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Door Prize

If you look at the history of building over the last 20 years, there has been too much similarity in basic rooflines and elevations from community to community. From coast to coast, city officials are demanding changes on the design of the elevations in new projects. Builders, who faced the competing demands of limited lot sizes and buyers who wanted spacious garages, were left in a bind.

Today, the demand for more garage space remains. In fact, one-fourth of all respondents to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders said they want at least a three-car garage. But the issue of aesthetics is moving in an attractive direction - with some great-looking new garage doors.

Once designed for function only, garage doors today can turn a dull expanse into an architectural statement. Working actively to create strong curb appeal and diversity, builders, architects and municipalities are aggressively specifying steel carriage doors for their projects. In fact, architects are designing more and more communities in the neotraditional style using nostalgic elements creating strong curb appeal. The character of a carriage house door fits the style which also enhances the home's appearance. If the garage is going to cover a large percentage of the house, why not have something better-looking?

Today's carriage house doors look attractively retro, helping us to recall the charm of that turn-of-thecentury swinging barn-door style, but open overhead like any other modern sectional garage door. The door has created true excitement in the building community. With a reputation for their beauty, functionality and durability, their worth in increasing home values is the ultimate “door prize”.

Garage Doors Aren't Plain Jane Anymore

For something that has been so prominent in the design of new homes over recent years, the garage door has generally been seen as a Plain Jane. But who cared, really? It was just a two-, three- or four-car structure to house the occupants vehicles. No one expected anything so utilitarian in nature to be a thing of beauty. But that has been steadily changing since 2000, says John Jella, president of 1st United Door Technologies LLC, when an amazing trend started to gain traction in the garage-door industry.

That trend? Curb appeal. Its a phrase 1st United Door has been using for a while, and other garage-door manufacturers have since picked it up. "In the door industry, people like to refer to the garage door as the largest moving object in the home, Jella says. "In today's home, it's become the focal point. As the home shrinks, the garage door becomes more prevalent, particularly when it faces the street. The garage door makes up from 50 percent to 80 percent of a home's front elevation. Viewed from the street, that's a big part of the home. Builders haven't traditionally spent much money on the garage door, despite its prominence or its 25- to 30-year lifespan. But that, too, is changing, Jella says, because builders are realizing that a handsome garage door has a huge impact on a homes salability.

1st United Door originated the steel carriage house door in 2000. In the six years since, other manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon and today the carriage house style has taken over an increasing share of sales. Further, over the next three to five years, the carriage house door will own at least 20 percent of the market.

It's not just the individual homebuyer who wants his garage door to look more like its fronting a stable for his horse drawn carriage and a team of high steppers. Municipalities now are enacting ordinances requiring that curb appeal be incorporated into a home's design, to beautify neighborhoods and increase home values. That means builders face a choice: Either install a garage door that meets neighborhood standards, move the garage to a side entry, or put it in the back, where it won't be readily visible from the street. The latter two reduce the builder's profits, Jella says, because the additional space they demand will mean he cant put as many homes in a development as he may have liked.

The base price of a steel carriage house door is typically higherroughly $1,000 compared with $400 typically spent by production builders for a garage doorbut it's still a bargain. "There just simply isn't another product that's made that's as inexpensive and that will have a bigger impact on the home, Jella says. Steven Berry, manager of residential design for Verrado in Buckeye, Ariz., says the design principals at Verrado are addressing the consumers shift away from the mass-produced home, and carriage house doors are a part of that. "Like great front-yard landscaping, good carriage door designs enrich the appearance of the home and generate tremendous value, Berry says. "If all homes on the block have them, the entire street and neighborhood become more valuable.

Garage Doors Can Have Character Too

Whether you're planning to build a new home or are doing a remodel, it's unlikely you think much about your garage door. Still, it's the largest moving part in your home and the broadest piece of curb appeal on display. Today's best garage doors are detailed to blend into the aesthetics of the home's design. Their architectural frame occupies a major portion of the front landscape and has a major impact on the street perception of the home.

Garage doors can have character too. In many homes, the garage doors often incorporate carriage house motifs that greatly enhance the architectural character of the home and the neighborhood. The latest garage doors offer increased style and function that can enhance the aesthetics of any home. And they are safer to use than ever before.

Decorative options are helping homeowners differentiate their doors adding a dynamic architectural accentuation to their home with a selection of glass inserts and new styles of hardware. Homeowners and builders alike are expressing increased interest in carriagestyle garage doors, designed to fool the eye and mimic old-style sliding or swing-up doors. These are drawing the most attention due to their distinctive architectural styling and for traditionally styled homes this is a handcrafted looking door that is best suited.

To fashion a striking first impression, taking metal garage doors and painting them with a custom faux-paint treatment giving them a deeply embossed wood-grain pattern can them a rich, dramatic effect. For a contemporary house, the garage door's character may show through in its panel design, incorporating detailing from different architectural styles. On the other hand, a garage door with clean lines and a smooth finish may be more
appropriate.

Adore Your Door. Your garage door is one of the most visible aspects of your home, so it makes sense to have one with character.

Garages That Say, 'Welcome Home, Cars'

When the car became the dominant means of transport in this country, every new house of any size had to have a garage.

Many if not most of these garages were given a prominent front-row spot - they faced the street. The phrase "attached garage" was a price booster. To be able to walk straight to it from the kitchen without braving the elements was a sign of arriviste luxury.

Often necessitated by lot size, a garage door dominates. Even when it's not protruding, but set flush in the structure's front, it manages to draw the eye, to make you look at - because they are closed most of the time - blank walls. The house becomes a backdrop.

"Welcome home, cars," seems to be the greeting. Here's the problem: Our cars are bigger and our garages are bigger. Most of our garages face the street so you can't miss them. Bulky, boring garages make houses look bad and cheap. In certain neighborhoods, the homes look so much alike that the only way to find your house is to use the garage-door opener and see which one goes up.

There is a need to make the front elevation of the home inviting, and not a moment too soon, for communities that could fairly be described as a vast wasteland of ugly garages. Architects and builders alike, responding to demand from home buyers and home renovators, are designing garages that complement house styles.

Adding distinctive architectural styling to the garage, simply, can add curbside drama.

Municipalities Demand Better-Looking Neighborhoods for Increased Home Values

Municipalities nationwide are enacting ordinances requiring the use of "curb appeal" techniques to beautify neighborhoods to increase home values. Major contributors to curb appeal, especially in budding neotraditional-style developments, are carriage house garage doors like the Steelhouse Carriage Door manufactured in Tempe by 1st United Door Technologies (1stUDT), as well as decorative rocks, shutters, and wrought iron supplied by companies such as Phoenix-based Arc Styles.

"Architects are designing more and more communities in the pre-World War neotraditional style using nostalgic elements creating strong curb appeal.
The character of a carriage house door fits the style of these communities," said David Gibson, President of Collaborative Group Architects Inc. Gibson serves on the City of Gilbert design review board, and helped design Verrado, a unique "home-town" community nestled in the foothills of the White Tank Mountains in Buckeye, Ariz., recognized for its use of timeless town-building principles.

Since contemporary garage doors often take up 30 percent to 40 percent of the front elevation of a home, more municipalities are demanding housing
characteristics which downplay the garage door's large horizontal mass.

Carriage doors -- reminiscent of the wooden doors on old-fashioned carriage houses -- are a cost-effective way for builders to meet this need. By
adding a steel carriage door selling for $20 to $30 per square foot, builders can avoid more costly options. These options include: changing the elevation of the home with expensive brick or other treatments, designing homes with a sideentry garage requiring greatly expanded lot widths, or designing the garage entry into the back of the home which lengthens the driveway and can diminish curb appeal.

Steven Berry, Manager of Residential Design for the Verrado development, said, "To help create the authentic architectural styles for our homes, we require the use of steel relief-panel and carriage garage doors, which complement the elevation styles required at Verrado. To look like a wood door with authentic patterning and wood grain texture, the door's total design in terms of panels, relief, shade and shadow must be believable and credible. Like great front-yard landscaping, good carriage door designs enrich the appearance of the home and generate tremendous value. If all homes on the block have them, then the entire street and neighborhood becomes more valuable."

Today's carriage house garage doors may look attractively old-fashioned, but they open overhead like any other modern sectional garage door. But, they also offer steel's durability and low maintenance.

"The Steelhouse door and design plant-ons [patent pending] are all steel, creating 'car stopping, jaw dropping, curb appeal,'" said 1stUDT Vice President of Sales and Marketing Jeff Jella. "Since all the parts are steel, there's no warping or buckling like you can get with wooden and composite doors."

1st United Door invented the all-steel carriage house door, and holds several patents earned during its development. They also have a patent pending
on a 28-inch steel panel which creates a more aesthetically pleasing, threesection door rather than the traditional 21-inch four-section door.

Carriage house garage doors offer hundreds of design choices which can complement other artistic elements in a home's elevation such as window
shapes, shutters, and trim. In choosing the look of the door, builders can choose among multiple designs using "plant-on" board; solid arches; window treatments; and decorative iron handles, knockers, strap hinges and other hardware. Steel doors with steel plant-on boards also offer a clearly defined, wood-grain texture which matches the door.

Homeowners are driving the curb appeal trend by actively expressing dissatisfaction with living in homes that do not reflect their personalities. With the
same front elevations, same tile roofs, same color schemes, and same garage doors, neighborhoods can look plain and uninteresting. Add a few touches of curb appeal -- with decorative rock, shutters, wrought iron, water features, or an expanse of unique carriage house garage door -- and neighborhoods grow beautifully in character and value.

Arc Styles provides builders with these curb appeal products in the Southwest United States. President Dave DeNure said, "Curb appeal products
complement the home with wood shutters, corbels, and magnificent stone created by true artisans and innovators, who have spent years dealing with the construction industry. Our products, build 'curb appeal' right into the Southwest's enchanting authentic Hacienda-style homes."

New garage doors add curb appeal
Designs run gamut from simple to wow
Sadie Jo Smokey

The Arizona Republic
Jul. 9, 2005 12:00 AM

It's the final frontier of home improvement. After remodeling the kitchen, adding a bathroom, replacing the roof and painting the house, what's left? That big, bare, ignored and abused garage door.

Magazines rarely mention the garage door when listing ways to improve the appearance of a home. Landscaping and sprucing up the entryway usually top the list, but a new garage door goes a long way in adding curb appeal.

"On average, the square footage of the garage door is one-third of the elevation of the home. It's the cheapest way to do a remodel," said Joe Engel of Cookson Door Sales of Arizona in Tempe.

Overhead garage doors haven't changed much since they were invented in 1921. But in the last few years, the doors have come a long way in terms of appearance and integrity. First United Door Technologies, firstudt.com, a Tempe-based manufacturer, offer doors in a variety of styles.

Their Web sites have design tools to help homeowners find a door that fits their style, whether it's an architectural wonder, a simple door with short or long panels or doors with decorative hardware, arches and glass panels.

"A lot of people are reinvesting in their home and they want the front to look nicer," said Mike Dryer of Cookson Door Sales of Arizona. "Ten or 15 years ago, when they had their garage doors installed, they went with what was standard. Now there are so many options, different window looks."

Garage doors can be simple or custom made, with prices ranging from $750 to $5,000. Expect to spend as much on a garage door as you would on a new refrigerator, retailers say.

In June, Grant and Jan Mills of Scottsdale replaced two garage doors on their 17-year-old home that were cracking and peeling. It took just half a day to have the doors installed.

"The doors were old, heavy wood that had dry rot," Grant Mills said. "We wanted a good-quality insulated door, so we picked out something that was a little heavy duty. Our garage faces south so it's in the sun all the time."

Raised-panel steel doors are standard on most Valley homes, local retailers said. But wood plank and carriage house-style doors that look like they swing out to open are gaining in popularity.

Both those styles roll up overhead, like a standard garage door, but don't resemble the dominant feature of so many cookie-cutter subdivision homes.

"When you've got a home that is worth more than $500,000, you have to have something better than a raised-panel steel door on it," said Jeff Jella of First United Door Technologies. "People are expecting more. The garage door is the focal point of their entry."

Homeowners should check with their homeowner associations to find out whether they are allowed to replace garage doors with a different style, retailers say. Many garage-door companies will work with homeowners to help them find a door that is approved by their communities.

"When I bought my home I wanted to upgrade the garage door to one that was better insulated," Engel said. "I showed (the HOA) different pictures so they could see that the door looked similar to the other ones on the street."

Rising and shining
Garage doors arent boring anymore: Theyre part of an integrated home design

Garage door designs have become much more than the plain, cookie cutter styles. Garage doors take inspiration from a variety of sources from the American farmhouse to a European design. As garages play a bigger role in home design with three-car garages practically standard in some neighborhoods the doors are changing, too.

Gone are the days of the architecturally bland, cookie-cutter garage doors. Such doors have been replaced with ones that look like entrances to old carriage houses, barns, even castles. The doors boast leaded-glass windows, raised panels and an assortment of decorative hardware. And though they may look like doors that swing open, they roll up with an automatic opener.

A lot more attention is being given to the design and appearance of the interior of a garage, and that draws attention to the garage door. An attached garage represents a minimum of 30 percent of the visual portion of a home, depending on where the garage is facing. In the majority of homes, it faces the street. Yet, traditionally, doors were plain, cookie-cutter garage doors. They were functional and safe but not necessarily aesthetically pleasing to the overall home.

That's changing. Now you can find doors that better complement a homes design, whether it offers Old World charm or contemporary styling. There is new stuff all the time as the industry realizes how much curb appeal a garage door adds. Carriage-house doors were some of the most popular on the market. People want the garage door to match the entry door or to pick up on the homes windows or gables on the house. Now you can make them more distinct and more personalized.

Historically, homeowners would spend $2,000 or $3,000 or more on the entry door of a home. Then they'd spend $300 on the garage door even though it represented more frontage. For carriage house-style doors, prices for a single-car garage start at $500 and go to about $1,800 for a steel door. For wooden carriagehouse doors, prices per door are in the $2,000-to-$3,000 range. Some custom wood doors mahogany, for example can run as high as $7,000 per door.

Most people use their garage doors to enter their homes every day while rarely using the expensive front entry. Steel is the biggest seller, popular because of its low maintenance and its warranties.

The Original SteelHouse™ – Modern Carriage Door:
Handsome Garage Door Designs Backed by Patented Functionality

Say goodbye to the ho-hum garage door. Say hello to artistic, customized, Original SteelHouse™ garage doors from First United Door Technologies. The quality, insulated, all-steel doors come in a variety of classic carriage house designs with more than 140 configurations.

In this era of individualism, yet cost-consciousness, municipalities, builders and homeowners are looking for ways to enhance “curb appeal” to beautify homes and neighborhoods without a large investment. Since garage doors are often a home's most prominent feature, adding a distinctive carriage house style garage door can add a unique embellishment which equates to greater home value.

The SteelHouse™ garage doors are attractive and durable. Plus, they can be customized with various window designs, arched top sections, and decorative hardware to fit each home's qualities. Builders appreciate First United Door Technologies' garage doors for their exceptional quality and affordability. Steel doors are half the weight, half the cost, and require less than half the maintenance of wooden doors. The Original SteelHouse™
doors are made of 23-gauge, hot-dipped galvanized steel. Every door incorporates a reinforced integral truss system (RITS™), an additional angle built into each section's tongue-in-groove meeting rail increases door strength and rigidity, preventing dimpling and buckling. First United Door Technologies adds PVC-backed insulation and bottom weather stripping to keep out the elements.