Renovation: Garage Doors (again)

Jeez, I wish I blogged my whole renovation. I think it would have been highly therapeutic. You know, just as there are books for getting ready to get married, to have children, to change careers...there should be a pretty substantial shelf in any B&N to provide self help books to guide someone through a home renovation. I'll have to look into that.

So today the first quote came in for garage doors, from United Overhead Door. $1100 higher than anticipated, of course. Not UD's fault, another mistake on the spreadsheet or a mis-estimation by our contractor. They had estimated for aluminum doors. Which dent easier. So with two kids...I don't know, it would seem you'd want a sturdy garage door, no? I can just see O's tricycle running into it...basketballs...remote control vehicles.

The rep also pointed out we'll need some work done so the doors are framed properly (they are currently not...of course). Right now they are not framed for a standard door size, and in order to install the rollers, they need the walls either built out or chipped back in certain areas. Now, if you were a contractor, isn't this a lesson that one should retain from previous jobs?

We will also need to move our electric connection on the ceiling for each door back. The units are affixed at 11' into the garage and the cords are only 4 feet long. So, isn't there anyone on my job who should know this?

(Okay, if I posted during this whole project, yes, you would have these questions at the end of every paragraph about the renovation. Which would be completely annoying. I'll try to stop.)

Garage doors just shouldn't be something that's hard. Here's an entry to the garage, here's a door that fits in it. Another quote coming Thursday. Let's see what that brings.

Renovation: Garage Doors

So today I was trying to set up appointments with garage door suppliers, making an attempt to not have my contractor do it. Considering I don't really think they have any better connections than I do.

I have two coming in next week...United Door and Precision. We are looking for 2 steel 9-ft doors...nothing fancy. White, maybe some simple windows on the top. No carriage house nonsense...we don't live in a carriage house, for crying out loud. Realistically, we are hoping this is an area we can save on a little bit. Would rather spend the money on a cooler driveway. (That will be another topic once I start bringing masonry folks in.)

So I found a few helpful links with regard to figuring out what kind of garage door one would actually need, and how the different materials perform. Now at least I won't sound like an idiot when these people show up and try to sell me next week.

A little more detail on the types of garage doors, and a rundown of the things to consider.