Getting Started
From my experience, there isn’t really a manufacturer of garage doors that is especially good or bad. They all make a product line that ranges from utter garbage to extremely high quality. These days, most manufacturers offer a wide variety of styles, many of which are virtually identical between brands. This means that the best place to start your decision making process is by thinking about the what grade of a garage door you want, especially in terms of insulation.
Next, find a reputable installation company that services your area. The quality of the installation is going to be the biggest factor in how smoothly your new door and/or opener works, as well as how long it lasts. Once you find a good company, ask what brands they carry, then start looking at designs. Lots of people spend hours deciding on a specific door only to find that the closest dealer is 300 miles away.
What are my options?
Most garage doors installed today are steel (not aluminum). Steel garage doors range from non-insulated sheet metal at the low end up to 3″ thick filled with polyurethane insulation at the high end. There are different levels in between. Most homes where insulation is desired are well served by a 1 3/8″ or 2″ polystyrene insulated door, which usually has R6 to R10 insulation value. Polyurethane doors can get close to R20.
Wood “carriage” style doors are becoming more and more common. They range in quality, and cheap wood doors are junk. On the high end there are garage doors out there that are truly works of art. Keep in mind that wood doors are going to go through parts quicker than steel and be more expensive to own over the long term. Recently, many manufacturers have come out with paint options on steel doors that actually do a fine job of looking like wood.
If you want a budget door that just looks like any other garage door and you aren’t concerned with insulation, a 24 guage non-insulated (a.k.a. “pan door”) door is a good choice. These may be the second least expensive available door from any given brand. Anything made of lighter material will be pretty flimsy.
Most manufacturers also offer a semi-insulated option that is basically a non-insulated door with rigid foam insulation inserted into the back cavity. This is the worst of both worlds. Either save money and go non-insulated, or pony up for an insulated “sandwich” style door.
Fully insulated doors (a.k.a. “sandwich” doors) have a steel front, insulated core, and a steel back. They range from 1 3/8″ to 3″ thick and usually have polystyrene(styrofoam) or polyurethane insulation. I would consider the 1 3/8″ fully insulated polystyrene door to be the base model for a “good” garage door. The 2″ version is a little better still.
Polyurethane insulated doors can have extremely high “R” values, and are also far more rigid than their polystyrene counterparts, even though they may be identical from the front. Polyurethane insulation is extremely hard — some of these doors are so tough that you can lay a section on the ground and jump on it without leaving a dent. They are priced accordingly.
Keep in mind that getting windows in the top section of your door will have a massive impact on the “R” value of the door as a whole. Insulated glass is usually available and makes a big difference.
Most manufacturers now offer a variety of designs and styles available in these various levels of insulation. Garage doors are distributed regionally, so there are some brands I have never seen in person that are very popular in other parts of the country. Here is a list of some of the top garage door manufacturers: