The garage door industry is projected to grow more than three percent in the year 2022.
Installing a new garage door can instantly make your home look brand-new and improve curb appeal.
If you're wondering about the benefits of a new garage door, read on to learn how it can add value and style to your home.
Elevate Your Curb Appeal
One of the biggest advantages of a new garage door is that it improves curb appeal. A brand-new door in a beautiful color can easily complement the rest of your property.
If you're selling your home, then installing a new garage door can be a great way to entice buyers. This simple upgrade will help the exterior of your home look new and more visually appealing.
The best type of garage door is one that coordinates with your home's architectural style. For example, if you have a modern home, choose a door with sleek lines and frosted glass windows.
Installing a New Garage Door Adds Value
Not only does installing a new garage door improve curb appeal, but it also boosts the value of your home. This value can be measured in dollar value and convenience.
Homeowners planning to sell their property can use the new garage door as a selling point. It also gives potential buyers peace of mind knowing they won't need to pay to replace it any time soon.
If your current garage door gets stuck or has difficulty operating, a new one makes life a lot easier. New models often include added features like sensors that provide an extra layer of security.
A beautiful new garage door will make coming home a much more pleasant event. Smooth operation and convenient features give it a lot of benefits that go beyond monetary value.
Improved Energy Efficiency
A crooked or drafty garage door isn't helping your home in terms of energy efficiency. Choose a new garage door that is insulated and sealed to keep outside air out.
Ask about garage doors that have a high R-value and include weather sealing. When your garage door is installed correctly, it can keep your home warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
The use of more and better insulation also helps to control outside noise to keep your home nice and quiet. It also increases privacy while you're at home.
You may notice a lower energy bill once your new garage door is installed, too. This is just one more perk of choosing to install a new garage door.
Start With the House, Not the Brochure
Most people shop garage doors the way they shop paint chips: they scroll a gallery, find one they like, and try to talk themselves into it. That gets backwards fast, because the garage door is usually the single largest flat surface on the front of a suburban house. On a typical 16-foot double-car opening, you are looking at roughly a third of the facade.
So the question is not “which door do I like.” It is “which door disappears into this house, or intentionally stands out from it.”
Two shortcuts we use on estimates:
- Match the panel line to your window grid. If your front windows have divided lites, a door with a matching top-window grid ties the elevation together. If your windows are clean single panes, a flush or plank door reads much better than a busy raised panel.
- Match the door color to the trim or the roof, not the siding. Doors painted to blend with siding tend to look washed out. Trim-matched doors look intentional.
What Works on Common Chicagoland House Styles
Our service area is heavy on housing stock built between the 1950s and the 1990s, plus a growing number of teardown rebuilds. A few patterns hold up:
Mid-century ranch and split-level (Skokie, Niles, parts of Glenview and Arlington Heights). Long, low, horizontal. Flush panel or long-plank doors read correctly here. Tall raised-panel doors with decorative strap hardware fight the roofline.
Brick colonial and Georgian (Northbrook, Deerfield, Highland Park). Symmetry is the whole point. Short raised-panel or shaker-style doors with a simple top row of square windows work. Keep hardware minimal — colonials do not want barn hardware.
Tudor and Cape Cod (Evanston, Winnetka, Wilmette). These carry carriage-house designs well, including the arched or “stockton” top section, because the style references a real historical door.
New-build modern farmhouse. Black-framed windows, white or light siding. A dark plank door with black hardware is the current default, and it holds up.
Contemporary and full-glass builds (Highland Park, Northfield, Long Grove). Aluminum frame with frosted or tinted glass. Beautiful, and worth knowing it is the least insulating option on the market — see how to choose a garage door material before you commit.
Three Details That Date a Door
Style is mostly panel shape, but these three are what make a five-year-old door look fifteen:
- Window placement. Windows in the top section are timeless. Windows in the second-from-top section were a 2000s trend and read dated now.
- Faux hardware on the wrong style. Decorative handles and hinges belong on carriage-house doors. Bolted onto a raised-panel door, they look applied — because they are.
- Almond. A generation of Chicagoland doors went in as almond or sandstone to match aluminum trim that has since been replaced. If your trim is now white or black, the door is the odd one out.
Measure Before You Fall in Love
Older suburban garages in our area throw two curveballs. First, plenty of 1950s–70s garages have less than 12 inches of headroom above the opening, which rules out some track configurations and may push you toward a low-headroom kit or a wall-mount opener. Second, 15′×7′ openings are common in older builds where people assume 16′×7′ — an inch of guessing is a door that does not fit.
We measure headroom, backroom, side room, and the actual rough opening on every estimate before anything gets ordered. If you are weighing options for your home, our garage door installation team will walk the opening with you — call (224) 306-2985.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should my garage door match my front door?
Match the family, not the exact color. If your front door is a deep navy, a garage door in the same navy usually reads heavy because of the size difference. Pulling the garage door to a neutral that appears elsewhere on the house — trim white, roof charcoal, brick tone — is more reliable.
Do garage door windows make the door weaker or colder?
Windows reduce the insulated area, so an insulated door with a full row of windows performs a little worse than the same door without them. Structurally, factory-installed window sections are engineered for it — the concern is thermal, not strength.
Can I get a wood look without buying a wood door?
Yes. Modern steel doors are available with printed and embossed wood-grain finishes, and composite overlay doors get very close to real wood at a fraction of the upkeep. In a freeze-thaw climate that is usually the smarter buy.
Update Your Garage Door Today
As you can see, the benefits of installing a new garage door are many. From improving your curb appeal to better insulation, new products offer a range of features to enhance your property.
If you're interested in getting a new garage door installed, be sure to contact us today for a free quote.
Ready to upgrade? AG Smart Garage installs new garage doors throughout the North Shore. We serve homeowners in Northbrook, Deerfield, Highland Park, Glenview, Buffalo Grove , and Winnetka.
Schedule a free estimate today - call (224) 306-2985.