4 Tips for Choosing a Coastal Home Garage Door

Coastal homes are subjected to sea spray, strong UV rays, and high winds that homes located further inland typically do not face at all or face less often. All of these weather elements can affect your garage door, making it important to choose a door that cannot be easily damaged by the many weather hazards unique to coastal climates. 

Read on to learn four tips for choosing a new garage door for your coastal home. 

Garage doors today are made from many different materials, and some of these materials are more resistant to saltwater corrosion than others. Two garage door materials that tend to hold up well in coastal climates include fiberglass and aluminum. 

Fiberglass, also called glass resin polyester (GRP), garage doors are resistant to corrosion that can be caused by the salt that lingers in the air when you live along the coast. Fiberglass doors are also lightweight, low-maintenance, dent-resistant, and resistant to other types of severe weather. These doors are available in many colors and styles. 

Aluminum doors are also resistant to saltwater corrosion, and unlike many other metals, aluminum will not rust over time, even when frequently exposed to water. Aluminum contains very little to no iron, and only metals that contain iron can rust. Aluminum doors are also lightweight, although these doors are more prone to denting than their fiberglass counterparts.

To ensure your aluminum door is as resistant to corrosion as possible, choose a door with a powder coating. Aluminum powder coatings are very durable, come in many attractive colors, and protect the aluminum underneath them from saltwater pitting and other mild forms of saltwater corrosion. 

One garage door style that all homeowners who live along the coast should consider is a full-view door. Unlike traditional garage doors that have no windows or just a few small windows, full-view garage doors are made up of many clear or translucent panels of tempered glass or acrylic that are held together with an aluminum frame. 

This garage door style offers many unique benefits. First, these doors provide a great view of the outdoors, which is a great benefit if you enjoy spending time in your garage. In addition, this door style allows plenty of natural light to flood your garage during daylight hours, which can be another great perk if you perform tasks in your garage that require ample light.

 

Glass panels can be strategically tinted to provide some garage privacy, if desired, and the inclusion of colored glass panels in your design allows you to filter some light that enters your garage while also creating a completely customized garage door look. 

The sun's strong UV rays can take a toll on many types of garage doors, especially those that tend to warp over time when exposed to high heat. The sun's rays can be especially strong along the coast where UV rays do not just emanate down directly from the sun, but also strike the water and sand reflect right off of them back into the surrounding area.

The sun's strong UV rays cannot lead to warping of some garage door types over time, but they can also heat up any garage door type that can then pass this heat into your garage and increase the temperature inside of it. 

To help ensure your garage door reflects a large amount of the sun's heat instead of absorbing it, choose a light-colored door instead of a dark-colored one. Light colors tend to reflect the sun's UV rays, while darker colors absorb them. Also, if possible choose a door equipped with a built-in UV-reflective coating. However, if you plan to paint your door or have it painted before it is installed, choose reflective paint. 

You may be tempted to skip the insulated garage door when you live along the coast due to the belief that insulation is only useful for garages in cold climates because they help trap heat in the garage during the winter. However, homeowners who live in moderate to hot climates should also choose insulated garage doors because they help keep the interior of a garage cooler in the summer as well. 

In fact, studies have shown that a garage door with an R-18 insulation rating can help keep a garage as many as 25 degrees Fahrenheit cooler in the summer than it would be when equipped with an uninsulated garage door. 

If you live along the California coast and plan to replace your garage door soon, then keep these tips in mind when choosing a new garage door that works well in a coastal climate. Contact the garage door experts at Edgemont Garage Doors to schedule a new garage door installation today.