You see it every day and probably use it just about every day as well. Yet it’s likely that you’ve never thought too closely about your garage door. It’s even more likely that you’ve never considered just how impressive it is.
Impressive, you ask? It’s just a garage door, you say? Well, perhaps you’ve never thought about the performance challenges that confront your garage door. After reading this post, you might just feel a certain amount of gratitude for your trusty garage door. And, when you need a new one, you’ll understand better why it’s so crucial to have one upon which you can rely.
Durable and Functional
Your garage door might just be the most hard‑working member of your household. Consider the way it gets pummeled and pounded by flying soccer balls and other pieces of sporting equipment that get away from the kids. Reflect upon the way that it withstands the severe weather, such as snow, ice, hail and extreme heat, from which you hide out in comfort indoors.
Garage doors are also one of the best pieces of security on the property, keeping intruders from breaking into the house via the garage. It does all this while regulating the temperature inside for your comfort. Not too shabby, right? But there’s more…
Strength in Numbers
Some jaw‑dropping statistics should further demonstrate your garage door’s surprising capabilities. Start with the fact that, over the course of its life, a garage door will cycle open and closed approximately 25,000 times, which is the equivalent of a human scaling Mount Everest 5 times.
But that’s nothing compared to the challenges the weather presents your garage door. Every day the ultraviolet rays that pelt your garage door could literally cook a turkey. Over a 25‑year period, all that sunshine is the energy equivalent of 55 gasoline barrels. And they haven’t even invented sunscreen for garage doors to help them out a little.
The wind and cold can be quite ornery as well. A wind of 90 mph hits a 12’ x 8’ garage door with the force of an automobile. Now consider that the temperature difference between inside and outside a garage on winter days can run upwards of 50 degrees Fahrenheit (or 25 degrees Celsius.) That means your garage door, if it has insulation of R‑16, essentially provides you with three winter coats, each bearing one inch of insulation. (The same calculations can apply to the heat in the summer, when the garage door acts as the ultimate air conditioner.)
Important Stuff
Now that you know just how much work your garage door undertakes each and every day, how can you justify having one that’s of anything but the best quality? Make sure it is weathertight and well‑insulated. Polyurethane insulation is the top choice in that regard, because of how it buffers you from both extreme heat and cold, muffles noise, and provides powerful resistance against any potential bending.
If all this information has you considering a potential garage door change, you can contact us at 1-800-696-1926. Or you’re welcome to visit our showroom, where we’ll gladly run through our wide range of products and see which one is the best fit for your home’s specific architecture. A free online quotation can also be obtained so you can compare prices.
One other great tool at your disposal is our Design Centre, which gives you the opportunity to create your very own door to your custom specifications. Our image gallery can also give you some great ideas going forward.
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