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GENERAL QUESTIONS
If your garage door does not operate, the door is a potential hazard. Do not try to fix on your own, instead contact a professionally trained garage door dealer. Another reason to replace a garage door is to enhance your home’s curb appeal. According to the 2010 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report, garage door replacement is the #2 remodeling project in regards to return on investment. The report states that replacing your garage door will return 84% of the cost at the time of home sale. Lastly, your current garage door may be fading, sagging and just in need of a replacement. If you have a wood garage door that needs re-painting, replacing it with a new pre-painted steel garage door may be a better value. Painting a garage door adds significant weight to a door which may affect the spring and the performance of the garage door and opener.
Each homeowner has unique needs for a new garage door based on the desired styling, the level of care & maintenance required, the energy efficiency and the location of the garage in one’s home. Steps to determine which garage door best suits you are:
1. Determine the material that best suits the care & maintenance that you desire. Amarr offers garage doors made from steel, wood composite, wood and aluminum.
2. Choose the door design that best complements your home, including window, color and decorative hardware options.
3. Determine the level of energy efficiency and noise reduction that best suits your needs depending on if you have a room above or adjacent to your garage or have children that play in front of the garage. Most Amarr doors are available with insulation or no insulation options.
A Carriage House door is a type of garage door that replicates the look of doors found on carriage houses in the early 19th and 20th Century. Amarr distributes a variety of striking carriage house designs made from three different materials, steel, wood and wood composite. These Amarr garage doors look like they swing open, but they actually move up and over your car.
Amarr offers stamped-steel carriage house doors in the Classica Collection and Oak Summit Collection that eliminate a homeowner’s concern of misaligned trim overlays. Acadiana Garage Doors beautiful, natural wood carriage house doors under the Bob Timberlake™, Biltmore Estate For Your Home®, and Amarr By Design Collections.
The minimum headroom required to operate a sectional garage door depends on the type of spring system used:
- Standard Torsion Spring System: Typically requires at least 12 inches of headroom.
- Extension Spring System: Usually needs a minimum of 10 inches of headroom.
- Low Headroom Track System: Designed for tight spaces, this system can operate with as little as 4.5 to 6 inches of headroom.
For exact requirements, it's best to consult the manufacturer’s specifications or contact us for a professional assessment.
One of the most asked questions I get is which material type garage door should I purchase. Here are some pro’s and con’s of the different materials that are on the market today:
Wood
Pro’s: Beautiful, Can be stained or painted, Can get virtually any design required
Con’s: Expensive, Maintenance required
Composite
Pro’s: Gorgeous, Can be stained or painted, Can get many custom designs, less expensive than real wood
Con’s: Maintenance is required, Not as wood looking as wood! (LOL)
Fiberglass
Pro’s: Comes pre-finished
Con’s: Expensive, Gets brittle over time due to heat and humidity
Steel
Pro’s: Many new designs on the market, Least expensive material, Low Maintenance
Con’s: Difficult to stain, Not customizeable
A garage door opening is very large. Insulated doors will help to reduce the transfer of heat or cold air into your garage. This is important for a number of reasons:
1) If your garage is attached to your home, air in the garage can travel through the doorway to your living area. An insulated garage door will reduce the transfer of air from the outside to the inside.
2) If you use your garage as a workshop, your comfort will be a top priority. An insulated garage door will help keep the temperature in the garage within a narrower temperature range as compared to the extreme range of the outside temperature.
3) If your garage is below another room in your home, air can travel through the ceiling of the garage into the floor of the room above. An insulated door will keep temperatures in the garage fairly stable to reduce the temperature fluctuation in the room above.
4) An insulated garage door is generally quieter and has a more attractive interior than a non-insulated door.
Many manufacturers use R-values to show the energy efficiency of their product. This number is calculated based on the thickness of the insulation and its chemical properties. Therefore, most of the published R-value numbers reflect only the R-value of a section, not of the installed door. A door’s insulating capabilities can be greatly affected by the door’s construction. For that reason, Acadiana Garage Doors insulated doors are built to maximize energy efficiency. Our thermal break, door section construction and insulation help keep your garage as comfortable as possible. When comparing R-values, make sure manufacturers’ R-value are calculated similarly.
Windows can be placed in any section of the door layout. Acadiana Garage Doors recommends window placement in the top or second to the top door section for the most natural lighting and security
There are several tests you can perform to tell if your door is balanced. Before testing your door, disengage you electronic opener.
1) Raise your door in 1′ increments, and the door should stay in place.
2) When you lower the door, the door lowers in a controlled manner and doesn’t slam down.
3) When you raise the door, the door rises at a controlled pace.
4) When the door is fully-raised in the open position, the bottom of the door should be aligned with the bottom of the header of the door opening.
The best way to determine if a garage door can be repaired through service or needs replacement is to call a professionally trained garage door dealer near you. Depending on the issues, a door may just need servicing (like a 3,000 mile car oil service), a few new parts, a new section or a door replacement. Many times, the issue is not the garage door, but the garage door opener needs replacement or servicing.1. Determine the material that best suits the care & maintenance that you desire. Amarr offers garage doors made from steel, wood composite, wood and aluminum.
2. Choose the door design that best complements your home, including window, color and decorative hardware options.
3. Determine the level of energy efficiency and noise reduction that best suits your needs depending on if you have a room above or adjacent to your garage or have children that play in front of the garage. Most Amarr doors are available with insulation or no insulation options.
Yes you can as long as you meet the following items: The door is still in production You can find the exact brand and model The rest of the door and hardware are in good shape
Amarr offers stamped-steel carriage house doors in the Classica Collection and Oak Summit Collection that eliminate a homeowner’s concern of misaligned trim overlays. Acadiana Garage Doors beautiful, natural wood carriage house doors under the Bob Timberlake™, Biltmore Estate For Your Home®, and Amarr By Design Collections.
A garage door raises and lowers with the assistance of springs. Broken and or worn springs will cause the door to be heavy and thus cause an extra load on the garage door opener. The extra load can be dangerous for reversing mechanisms and cause premature failure of the garage door opener. Having a technician check the garage door springs, rollers and garage door opener is good preventative maintenance for your garage door.
To claim a warranty, all you need to do is complete the Warranty Claimform. No product registration is required. For faster processing, please include all contact information and product detail, including pictures. Customer Service will respond to your claim submittal within 3 business days.
No, we don’t recommend keeping your old track when replacing your garage door. Each door is designed to work with a specific track system to ensure proper alignment, smooth operation, and safety. Using an old track can lead to issues like improper fit, excessive wear, or even malfunction. When we install a new garage door, we always include a matching track to ensure everything works safely and efficiently. If you have any concerns, we’d be happy to take a look and explain why a full replacement is the best option!
Of course we will! For a small fee. 🙂
It really depends on the type of door chosen along with the size. The typical garage door and motor should take anywhere between 2-4 hours from arrival to finish.
Steel garage doors offer strength, security, energy efficiency and the best value. Due to advanced manufacturing, steel garage doors are less costly than other types of garage doors and are offered in a variety of designs and colors to enhance your home’s curb appeal. Amarr steel garage doors are pre-painted in a variety of colors, providing homeowners peace of mind protection with multi-year to lifetime paint finish warranties.
The lower the number the thicker the gauge. Many folks get confused by this, but it is easy once you know the rules! Higher the number, thinner the steel…Lower the number, the thicker the steel. See EASY! 😉
Steel garage doors may require less maintenance than a wood door. Our steel doors are pre-painted with a factory-applied baked-on coating. We recommend an annual cleaning of the exterior of the door with a common household detergent and warm water at least one time per year. Our wood doors are unfinished and need to be primed and painted or stained on all six sides of the door before installation. We recommend visual inspection of the paint or stain finish on wood doors one time per year to confirm if another finish application is necessary.
Each Amarr collection of steel garage doors has its unique color palette. Each collection has different color options depending on construction type. The overall color offering is: True White, Almond, Sandtone, Terratone, Brown, Dark Brown, Gray, Hunter Green, Wicker Tan, Light Oak, Walnut & Mahogany. A price upcharge applies to the Woodgrain colors.
Yes. All of our steel doors are pre-painted with a factory-applied baked-on coating that is suitable to be repainted. Our doors will accept a wide variety of commercially available latex exterior paints, when applied in accordance with the paint manufacturer’s recommendations. Do not use oil-based paints. Painting of an Amarr steel door voids the Paint Finish Warranty, but not the door warranty.
Since garage doors were first built, garage doors have been made out of wood because they offer the most personalized and decorative options. Wood doors provide security and insulation, but tend to be higher priced due to its individual customization in manufacturing. Wood doors can be painted or stained to match the exact look you desire. The challenge with wood doors is their tendency to expand and contract with changes in temperature. Wood garage doors are an excellent choice when you want the natural, warmth and beauty of wood to match your entry door and home.
Amarr manufactured wood doors have natural wood variations. Wood doors require special finishing prior to installation. To finish, preserve and protect your beautiful Amarr wood door, all six (6) sides of each garage door section must be finished within two (2) days of receipt of door and prior to installation to validate the warranty.
Many garage door openers can be repaired and may be a less expensive option. However, there are times when opener replacement is recommended. According to LiftMaster, one of the leading manufacturers of garage doors openers, all garage door openers manufactured prior to 1993 should be replaced, rather than fixed. This is to ensure the highest degree of customer safety and satisfaction due to a Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) law. Many garage door openers prior to 1993 are not equipped with infrared sensors or other external entrapment protections devices and do not meet today’s standards for garage door opener safety.claim a warranty, all you need to do is complete the Warranty Claim form. No product registration is required. For faster processing, please include all contact information and product detail, including pictures. Customer Service will respond to your claim submittal within 3 business days.
Garage door openers have different systems that open a garage door. A chain drive uses a chain as the mechanism to help open/close a door; a belt drive a belt mechanism; a screw drive a corkscrew rod; and a direct drive attached directly to the torsion bar to help open/close a garage door. Belt drive openers tend to be quieter than chain drive openers. Screw drive openers are known to require less adjustment over time. Direct drives take up less space in your garage.
DC stands for direct current. This allows the opener to only run when it is in use opening and closing a garage door, resulting in additional energy efficiency for the home. Additionally, DC openers have soft start and stop features to help smooth the travel of the door and cut down on noise.
Yes you can. Call us directly to discuss your options. It really depends on the age and brand/model that you have
Garage Door Preparation Tips
- Measure width of daylight opening…Inside of jamb to inside of jamb
- Measure height of the daylight opening…Cement to bottom of header
- Measure the headroom above your opening
- Measure right and left of the opening for side clearance
On the inside of the garage, the door opening should be framed with wood jambs, 2×6’s. The jambs should extend 12 inches above the header. If you have just removed an old door, the jambs should be inspected for the condition of the wood. If the wood is rotten, it should be replaced now. The jambs should be plumb and the header level. If there are any bolts fastening the jambs to the wall, the heads should be flush, so they don’t interfere with the installation of the new door.
WARNING TORSION SPRINGS
YOU MUST MAKE SURE THAT THE TORSION SPRING ANCHOR BRACKET WILL BE SECURELY FASTENED TO THE GARAGE WALL. Anchor into wood stud or structurally sound member. Failure to securely fasten the anchor bracket could allow the spring to break loose from the garage wall and cause severe personal injury.
Check Headroom
- Headroom is the space needed above the top of the door opening for the door, the overhead tracks, and the springs. Measure to check that there are no obstructions in your garage within that space. The minimum headroom space requirement is 12 inches. If the door overlaps the top of the opening, then measure the door to ceiling clearance. This should be a minimum of 12 inches.
- The back backroom distance is measured from the back of the door into the garage and should be at least 18 inches more than the height of the door.
- A minimum side room of 6 inches (maybe less depending on opening size) should be available on each side of the door.
Note: About three inches of additional headroom height at the center plus additional backroom is needed to install an automatic garage door opener.
Low Headroom: If you have restricted headroom, several remedies are available. For the correct product contact us.
The image below is for concrete framing
The image below is for steel framing
The image below is for wood framing
GARAGE DOOR OPERATOR / SENSOR PRE-WIRING DIAGRAM
Safety and Longevity
Garage door torsion springs are rated by cycle life, with 10,000 cycles ( a cycle being one opening and one closing action) the industry standard minimum. The average spring breaks about every 7 to 12 years. If a garage door has two or more springs and one breaks, all springs should be replaced to maintain proper balance.
The leading causes of garage door failure and/or replacement include lack of maintenance and being hit by vehicles. A proper maintenance schedule for a garage door includes lubrication of the rollers, bearings, pulleys, and springs once a year; washing painted steel surfaces several times a year; painting or refinishing wood surfaces as necessary; and making proper adjustments to the counter balance system as necessary to maintain door balance. A properly balanced garage door should be able to be stopped mid-travel without drifting down or up when operated manually.
Do not let children (or adults) play “beat the door”. It is dangerous and can result in serious injury or death. Adults should set a good example. Know how to use the emergency release, in case someone is pinned by the door.
Do not let children play with or use the transmitters or remote controls. Always place and store them out of the reach of children.
The pushbutton wall control should be out of the reach of children (at least 5 feet from the floor) and away from all moving parts. Mount and use the button where you can clearly see the moving garage door.
Hurricane Proofing
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Which Garage Door Style Is Right for Your Home?
Garage Door Sounds You Shouldn’t Ignore — and What to Do About Them
Common Garage Door Problems We See in South Louisiana (And How to Fix Them)
Should You Repair or Replace Your Garage Door? A Guide for Acadiana Homeowners
Five Common Garage Door Problems and How To Fix Them
