Today, I want to do a follow-up to my original style guide, where I went over three main styles of doors that I like to separate into traditional, carriage house, and modern garage doors. Today, I want to focus on the traditional garage doors. That will mostly be your raised panel doors.
Most commonly you will see a traditional raised panel door that is 4 panels wide and 4 sections tall on a standard 8’ x 7’. There is a long panel option that is 2 longer squares across, but still 4 sections tall.
The flush door can go from modern to traditional, depending on the exterior home design. You see a lot of them in developments. Commonly they are still the old wood doors. We are starting to see those get a little bit older and replacing them with a modern steel version. You do not have to worry about painting them to keep the bottoms from rotting out. They were very popular about 20, or 30 years ago in a lot of developments, but they are nearing the end of life in many cases.
Just about every manufacturer makes a raised panel traditional door and it comes in a variety of thicknesses and insulation variants. There is a hollow door. They also do a vinyl back door, which is a hollow door that insulation is glued into it. And they do the triple-layer steel back, which is our most popular door, especially here in the northeast. We are in a region where the steel back door is really the way to go, it can handle some abuse, and it is not as flimsy as the hollow or even a two-layer vinyl back doors.
From there you can do just regular engine Inch and three-eighths, a two-inch, and a two-inch with spray foam, which will give your best R-value, if you’re planning on heating the garage or if you have some bedrooms above it you’re trying to keep warm.
The nice thing about the traditional raised panel is it looks good just on about every home unless you have something real modern or out there. A white short panel door always looks good. The traditional is probably still the most popular door. I would say at least 50% of the doors we do are just that, maybe more. They are just a good, clean, affordable door that we sell a lot of.
Another choice to make with the traditional doors is whether to go glass or no glass. Most of the traditional styles are fine either way, whether you want to row of glass on the top or you just want to leave it a solid door. Glass will let in natural light and you can get tinted, frosted, or obscure on most models. That will let light in, but you can not see in, only some shadows. This is very popular for people who want extra light and don’t want anybody looking in the garage rather than just leaving it a solid door.
So that sums it up on the traditional door. Look at our galleries to see more and leave a comment below on what your favorite door style is.