The Top Garage Door Material: Which Ones Offer the Best Quality?

Garage doors can be made with a variety of materials, or combinations of materials, including composites and faux wood. However, the most popular garage door materials still include steel, aluminum, wood, and glass.

How do you choose which garage door material offers the best quality for your new custom garage door? The simple answer is that steel, aluminum, glass, and wood of the best quality can be used for the highest-quality garage doors – for both residential and commercial applications. Let’s take a brief look at each type of garage door material.

Steel Garage Doors

High-quality custom garage doors made with steel are ideal for basement garage doors, RV garage doors, and warehouse garage doors. Steel is also a popular garage door material in commercial settings thanks to:

• Strength and durability: High-quality steel is resistant to rust and requires little maintenance. They can also withstand severe weather conditions, including high winds, heavy rains, and snow drifts. Steel garage doors are also resistant to scratches and dents, making them ideal for commercial applications.
• Security: Steel garage doors are ideal for commercial settings for security reasons thanks to their strength as they are difficult to break into. It is also easy to add extra smart security features to steel garage doors.

Aluminum Garage Doors 

Highly popular in commercial and residential settings, aluminum offers many of the same benefits as steel. However, a couple of differences between steel and aluminum help to make aluminum a more suitable garage door material in some cases.

• Aluminum is an ideal garage door material for garages that require frequent opening and closing. This is thanks to aluminum being the most lightweight material compared to its strength.
• Aluminum can also be painted easily, making it a perfect material for garage doors if you are going to want to put your business logo and other branding on the garage door.

Glass Garage Doors

Glass as a garage door material has many applications in residential and commercial settings.

• Custom glass garage doors offer homes and businesses an enduring modern look that integrates with almost any exterior.
• Garage doors with glass panels that let in light are ideal for showrooms, warehouses, restaurants, and other business premises.

Wood Garage Doors

Wood garage doors require more maintenance than doors made with other materials. They can also be more expensive. However, as a garage door material, wood offers the best natural insulation qualities - qualities that can make a wood garage door the ideal choice for your business as much as for your home.

• Wood muffles sound. If your retail workshop, showroom, or restaurant is located in an area with high levels of traffic or other sources of noise, wood can help keep out the worst of it. 
• Wood has a warm, classic aesthetic.
• Wood can help to retain warmth, add extra insulation for cold Colorado winters, and prime your wooden garage doors for snow conditions.

Which Garage Door Material Should You Choose? 

Many factors will influence the type of garage door and garage door materials you will want to choose – whether it is for commercial or residential applications. Different types of garage door materials are suited to different uses and settings. Your garage door budget is your starting point, but so is the look you want to create and the benefits of each type of garage door material.

• If lightweight, secure, low-maintenance garage doors are what you need, aluminum may be your best choice for your garage door material.
• If you want to turn your business garage space into a studio or workshop, the glass may be the best garage door material. Choose full tinted panels or go for windows in the top panels, with clear, tinted, or frosted glass.
• If you are looking for weatherproof strength, steel garage doors will not let you down!

However, the best thing about custom garage doors is that you can combine materials. Think of those beautiful aluminum garage doors with glass panels. Yes, you can have those garage doors too.

Tri-Lakes Garage Doors has over 20 years of experience in custom garage door design, installation, upgrades, and repairs. As a family business operating in the beautiful Front Range, we understand the importance of aesthetics as well as functionality in garage door design. Contact us today to find out how we can help you choose the best kind and quality garage door material for your new custom garage door installation –within your garage door budget, but with the latest garage door features.