The garage door technically is the largest door on everyone’s homes, and as such should be treated as a very important indicator into a home’s aesthetic value and livability. Garage doors come in all types, and a lot of homes have limited options when it comes to the types of materials they can use due to clearance restrictions, etc., but what we’re going to discuss here are 5 very chic materials that you can have your garage door installed with.

The material of your garage door speaks volumes into the homeowner’s style and the house’s overall curb appeal. If you think about it, the garage door is one of the most noticeable parts of most homes, especially when the garage door is located in the front of the home adjacent to the front door.

Curb appeal has become an ever-growing term in real estate in the past couple decades, and today in 2018 curb appeal is one of the most important factors of course in terms of a buyer’s first impression and ultimately the decision to purchase or not purchase the listing.

So when considering just how important curb appeal is to all listings, wouldn’t the material of the garage door be a unique, say it aloud, chic, way to boost a home’s first impression aesthetics? Think of it this way, your garage door is kind of like your home’s shirt pocket. What kind of material do you want your shirt pocket to be made of? Probably a nice cotton, or even an artisan fabric or linen, so when bringing it back to garage doors the following five materials are what’s trending the most across the United States:

1. Wood Composite and Wood

When it comes to all Overhead Doors there are many beautiful and genuinely authentic materials, but wood doors are by far some of the most beautiful types of garage doors. One drawback to installing a wood or wood composite garage door is that it does tend to cost a lot.

There’s no denying a wood garage doors durability, but they do tend to need to be refinished somewhat frequently, and ultimately won’t last as long as other garage doors will. It’s pretty easy to get a complete customization process done with wood garage doors, and this type of process will be in the mid-range to really high range in pricing.

Wood composite weighs a ton less than actual wood, but it will have a very similar feeling to it, and it doesn’t cost anywhere near as much. So if you don’t have the budget for a wood door, composite is a good move. Generally the types of garages that work best for these kinds of doors are the larger, double-door garages.

2. Steel

Steel doors are always a really interesting look, and depending on the overall architecture of the home it can be the perfect match. Just about everyone of the very best steel garage doors are created with galvanized steel, and they typically will always consist of two layers. Steel doors are always going to be a lot less maintenance than wooden doors, but the primary downside to a steel door is that they can potentially be dented and are capable of rusting after long periods of time.

The best way to take care of your steel garage door and make sure it lasts forever is to get a minimum of a 24 to 25 gauge steel door, or a steel door that has a fiberglass overlay will also be a really great move so you get the aesthetics of the steel while preserving it from any potential dents.

3. Aluminum

The lightweight properties of aluminum are what can help make this a really interesting type of garage door material, especially when your garage has double doors that happen to be really wide. In recent years there have been some really great advancements in aluminum garage door technology, so the doors are much heavier and overall more sturdy than aluminum doors of the past. Also, another good addition to aluminum doors of today are that they have dent-resistant laminated panels.

These doors with the heavy-duty frames tend to be a lot more expensive, but they are the kind of chic aluminum door that will help bring a lot of style points to your home. There are of course a ton of cheaper options in which the materials used for the panels aren’t necessarily as convenient or strong, which can be potentially dented, so it’s definitely more of a risk getting these cheaper options.

4. Fiberglass

Fiberglass is such a cool way to have a garage, and there are a lot of different ways you can go about this type of door so you don’t necessarily have to keep its transparent nature. Because fiberglass is so malleable it has an incredible amount of mimicry properties so it can be very similar to some of the other materials we’ve already talked about in certain ways. You can have a fiberglass garage door that looks like wood, or you can keep it just like normal glass letting in the nicest of soft light, which depending on your property could be ultra fashionable.

It’s also pretty cheap to customize these types of doors, but a drawback is that they can potentially yellow or even break over time, especially when you live in a place that’s cold.

5. Vinyl

These garage doors are some of the hardest to break or dent, so that’s always a good thing if you have kids or you just want to make sure your door holds a lot of durability and true, lasting value. Vinyl doors will resemble fiberglass doors in many ways in terms of the overall construction process, but are much less maintenance and don’t require hose downs very often at all.

The one bad part about vinyl doors is that you won’t have too many options in terms of aesthetics like designs and color schemes.