Many homeowners are wondering about simple, affordable and worthwhile investments they can make to upgrade their homes. Some homeowners look for ways to update the look of their home, increase their home value, add new features or improve the functionality and efficiency of their homes. For other families, improving safety and security are paramount.
No matter your reason for making home improvements, you’ve likely considered the best way to get a return on investment. You want to make sure any renovations you commit to are going to be financially feasible, especially if you’re going to be putting out a fairly substantial payment upfront.
There are a few common home improvements experts recommend that earn a great return on investment. Typically, these are kitchen and bathroom upgrades. However, if you aren’t careful, these types of projects can quickly go over budget or take much longer than expected to complete. Other experts recommend investing in landscaping and exterior improvements to enhance curb appeal and improve the resale value of the home.
However, there’s a significant, yet often overlooked home improvement task that’s easy and financially affordable for homeowners — replacing the garage door.
Request ServiceReasons to Replace a Garage Door
Upgrading your garage door accomplishes many home improvement goals. In addition to being a home improvement project with a great ROI, a new garage door helps save money over time by being one of the top energy-efficient home improvements owners can make. There’s an additional financial incentive to replacing a garage door. Because new garage doors improve energy efficiency, homeowners who upgrade their garage doors may be eligible for various rebates and tax credits at federal, state and local levels as well as through private companies.
For families with young kids or anyone living in urban areas, upgrading your garage door has another all-important benefit — increasing your home’s security. That is one investment outcome you simply can’t put a price on.
There are countless reasons to invest in a home improvement like replacing your garage door. While they seem virtually endless, we’ve narrowed it down to seven key reasons to replace your garage door:
- Improve the curb appeal of your home
- Increase your home’s resale value
- Earn a great return on investment (ROI)
- Reduce your home’s heating and cooling costs
- Lower your maintenance costs on old garage doors
- Improve your home’s security
- Offset your investment through tax credits and rebates
Read on to learn how each of these seven reasons for upgrading your garage door can help improve your home’s curb appeal, value, energy efficiency and home security — and why it’s worth your investment in time and money.
Improve the Curb Appeal of Your Home
Imagination and budget are the only limitations when it comes to opportunities to enhance your home’s curb appeal. Updating your home’s exterior is important, especially in older homes. Not only does it help make the home look better overall, but it also shows that as the owner you care about your property, and you’re taking good care of it.
There are countless ways to update your home’s exterior. You can repaint and reside your home or invest in professional landscaping. These will help update the look of your home, but don’t offer the extensive list of benefits that a garage door upgrade does.
A garage door upgrade is an inexpensive way to update your home’s exterior while producing measurable ROI. You can give your home an entirely new look with a modern garage door that will provide plenty of additional benefits — that’s not something a fresh paint job can claim.
If attached, garages account for a large part of the visual design of the home’s exterior. With an element as substantial as a garage door that takes up one-third of the front view of the home, it’s important to make sure it looks high-quality and adds to the home’s style instead of detracting from it.
In order for your garage door to enhance your home’s curb appeal, you need to:
- Modernize your home’s look
- Remove an unsightly, old garage door
- Install a garage door in a color that complements your home
- Select from endless styles and design ideas that add to your home’s character
- Choose a new garage door material and finish
- Add decorative details like handles and hinges
- Add windows for extra interior light and exterior charm
Re-siding, repainting and landscaping are sizeable undertakings. These types of exterior home improvements may take several days or months to complete. A new garage door installation can be completed in a single day, saving you from the hassle of extensive home renovations that often run over schedule and budget. With a garage door upgrade, you’ll see a substantial improvement in your home’s curb appeal immediately.
Increase Your Home’s Resale Value
Your home’s value is based on many different factors. Some are factors you can’t control, like your location, the homes in the area and the overall market health. But some of the factors that affect your home’s value are within your control. You can control the upkeep of your home, its overall appearance and the upgrades you invest in.
Replacing an outdated garage door with a new, high-efficiency and modern garage door can instantly add value to your home’s sale price. Garage doors have also shown to retain their value compared to many other conventional household renovations.
In fact, real estate investment experts have established that garage door replacements result in a greater increase in home value compared to some more time-consuming and expensive remodeling projects. One survey showed 70% of homeowners felt a garage door improved the value of their home.
Garage doors are also easier remodeling projects to undertake than other renovations that are proven to increase home value. Professionals can install a new garage door in less than a day in many cases. This frees up your time compared to remodeling projects that require your design input, sign-off and continued communication.
You can’t overlook the fact that a new, modern garage door makes a great first impression when buyers pull up to your house. If you’re looking to increase your home’s resale value and sell your home faster, upgrading your garage door can catch a buyer’s attention and help close the deal quickly.
Earn a Great Return on Investment
When considering ways to improve your home’s value, security, curb appeal or energy efficiency, you need to be smart about how you invest your money. A smart investment is one that requires minimal upfront costs, retains its value and works for you in the long-run. Investing in remodels requires homeowners to weigh the costs of the project with the benefits it will produce.
We’ve already seen how a garage door replacement can add value to your home when you go to sell it. But what if you aren’t planning on selling your home anytime soon? Garage doors are still a smart and worthwhile long-term investment.
In addition to helping to add value to your home, garage door upgrades are one of the top home improvement projects with a great return on investment. Here’s why garage door upgrades have a great ROI:
- They retain their value. According to Remodeling Magazine, garage door replacements are one of the smartest upgrades a savvy homeowner can make. The average garage door replacement project retains up to 88.4% of its value. Based on a national average, a garage door replacement job costs $1,595. At resale, the garage is still worth an impressive $1,410. In the Pacific region, a garage door replacement recoups its cost and then some with a value of 110% at resale. The initial job costs an average of $1,756 in the Pacific region and is worth $1,929 at resale.
- They help cut energy costs. If one of your goals is to find ways to reduce heating and cooling expenses at home, then choose a new garage door installation. Many brands of garage doors, including ones from Clopay®, provide energy-efficient solutions. Energy-efficient garage doors prevent heat or cold loss and gain, which cuts back on the unnecessary use of your heating and cooling system. By improving energy efficiency, you can lower your energy costs right away and start earning a return on your garage door investment.
- They provide rebates and credits. In addition to cutting down on monthly bills, garage door upgrades can earn you tax credits and rebates. When you factor this income into the overall costs of the garage door installation, your total investment amount decreases and your payback period shortens.
Looking at the same data from Remodeling Magazine, garage door upgrades are in the top two of remodeling projects that earn a return on investment. Garage replacements beat out bathroom remodels, roof replacements, kitchen updates and siding replacements. The only other remodeling project that had a better return on investment was replacing the entry door with a steel door.
Reduce Heating and Cooling Costs
As a homeowner, you know operating and maintaining your household can be expensive. That’s why many families look for ways to save on their monthly bills. Reducing household expenses requires that homeowners look at opportunities to improve energy efficiency.
One of the best ways cut back on energy costs is to tighten up your home’s building envelope. Ensuring your home is properly sealed prevents expensive heat from escaping during the winter months. It also means that during the colder months, you won’t be air conditioning the outdoors. With proper sealing and insulation, you can prevent heat and cold loss and gain year-round.
Experts are quick to recommend homeowners look at their attached garages as a primary culprit of heat loss and gain. After all, a garage door is the largest opening to your home with the greatest potential to allow hot or cold air to enter. Unless upgraded, most older garages aren’t properly sealed or insulated. By insulating your garage walls and installing an energy-efficient garage door, you can save on energy bills.
Energy-efficient garage doors help with climate control. Garage doors achieve this based on the type of insulation they’re constructed with. The thickness and density of the insulating material also contribute to a garage door’s ability to prevent heat flow. The more heat-resistant an insulating material is, the higher its “R-value”. Well-insulated garages are important in colder climates, especially if you use your garage as a work space or studio. Not only does climate control make your workplace more enjoyable, but it also protects your contents from possible damage due to heat and cold.
Another way garage doors help with climate control is by preventing air leaks. Energy-efficient garage doors mitigate the potential for air to pass through the space between the door itself and the garage’s door frame. This is done through skillful engineering that ensures the strong perimeter lasts. If your garage door has windows, it’s important to ensure they’re energy-efficient, have proper weatherproofing and don’t allow for air leaks.
Lower Your Maintenance and Repair Costs on Old Garage Doors
When you own an older home, you can expect to set aside a portion of your budget for maintenance and repair costs. Plus, there’s the added cost in the time required to regularly examine different elements of your home for wear and tear or any glaring issues. Old garage doors typically fall into this category. Because they’re mechanical products, the older they get, the more they wear out — especially if they weren’t properly maintained by previous owners.
A garage door opens and closes an average of 1500 times per year. With that level of use, it’s no wonder garage doors in older homes start to show their age. Garage doors may start to malfunction or just stop running as smoothly as they once did. This requires ongoing inspection and attention to keep them operating properly.
An improperly functioning garage door can even be dangerous. A common issue with older garage doors is that the track isn’t aligned correctly because the rails are bent or there are gaps between the rollers and rails. The weight of the door adds further stress to the track until eventually, it becomes a hazard.
You can try to remedy the problem yourself. Hiring a garage door repair professional is the safer option, but it’s also an added and expensive cost. At that point, you’d have to decide whether it makes more sense to repair or replace your garage door.
Today’s generation of garage doors are engineered to last. A high-quality garage door can last up to 30 years with proper preventative maintenance. By installing a new garage door when your old one wears out, you can cut back on ongoing repair costs and maintenance time, not to mention safety risks. Eco-friendly garage doors have the added benefit of being made from extremely durable materials, which extends the life expectancy of the product.
Improve Your Home’s Security
Home technology has come a long way in the past 15 years. With alarm and alert technology, today’s homeowners can always know exactly what’s going on in their homes. This gives homeowners the peace of mind in knowing that while they’re on vacation or at work, their home will be safe.
Everyone has the right to feel safe in their own home. Unfortunately, many older homes lack the same level of security that newer homes have today. Old doors and windows compromise your home, giving experienced burglars easy access points through which to intrude.
One of the ways burglars can gain entry into a home is through the garage. Roughly 9% of people surveyed about break-and-enters in their homes claimed the burglar entered through the garage door. There are a few reasons that make it possible for intruders to breach old garage doors:
- An aging garage door doesn’t lock as firmly. With the right tools, a burglar can easily manipulate an old door lock or pry open the door.
- The motors in old garage doors wear out. This makes it much easier to lift the garage door from the bottom.
- Old garage doors have outdated technology. It’s possible that someone else has a garage door opener with the same frequency as yours. If a thief were to obtain an opener, they could use it to find random homes that matched its frequency.
You won’t have to worry about these security risks with a new garage door. Today’s garage doors are reinforced, lock firmly and can be integrated into a home’s existing security system.
For an added sense of safety, new technology allows homeowners to be in control of their garage doors. How many times have you left the house and wondered whether you left the garage door open? Garage door manufacturers like LiftMaster use smart technology to deliver real-time alerts letting homeowners know when their garage door is open. Smartphone apps also let homeowners control their garage doors remotely.
Your family’s safety is your top priority, and a new garage door can help protect your home so you can sleep better at night.
Offset Your Investment Through Tax Credits and Rebates
All homeowners want their upgrades to make sense financially. Fortunately, several incentive programs encourage homeowners to invest in energy-efficiency home improvements. These rebates, tax credits and other incentive programs are available at a local, state and federal levels. Private companies also offer rebates and credits to their customers.
Incentives help make it more affordable for homeowners to choose the best energy-efficient garage door for their home. It also gives homeowners more options because they know they’ll be getting cash back or an income tax deduction. Here are some of the types of incentives available to Idaho and Washington homeowners:
- Federal–Residential Energy Conservation Subsidy Exclusion (Personal): This federal financial incentive is available for homeowners investing in upgrades designed to reduce energy consumption or manage energy demand at home. This program is a 100% subsidy program.
- Idaho–Income Tax Deduction for Energy Efficient Upgrades: Homeowners in Idaho can benefit from a statewide income tax deduction program on energy-efficient home improvements, including adding new building insulation, caulking and weather-stripping, such as through the installation of an energy-efficient garage door. This is a 100% credit on costs of materials and labor on homes constructed before 2002.
Choose Continental Door Company
If you’re looking for ways to improve the value of your house, make your home look new or reduce heating and cooling expenses, consider replacing your garage door. New garage doors can enhance your home’s curb appeal, increase your home’s resale value and earn a great return on investment. Your choice of garage doors is endless. With high-tech, energy-efficient garage doors, you can reduce your home’s energy consumption and rest assured the door will remain tightly secured.
Right now, Clopay customers are eligible to win $1000 in the Clopay ImagineNATION Makeover Contest. Submit your before-and-after photos of your Clopay garage door makeover. Visit Clopay to enter the contest before the December 31, 2017, deadline.
Contact Continental Door Company today for more information on replacing or upgrading your garage door. If you’d like to know more about a garage door installation project, reach out to us or stop by our showroom. Our garage door installation experts are looking forward to helping you choose the garage door of your dreams.
Contact us online or by phone at 509-921-2260. You could also visit our showroom Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., or make an appointment for a Saturday showing. We’re located at 12718 E. Indiana Ave., Spokane Valley, Wash.
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