Monday, January 9, 2012

Garage Doors "Savings"

When building or remodeling you need to watch every dollar to make you spend it wisely. There are very few people who are a bigger fan of saving money than I am, but sometimes saving a few dollars now can cost you dearly later on. This is very true when it comes to garage doors. You can be penny wise and pound foolish here. Although current code requires bracing many older or inexpensive doors do not have the angle iron bracing that keeps them from buckling or breaking in high winds. When I survey damage after a natural disaster and see bowed or missing garage doors caused by straight-line winds I can’t help but feel sorry for the homeowner. The original savings of a couple hundred dollars is wiped out by the deductible (if they even have insurance) when the door gives way. The worst case I saw was a home that apparently used the less expensive doors (this was new home). Every other home on this cul-de-sac was fine, but this home was missing the entire left half of the structure. It had literally exploded. While we were trying to figure out the cause, someone suddenly said “garage doors.” The straight-line winds came into the area, built up against the doors and broke them. When the doors gave way it pressurized the garage and “exploded” the whole left side of the home, taking out the garage and bedroom above it. Every other home in the cul-de-sac was fine. Sad to say, the couple of hundred dollars they saved on the original cost of the doors cost about $100,000 in repairs.

If you have older doors that do not have angle iron bracing you add it for a very low cost. Companies such as Overhead Door are glad to do it if you are not comfortable doing it yourself.

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