Carriage house–style garage doors can be a beautiful addition to any home. However, while carriage house garage doors have a traditional appearance, they don’t have to be made from traditional materials.
If you have considered replacing your garage doors with carriage house garage doors, you can choose from a wide variety of designs made from traditional timber. However, you can also find carriage house doors of high-quality wood composites.
Each choice comes with its own advantages and drawbacks, and it can be difficult to decide which material is best for your needs. If you have trouble deciding between wood or composite carriage house garage doors, the following guide may help you decide.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Timber Carriage House Garage Doors?
Carriage house garage doors of real timber are ideal for older homes with colonial or 19th-century architecture. They are very similar to the actual carriage house doors once used to protect horse-drawn carriages. They can be from cedar or redwood for an authentic, all-American look, but you can also find doors made from highly durable tropical hardwoods, such as meranti.
Timber is an excellent choice for environmentally conscious homeowners — and not just because it is an organic material. Timber garage doors also have excellent heat insulation properties. If your garage is attached to your home, thick, insulated timber doors can help keep your garage (and the rest of your home) cool in summer and warm in winter, lowering your air conditioning and furnace bills.
Timber carriage house garage doors can also significantly increase your property’s curb appeal and raise the value of your property as a whole. If you want to put your home up for sale, timber carriage house doors may even pay for themselves.
However, investing in timber carriage house garage doors certainly isn’t inexpensive, and real wood will often cost you a lot more than wood composites. Timber doors will also require regular, time-consuming maintenance and need frequent oiling and treating to prevent mold. Termites can also cause serious problems, so you may need to use insecticidal treatments to prevent extensive damage.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Composite Carriage House Garage Doors?
Many homeowners who don’t want to deal with the trouble and expense of real wood have turned to carriage house garage doors of wood composites. These doors are a mixture of wooden fibers and plastics, held together with binding resins.
High-quality composite doors can look almost indistinguishable from doors of real timber and can be very attractive. Unlike timber doors, they will remain beautiful with very little maintenance and upkeep, and composite doors will not fall victim to wood-boring insects or mold. They are also resistant to intense sunlight, which can cause some types of wood to fade and turn gray over time.
Wood composite can also be a surprisingly eco-friendly choice, and many are from recycled wood fibers and plastics. These materials can be recycled again when the door reaches the end of its life. Some timber carriage house doors are from wood taken from rainforests and other non-sustainable sources, so composite doors may actually be the greener choice in some circumstances.
Despite these advantages, carriage house doors of wood composites are usually a lot less expensive than doors of real timber. They are ideal if you need to replace your existing garage doors on a tighter budget. Longevity without extensive maintenance can also make them a better long-term investment than real timber doors.
Unfortunately, while modern wood composites can be a very convincing simulacrum of real timber, they do not have the same feel as real timber. They may look out of place if the rest of your property is from traditional materials and are generally more suitable for newer homes and garages.
Whether you choose wood or wood composites, carriage house–style garage doors can be a fine addition to almost any more. If you have any more questions about carriage house garage doors, contact the experts at AA Garage Door.