Classic Wood garage doors

Classic Wood is the raised-panel door most people picture when they think of a garage door, built in wood and not in steel. The panel layout is the traditional one, with raised rectangles in each section, and the surface takes either a stain that shows the grain or a paint that matches the trim. Clopay lists three species: hemlock, cedar and redwood. Each has its own grain and color, which is the main reason people choose real wood in the first place.

Because it is real wood, the door suits houses where the material is already part of the story: a craftsman bungalow, a colonial with wood shutters, a ranch with cedar on the gable. A stained door can be matched to a wood entry door or to the exposed beams on a porch, which is hard to do with any other material. If you are renovating a house from the period when wood doors were standard, it is also the most authentic replacement.

Wood asks something in return. Triangle summers are hot and humid, pollen season coats everything, and a wood finish lives outdoors. Expect to wash it, keep the finish sound and refinish it on a regular cycle, and ask yourself honestly whether you will. A faux-wood composite door costs less in time, and a steel door costs less still. Plenty of owners choose wood anyway, and on a house that suits it the result is hard to beat.

Windows are available in the traditional layouts, usually across the top section. Color is a decision about stain or paint more than a choice from a chart. Sample pieces of each species show how a stain actually reads on the grain, and we bring them so you can hold them against your trim and brick. How the door is built behind the face is a question for the consultation, and we go through the construction details for the species you choose.

It is worth thinking about the rest of the house before you pick. If the front door, the shutters and the porch are painted, a painted wood garage door can sit comfortably with them. If you want the grain to show, check that the other wood on the house is in a similar tone, or the garage door will look like the odd one out. A sample against the front door settles most of these questions.

This collection is built to order, so we quote it per door after measuring. On cost, it sits above the standard steel doors, in the upper part of the Clopay range, and the species, finish and size all move the number. At the free consultation we measure, bring samples and give you a firm installed price before anything is scheduled.