The True Value of a Properly Working Garage Door

Home improvement experts often talk about what can go wrong with a garage door. What isn’t often discussed is what your garage door provides you with when it is working properly:

Here are some of the best reasons to keep your garage door in good-working order:

They Serve as a 21st Century Drawbridge

There is a famous set of surveys that are often quoted to show that 73 percent of Americans now enter their homes through their garage. If that number seems high, it is because it was not pulled from a survey, but a separate quotation. The actual percentage is somewhat lower. Nonetheless, with a significant number of Americans using an attached garage to enter their house, the garage door really performs as a 21st century castle drawbridge in letting the owners in and out of their domain.

Most garage doors are heavy and strong enough to thwart thieves or other mischief makers from trying to enter the home through them. They are also so large that no one would risk looking conspicuous by trying to break in by opening one. Homeowners can therefore relax and know that as part of your home security system, a properly functioning garage door is a key element.

Working Garage Doors Increase your Home’s Value

Believe it or not, in the same set of surveys, it was actually shown that your home value could increase by as much as 4 percent if you had a newer, stylish, and functioning garage door installed. For homeowners that purchased their home with a standard garage door, that actually gives them some impetus to include it as a possible remodel candidate. Garage doors with lites or glass features and different styles can make one of the most impressive and instant upgrades to a home.

They Keep Out Small Animals

If you live in the suburbs or the country, you might live in an area where people are continually encroaching on the domain of wildlife. It is pretty common in that type of environment to have raccoons, opossums, and other types of small animals that like to forage look for easy targets. Garage doors with a rubber seal or doors that are structurally intact along the bottom of the door do a great job of keeping these animals at bay and in the outdoors where they belong.

They Help you Stick to your Schedule

Whether it is a cold Winter day, with snow blowing all around or a Summer rainstorm, the convenience of being able to start your car without having to prep it by chipping ice off of it or clean debris off of it is a real time-saver. This is, in fact, one of the reasons that so many garage door repairs are done on an emergency basis: people simply need a functioning garage door in order not to lose hours of time weekly from their already hectic lives.

Sources:

Schonberg, Mischel. “Survey Says Entry Door and Garage Door Replacement Projects Deliver the Biggest Returns at Resale.” PRWeb. February 1, 2011. Accessed September 11, 2014. https://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/02/prweb5042564.htm.