What’s So Great About Insulation?

Insulated garage doors usually consist of several layers of material, including more than an inch of safe and environmentally friendly insulation.  Insulated garage doors are strong and durable, and can last for years.  Insulated garage doors are quiet (often quieter than many other models of doors), and they can even act as an extra barrier against moisture, insects, and burglars.

But, for many people, the main appeal of insulated garage doors is that they help control the temperature in your garage and surrounding areas of your home.  Whether it is hot or cold, an insulated garage door will help keep the temperature comfortable.

The two principal advantages of insulated garage doors are that they:

1. Regulate the temperature in your garage and home.  If your garage is connected to your home and not insulated, the hot summer sun and the cold winter nights can turn the garage into either a furnace or a freezer.  Regulating the temperature will also help protect any tools, equipment, or storage you are keeping in the garage.
2. Lower energy costs.  An un-insulated garage door can suck up a lot of the air conditioning and heat from your home, greatly increasing your energy costs.  If you have rooms directly beside or above the garage door, you will also have to use more AC or heat to keep them at a livable temperature.

Insulated garage doors are a great investment, and they can actually help you save money.  If you are ready to upgrade your garage door, contact the best Utah garage door experts.

                Is your garage door difficult to work with? Is it complete beyond repair? Or, are you looking to change the look of your house and raise your home’s value? Whatever your thoughts are, here are some reasons why it might be time to change up your garage door system.

Increased Home Value

·         When the outer appearance of your house looks good, your home will be easier to sell. First impressions can be very powerful, and when considering selling your house, any added value is obviously appreciated.

Reduce Power Bills

·         If you replace your old garage door system with a new, insulated model, you can save on power bills. The outside temperature won’t have as much influence on the temperature inside your house because your garage can now serve as a buffer. Also, storing items inside a insulated garage protects them better from the elements.

Increase Your Home’s Security

·         Older garage door models are easier to break into, and a newer model can increase the security of your home. Using new rolling code technology, you have a much better chance of securing your garage.

Prevent Injury

·         Older garage door systems might not have the sensors that prevent the garage door from closing on you, your family members, or any of your valuables that might be in the way of the door.

Replacing your garage door system is clearly a useful, valuable, and worthwhile consideration. Whatever your garage door needs are, you can find more expert advice at the best garage door company in Utah!

1. Take everything out. It’s much easier to make a plan for organization when you know how much you have. Once you pull out the contents of your garage onto your driveway, you’ll probably realize that you have a lot more stuff than you thought you did.
2. Assess what you have. Is anything broken or totally useless? Chuck it, give it to a friend or a family member, or have a garage sale. De-cluttering is 75% of organization.
3. Make distinct piles of your items with labels such as “tools,” “auto supplies,” “emergency items,” “bikes,” and “toys.”
4. Measure your garage to determine the size of the furnishings you’ll need to make everything work. Knowing the extent of your space may also lead you to do some additional de-cluttering.
5. Determine what you’ll need for each zone. Consider purchasing a workbench, shelves, cabinets, or rolling shelves for storage. If you’ll be hanging items directly to a corkboard or the ceiling, you’ll need to pick up some heavy-duty hooks.
6. Use bike storage. Bikes, poorly arranged, can take up a lot space. Consider purchasing a bike rack or hanging your bikes on the wall.
7. Hang up your ladder. The ladder can take up a lot of space, so hang it on the ceiling from some heavy duty hooks or hang it from the rafters.
8. Label everything. This is the last, important step. You put so much work into this good organization: help yourself out by leaving behind some reminders of how the organization works and why you chose to do it the way you did.

For more tips on all things to do with garages, contact the Utah garage door experts!

It’s quite common for burglars to go from home to home, simply opening unlocked garages, slipping in, and disappearing into the night with hundreds of dollars in valuables and the homeowners none the wiser. And leaving your garage door unlocked could have even more dangerous consequences. An Iowa man, telling about a recent burglary attempt on his home, shares the following harrowing story:

Mike Franzen was awakened by his wife at one a.m. when the doorbell rang. Franzen went to his interior garage door to see who it was, and opened the door to see a man in a black ski mask pointing a shotgun at him. Franzen slammed the door shut but the burglar fired the shotgun. The door mostly absorbed the blast, but Franzen took a couple of BBs to the hand. Franzen and his wife spent the next couple of hours hiding out while the burglar ran away.

Luckily, the story ended without casualties, but could have been avoided had the garage door been locked, preventing the burglar from getting to the interior garage door at all.

Make sure your Utah garage door is equipped with an automatic opener and is locked every night to prevent any tragedies from occurring in your home.

1. Use the right cleaners. Clean your door regularly with a mild detergent and a soft car brush. It’s best to wash your door each time you wash your car. The more regularly you clean your door, the better it will look and the longer it will last.
2. Easy on the salt. Most of us need to salt our driveways in the winter. To the extent possible, avoid salting the driveway immediately next to the garage door. The less salt that gets on your door, the longer it will last.
3. Have a regular lube, tune, and inspection. Regular lubrication ensures that your door will continue to open and close as it is meant to. A careful tune-up from A+ Garage Doors also helps to ensure that the door’s rollers never come off the track. We’ll make sure that your door is in ship-shape for a very long time.

For more garage door maintenance and repair help or to have a new door installed in your home, contact the Utah garage door experts!

Before you stow away your toys for the winter, you’ll need to make sure your garage is fully equipped to keep your car safe and happy all season long. Make sure you have the following features in place:

1. A Garage Door Opener. If you’re opening your door by hand, you present a serious risk to your possessions. With an opener, you not only save yourself the energy of opening by hand, you also get the ability to lock the door, keeping your goods in and the bad guys out.
2. Composition. While wooden, vinyl, and fiberglass doors will keep the weather out, steel doors provide the best insulation no matter the conditions.
3. Garage floor covers. Not only do garage floor covers make for a more comfortable space, they also keep dripping antifreeze from staining or contaminating your concrete floor in the winter.

Make sure that all of your vehicles are ready to go when warm weather returns in the spring. For more info on winterizing your garage or to have a new door installed, contact the Utah garage door experts.

Every six months, you should

1. Remove dirt and grime from the windows with regular glass cleaner.
2. Wipe down the surface of the door using household detergent and water.

Once per year, you should

1. Do a thorough inspection. Here are a few important things to check for:
• Are there any rollers with bent shafts, worn-out bearings, or broken wheels?
• Are any of the hinges bent or loose?
• Are there any missing or loose bolts or screws? If so, tighten them up.
• Are the extension spring-lift cables running properly in the pulleys? Is there any rubbing taking place?
2. Take a few minutes and lubricate all of the door’s moving parts.

If you run into any hiccoughs along the way, contact your Utah garage door repair experts!

Before cars, when the wealthy primarily drove carriages, they kept them in the same barn-type structure as their horses. When the car came along, it seemed natural to simply replace the carriage with the car, right next to the horses and riding gear. Naturally, though, this began to stink up the cars, which upset car owners. So some intelligent individuals settled upon the idea of larger garages that would house only cars – and large numbers of them – for a monthly fee.

This lasted for a while until people decided they needed a more convenient option for stowing their automobiles. Many began building sheds exclusively for housing their cars near their homes. First the shed had outwardly-opening barn doors. Then came the advent of the sliding track, which made it possible for doors to slide to the side, rather than opening outward – this was more practical but required a very wide garage. Innovators then designed a door that was divided into folding sections, making it possible for the door – sliding to the side – to retract into the garage, decreasing the width required of the garage.

In 1921 and 1926, C.G. Johnson invented the overhead folding door and then added an automatic opening for people with disabilities. Today, electric openers have become a standard of convenience for all garage doors.

And there you have it – the history of the garage door from your Utah garage door repair experts!

You probably know that it’s important to keep your garage door closed at night. But if you don’t have an automatic garage door opener, thieves can easily open your garage door and walk away with your belongings at any moment. If, without much effort, you can lift your door by hand to put your car inside, then you can be sure that thieves are willing to do the same.

What are thieves looking for when they break into someone’s garage? Statistics show that thieves will take any of a number of things, including:

• Food in the fridge. Statistically, alcohol is a popular target.
• Bicycles
• Cars
• Personal items, such as wallets or purses.

Most garage thieves are not aware that entering a garage without the owner’s permission and removing anything from inside can earn them a charge of aggravated burglary.

To prevent this from happening to you, have an automatic opener installed on your Utah garage door. A garage door opener automatically locks each time it closes, keeping your possessions safe inside. Garage door openers are important for additional reasons as well, such as keeping your children safe: a manually-opened garage door could potentially fall on an unsuspecting child, whereas automatic garage door openers come with special sensors to ensure that the door cannot close when there is someone beneath it.

Protect your valuables and your family by having an automatic garage door installed today.

• Wood doors. These provide a custom, timeless, rustic look to your home. Wood doors tend to take a little more maintenance, as they need to be painted about as often as the wood trim around your house.

• Composite doors. Vinyl and fiberglass are notable for their durable quality – they won’t crack or dent, even under forceful impact. These tend to be lighter, so they’re ideal for those who don’t have a garage door opener and must open their door by hand.

• Steel doors. These create a sleek, professional look for a home or business. Steel doors can be insulated, which will go a long way toward keeping your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They usually come with a longer warranty. They’re also low maintenance – unlike wood doors, they never need to be painted. Steel is the strongest of the materials, so just one door will last a long, long time.

To see some of the options available to you, or to set up an appointment, feel free to contact A+, your Utah garage door experts!