- Durability: Because the doors aren’t 100% wood, you can install them in any climate without causing them to swell, warp or rot. They can have a steel base to further increase their durability.
- Environmentally friendly: These doors are made of recycled and sustainable materials.
The cons of wood composite doors include:
- Material: Wood composite doors can replicate the look of wood, but they can only partially look and feel like real wood.
- Damage: These doors can chip and crack.
- Regular maintenance: Like wood doors, they require routine maintenance to keep up their appearance.
Make the Right Choice for Your Home
With so many different options and combinations to choose from, it can be challenging for homeowners to decide on the right material for their overhead garage door. To ensure you make the right choice for your home, get in touch with our garage door experts at AAA Garage Doors Inc. today.
With our expert knowledge and extensive experience with garage door repairs and installation, we can help you choose the best material and style for your new garage door in Omaha and surrounding areas!
Value, Costs, & Benefits of Adding A New Garage Door To Your Home
Compared to the cost of some other home improvement projects, garage door replacement is a relatively quick and affordable way to be certain your home stands out among all the others and can even increase its resale value when it comes time to sell your home.
After all, the garage door is one of the first things potential buyers notice when looking at the front of your home, and if the overhead door is in ill repair or appears to be old, outdated or no longer in style, it can turn buyers away before they ever see what’s inside. Continue reading to learn what major studies have shown about the return on investment of garage door replacement.
70 Percent of Realtors Agree: A New Garage Door Can Help Sell Your Home
Remodeling magazine’s 2019 Cost vs. Value report has consistently identified upscale garage door replacement, especially for upscale homes, to pay off handsomely in terms of both curb appeal and resale value. Selecting a new overhead door that matches the price point, and architectural style for the home is an important consideration, they add.
Clopay partnered with an independent research firm to conduct nationwide research around realtors’ perceptions of garage doors as a worthwhile investment for homeowners before listing a residence for sale. The results overwhelmingly supported the return on investment of overhead garage door replacement with 70 percent of realtors agreeing that a new garage door helps sell a home faster. Over 80 percent acknowledged that a new overhead door could impact the value of your home.
A New Overhead Garage Door Can Increase the Potential Selling Price of Your Home by 4%
Another interesting point of the study was found when realtors were asked to provide an estimated listing price for several homes featured in “before and after” garage door installations ranging from inexpensive replacements to high-end upgrades. Knowing that the only difference in the images they saw was the garage door, the findings pointed to realtors assigning selling prices as much as 4 percent higher to homes with new garage doors. With the average U.S. home price estimated at $206,300 in 2017, this could add up to an increase of between $8,000 and $14,000 to a home’s selling price just by investing in a new or upgraded overhead garage door prior to listing.
Should you replace your garage door if you’re selling your home?
If you’re in the process of renovating your home in hopes to increase its selling price then garage door replacement has the best ROI out of any other home improvement project. It instantly increases your home’s curb appeal, especially when you choose the right residential garage door style. It’ll save you money in the long run and it won’t take long at all for a professional garage door company to install a new garage door. Lastly, make sure to choose a high-quality garage door company when deciding on your door. Most realtors will be able to identify and notify their clients if a low-quality door was thrown upon a house to try and increase its value.
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Other Benefits of A New Garage Door
It’s true that a new garage door is known to add resale value, but its replacement can do much more than increase the bottom line sales price of your home.
1. Add A Reliable Barrier of Security with a New Overhead Door
Additionally, consider the value that your residential garage door has as a primary security barrier, keeping you and your family safe. Some older garage doors don’t have the security features that newer overhead doors offer from tamper-proof mechanisms and openers to tight-fitting seals and quality construction.
2. Having a Safe, Functional Garage Door is Invaluable
Value is also found in having a residential garage door that works optimally to minimize the risk of accidental injury. As overhead doors age, the parts that are continually under pressure weaken and become potential hazards to anyone operating or near your Omaha garage door. Openers that have worn or non-functioning electronic sensors pose potential crush risks and should be replaced with updated, working technology for the mere fact they can be very dangerous for you and your family.
3. Save Money with Increased Energy Efficiency
Also, what about the value that comes from energy efficiency? New overhead garage doors, including those available right here in Omaha from AAA Garage Door, Inc., can help save on heating and cooling costs. With a variety of options, insulation values, garage door materials, and styles, you’ll save money from day one when you replace your aging door with a new, energy-efficient Omaha garage door from AAA Garage Door, Inc. and Clopay.
AAA Garage Doors Offers High-Quality, Energy-Efficient Clopay Garage Doors.
Selecting high-quality and energy-efficient options like Clopay, available in Omaha from AAA Garage Door, Inc., homeowners can enjoy both style and function all while increasing the value of their home.
Call AAA Garage Doors, Inc. at (402) 727-0789 to talk about the many ways a new overhead door could increase the ROI of your future home’s sale. With a wide variety of styles and price points, Clopay is designed and manufactured in the USA and is the only garage door manufacturer backed by the Good Housekeeping Seal, a market of exceptional quality and reliability.