Mamabird,

Since you mentioned Greensburg, PA you should call Robin at All Star Garage Doors in Homer City, PA (724-479-8687). She did my four doors on my garage and blew everybody else away on price for a nice carriage style door from Haas Doors.

I was buying mine last spring so I went to the Home and Garden Show and Pittsburgh and talked to everybody and got bids. Robin wasn't at the show but my coworker used her and recommended her to me.

I'm in southeast Butler county and she came to me for four doors, I suspect for five doors she'd drive all the way to Ohio. If you call her tell her I sent you. She'll remember me as the guy with four doors on the side of a hill with the pond in my backyard.

Here's a shot shortly after they were installed last summer:

We didn't add the handles and fake hinges as we were going for a cleaner look.

We looked at Garaga and they seem to make a fine door. I remember when I was looking it was hard to find good info. There seems to be thousands of door manufacturers. I believe that it's really all in the moving parts (hinges and rollers) and how they do insulation and seals between door sections. Haas claims over R-13 but my windows were single pane which was surprising.

I'm happy with the doors and definitely happy with Robin's price and customer service.

If you have time you may want to wait for the home show season to check everything out in person. You'll also get a taste of each company's customer service (or lack thereof) on how they handle you at the show and if they follow through.

Here is a link that might be useful: Haas Door American Tradition

We ended up getting the Wayne dalton doors. I did see the negative comments over on the garage forum, but frankly it sounds more like a problem with the opener and not the door itself. We chose based on the strength and insulation and for style (the finish matches our thermatru door perfectly!). We are using their regular lift function door opener (dealer highly recommended against the I-drive). Can't comment much further on function (just installed last week!), but they look great.

When looking we also looked at Hormann which seem to be good doors.

Here is a link that might be useful: hormann

Here's a link to a company that my husband has been looking at. He hasn't made a decision yet; we are planning on going to the showroom soon and seeing some of these doors in person. Our garage faces south, so takes a beating from the sun, yet I still want a wooden door. I know maintenance is an issue but wouldn't mind some DIY once a year or so.

Here is a link that might be useful: Industrial Door Company

We have Overhead Doors. R factor was the most important thing to us because our garage has to be heated (the master bedroom and bath are above the garage), and I didn't want to be throwing money out the door (literally). I believe the R factor on our doors is 17.5, which is the highest I could find at that time. The customer service from Overhead was excellent, I would use them again.

Thanks for the replies!

klabio - Hello neighbor! Your place looks great! I would love to see your pond. I am an avid ponder and will be moving my 100+ fish to our new place. We haven't decided if we will remove the entire approx. 2000 gallon pond from our current house or not.
We have plans to build a giant, natural pond as well.
Homer City isn't too far from us. I will give that company a try and I really appreciate the referral!

mairin, very nice door! I appreciate the link and will check into them today. Thanks for the information.

neesie, thank you for the link. I am drooling over some of those doors! As much as I love wood doors, we want our exterior to be totally maintenance free and I know my DH wouldn't go for them. But maybe for my garden house??

Sue, R value is extremely important to us as well. We will be heating the double garage in our home, and possibly heating our triple detached garage (that is actually attatched by a "tunnel" in the future.

The Garaga doors I am looking at have an R-16, which is pretty good. I looked at my Overhead literature and couldn't find an R-17.5 but I will ask the salesman. I have to call him back today.

Thanks again for all the replies. I really want to make the right choice so i'm considering all options.

Happy New Year!

Here's a link to the doors with R 17.5. I think the difference between 16 and 17.5 is pretty negligible.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thermacore Overhead Doors

Thanks Sue. I'm not sure why I didn't see that before. : )