Name: Upper Canada Garage Doors
Address: 2400 Wyecroft Rd, Unit 1, Oakville, ON, L6L 6M8
Telephone: 905-267-2700

Dangers Associated With Old Garage Doors

Your garage door has performed dependably and efficiently for many years with little issue, so why should you consider replacing your old garage door system? Older garage doors pose several safety risks for homeowners — they can abruptly stop working, or parts and hardware can unexpectantly break and cause severe personal injury or property damages. With a new garage door and opener, you can enjoy several significant benefits, including:

Improving your home’s visual appeal
Increasing safety and security measures
Energy-efficient insulation options
Experiencing today’s best technological and convenience advances

While garage doors may function longer than their expected lifespans, it’s best to consider upgrading your old garage door to avoid costly inconveniences and safety issues and enjoy exceptional, reliable performance.

Dangers of an Old Garage Door

Having a safe, functional garage door is essential for your daily activity. Old garage doors showing signs of wear or lacking modern safety and efficiency upgrades can pose several security and safety risks. Dangers of old garage doors often include:

Ageing spring systems: The torsion or extension springs are under an immense amount of weight and tension. If these parts become worn and break unexpectantly, they can cause significant damage to your garage door or nearby items. Broken springs can even severely injure homeowners. To prevent breakages, note that extension springs typically work for up to 7,000 cycles, and torsion springs last up to 10,000 cycles.
Worn and damaged hardware: As your garage door ages, parts wear and loosen. This can cause significant damage to your garage door system and presents an opportunity for burglars to manipulate the weakness and force the door open. Over time, if moving hardware like springs and cables aren’t appropriately lubricated, they can form rust. This rust can lead to extensive water damage throughout your garage, unexpected hardware failure or ability for thieves to easily enter your garage. Keep your hardware properly lubricated to extend the lifespan of your garage door.
Outdated technology: If your garage door opener was manufactured in 1993 or earlier, then you may want to consider purchasing an upgrade. Older garage door openers weren’t built with modern safety features like photo-eye sensors. Photo-eye sensors placed at the base of your garage door are responsible for preventing the garage door from lowering on an object. Without these sensors, the garage door can close on people and personal property, causing severe injury or damage.

Replacing Your Old Garage Door With the Professionals at Upper Canada Garage Doors

When it’s time to replace your old garage door, trust a professional garage door company to perform an efficient, quality installation. By hiring a garage door installation professional, you can benefit from:

Installation and product warranties: Have added assurance that your garage door was installed using the best tools and industry techniques available with services backed by various workmanship and product guarantees.
Proper tools and technician experience: A highly trained and experienced installation professional will understand the most effective installation techniques available. They’ll install the finished product properly to ensure lasting efficiency, safety and reliability.
Safe installation: Garage doors are under an immense amount of weight and tension. Homeowners can be severely injured if they attempt to install the door themselves.

Reimagine the look of your home and experience unmatched convenience and security with a new garage door from Upper Canada Garage Doors. We have the most extensive selection of classic and contemporary garage door products and accessories throughout the Oakville area from top-rated, quality manufacturers like Clopay. Visit our local showroom today to fully explore our products — our team of helpful experts can help you select, design, and install a new garage door that best suits your needs, expectations, and budget.

Contact Upper Canada Garage Doors Today to Replace Your Old Garage Door

At Upper Canada Garage Doors, we pride ourselves on providing local Oakville, Burlington, and Milton, Ontario residents with the most comprehensive garage door repair and maintenance services and quality new garage door installations. Our team is happy to help you select and install a new Clopay garage door to replace your old one. We even offer free estimates on all installation projects.

For the best garage door services throughout Oakville and the surrounding areas, reach out to Upper Canada Garage Doors today by calling 905-267-2700 or completing our online contact form.

Decrease Your Energy Bill With a New Garage Door

Have your utility costs been steadily climbing lately? Most homeowners upgrade their windows and doors to improve their household’s energy efficiency, but many overlook their home’s garage door as a source for poor energy conservation.

While regularly opening and closing the garage door can allow small amounts of your indoor air to escape, most of your home’s energy loss is happening while the door is closed. The best solution for minimizing energy loss through your garage door is by installing a new insulated door. But even with this structural improvement, you may find your efficiency isn’t as optimal as it could be. By better securing your insulated garage door, you can have even more energy efficiency and decrease your energy bill.

How a New Garage Door Can Decrease Your Energy Costs

The first step towards achieving better household energy efficiency is by installing an insulated garage door with a high R-value. Insulated doors include added layers of insulation — unlike conventional garage doors that feature no insulating materials — that prevent heat from escaping through the door. But in harsh Canadian winters, homeowners want to achieve superior energy efficiency to reduce air transference and lower annual energy costs. To improve the performance of your insulated garage door, consider these improvements:

Wood end blocks: End blocks help keep insulation materials in place. Many manufacturers use steel sheets to cap the ends of the garage door, which can lead to thermal bridging — allowing heat to readily transfer through the material. By upgrading the end blocks to wood materials with superior thermal performance, you can easily reduce heat loss through the garage door.
Efficient joint door sections: To secure the end blocks to the door, manufacturers often use metal staples or glue, which can also cause thermal bridging. During your garage door’s construction, specify that you’d like to secure these joint door sections with a triple-contact PVC weather seal. This seal prevents the inner and outer metal materials from touching and limits thermal bridging.
Proper weatherstripping: Work with your local garage door installation company to make sure your garage door’s weatherstripping is optimal quality and not worn or damaged. Weatherstripping at the bottom of your garage door forms a tight seal between the door and the floor, preventing air transference. Make sure your weatherstripping can withstand frigid temperatures without becoming dry and brittle while maintaining its flexibility.

Contact Upper Canada Garage Doors Today to Learn About Our Energy Efficient Garage Doors

To achieve optimal energy efficiency for your home, visit Upper Canada Garage Doors’ local showroom to explore our wide selection of Clopay energy-efficient garage doors. Our Oakville showroom is available to all residents throughout the surrounding areas. Our helpful, innovative team of professionals will work closely with you to find the best energy-efficient garage doors that best suit your tastes, efficiency needs and budget.

Learn more about our energy-efficient and insulated garage door options today by stopping by our showroom, filling out our online contact form or calling 905-267-2700 to speak to a team member.

Tips to Get the Best Return on Your New Garage Door

Many homeowners are looking to modernize the exterior of their homes and improve curb appeal. But did you know that replacing your garage door is one of the fastest and most budget-friendly solutions for adding home value and visual interest to your house?

Installing a new garage door for your home not only improves the value, functionality, and appearance of your home but also offers one of the best home improvement project returns on investment. This is particularly appealing for many homeowners looking to sell their houses in the near future.

Benefits of Replacing Your Garage Door

Whether you’re looking for a fresh upgrade to enhance your home’s architecture or need to replace a drab, aged or damaged garage door, with a new door, you can freshen the look of your home and add real value. A new garage door for your home can also improve safety and security, offer exceptional protection and add convenience to your daily routine.

By upgrading your home’s garage door, you can also expect:

Exceptional Return on Investment: Of all home improvement projects, garage doors offer one of the highest returns on investment, with at least 85 percent or more. No matter how old your home is or how long you’ve lived there, a new garage door design can make your home appear modern and fresh.
Affordable Upgrade: Not only is the ROI for garage doors exceptional, but it’s also one of the most affordable upgrades a homeowner can invest in. Average double door replacements, without windows, cost just over $1,500.
Improved Features and Functionality: With a new garage door, you can not only easily recoup your investment when you sell your home and increase your home’s curb appeal, but you’ll also enjoy improved convenience and the most advanced garage door improvements. Many garage doors today feature better materials and can be customized with added insulation. Insulation upgrades in your garage door will improve your home’s energy efficiency and lower your overall annual utility costs. With garage door insulation, your door will also be sturdier and operate more quietly.

Getting the Best ROI on a New Garage Door

When replacing your home’s garage door, don’t settle for a standard and underwhelming sectional garage door design from your local hardware store. To get the best ROI for your garage door, maximize efficiency and create striking curb appeal, consider the following:

Style: Purchasing a new garage door isn’t about finding the most expensive option. Find a quality door that enhances the natural charm of your home and complements your neighborhood.
Upgrades: Consider investing in added garage door insulation. Insulated garage doors will improve your home’s energy efficiency and lower annual heating and cooling costs. Additionally, many buyers find this added feature appealing and may be willing to offer more money for your home.
Durability: Consult with your local garage door company to find construction materials that are guaranteed to offer lasting protection in your climate. For example, upgrade your door for improved storm and wind resistance in areas with bad storms and freezing winters.

Reach Out to Upper Canada Garage Doors Today to Explore Your Door Replacement Options

For the most attractive, durable and efficient garage doors in the Oakville, Ontario area, contact the skilled professionals at Upper Canada Garage Doors. We proudly stock a wide variety of Clopay® garage doors, the finest, highest-quality products, available in several styles ranging from classic to contemporary. Our creative and innovative team is happy to work with you to find styles and materials that best suit your needs and budget. For customer convenience, we even offer same-day services, competitive pricing, and free service estimates.

Explore your garage door replacement options today. Call us at 905-267-2700 to learn more or fill out our online contact form to request a free quote.

Which Home Improvements Offer the Best Return on Investment

If you’re looking to update your home, whether it’s to create a brighter space, increase curb appeal or finally complete that bathroom makeover, there is a wide variety of home improvement projects you can tackle — but which upgrades are the most likely to offer you the greatest return on investment if you plan on reselling in the future? Traditionally, kitchen and bathroom remodels or converting drab areas into functional, comfortable living spaces were popular improvement projects. However, upgrades intended to improve curb appeal actually have the greatest home improvement returns.

Best Returns for Home Improvement

Home improvement projects like kitchen and bathroom remodels, finished basements or new flooring may make your daily living more comfortable, but prospective buyers are often drawn to and paying more for homes with exceptional curb appeal and stunning exterior finishes. The projects with the best home improvement returns include:

Garage Doors: Garage doors can occupy up to 40 percent of a home’s exterior, and a new door can modernize your home’s aesthetic. Garage door upgrades can expect up to 98 percent return on investment.
Entry Doors: Like the garage door, the entry door is one of the first features a visitor sees. With a new, stunning entryway, you can earn a return of up to 91 percent.
Wood Decks: Having a functional, attractive indoor and outdoor living space is important for many prospective home buyers, and a welcoming wood deck addition can have a home improvement ROI of nearly 83 percent.
Kitchens: Kitchens are the heart of the home, and while they’re not the most profitable home improvement project, they still do tend to return over 80 percent of your investment.
Vinyl Windows: Not only can old windows negatively impact your curb appeal and date your home, but they can also reduce your energy efficiency. New efficient and attractive vinyl window upgrades can return 74 percent of your initial investment.

Other Benefits of a New Garage Door

Not only is replacing your garage door the best home improvement for resale, but with the latest garage door designs and materials, you can also experience the following benefits:

Modernized Home Exterior: With the latest designs and customization features available today, you can tailor your new garage door to suit your personal tastes and enhance your home’s architecture. Choose from carriage-style doors to create a warm, welcoming and traditional look or install a new door with bold modern designs for a fresh and sophisticated home exterior.
Improved Home Safety and Security: Newer garage doors are crafted from exceptional materials and feature the latest safety and security upgrades to improve daily usage. Doors manufactured and installed after 1993 have photo-eye sensors to ensure the door doesn’t close on a person or object and rolling door codes to prevent duplication.
Increased Energy Efficiency: An insulated and weathertight door can reduce air transfer between indoor and outdoor environments, allowing you better temperature control. Your HVAC system won’t work as hard to regulate indoor temperatures, resulting in lower annual utility costs.

Contact Upper Canada Garage Doors Today to Install a New Garage Door

Installing a new garage door for your home is not only a cost-effective upgrade project, but it also has the greatest home improvement ROI. At Scarboro Garage Doors, we offer a wide variety of durable, reliable, and attractive Clopay garage doors that can boost your home’s curb appeal and offer an excellent home improvement return. We’re proud to provide comprehensive garage door services for residents throughout Oakville and its surrounding areas. Explore your garage door design and installation options today by calling 905-267-2700 or contacting us online.

Improving the Appearance of Your Driveway

First impressions matter. This saying isn’t just true when you’re meeting your new boss or welcoming a new neighbor. It’s also true about your home. And as far as first impressions go, driveways are incredibly important. After all, they’re one of the first things your guests notice when coming to your home for the first time.

Because you want to make an excellent first impression and improve your curb appeal, you want to make sure your driveway always looks its best. Here are some tips to ensure that your driveway creates a lasting impression for your home.

Lighten It Up

Keep your driveway well-lit and welcoming with lights lining your drive and entryway. Not only will lights add a beautifully classic touch to your home and highlight its exterior, but they will also keep your guests safer as they park and walk into your home.

In fact, lighting the outside of your driveway and home with lights can help to deter burglars. Motion-activated lights, in particular, are often enough to frighten trespassers. Solar lights are an electrically and environmentally friendly choice, as they require no wiring or electrical outlets.

Use Edging

Installing a border along the sides of the driveway gives it a textured, polished look. It also adds a buffer between the driveway and your yard, preventing accidental mishaps. Edging can be made to fit your home’s aesthetic, as there are many options available. The edging can either be raised or flat, and it can be made using a variety of materials such as brick, concrete, logs, stones and even railroad ties to add a beautiful edge around your driveway.

Add Foliage

Flowers and bushes add vibrant colors and pleasant scents along your driveway. These plants raise your curb appeal and act as beautiful welcomers to your guests.

Different regions host different types of wildlife, so before you plant, contact a local nursery to decide what kinds of flowers will thrive in your area that you’ll have the time to maintain. Remember to continuously take care of your plants to ensure that they continue to add to the beauty of your driveway.

Replace Your Garage Door

At the end of your driveway lies your garage door. No matter how good your new driveway looks, a run-down garage door can detract from the beauty of your entrance and ruin that good first impression guests had of your home. Keeping your garage door maintained and up-to-date allows guests to have a beautiful experience from the first tire that pulls into the driveway to the first step they take into your door.

At Upper Canada Garage Doors, we believe you deserve a driveway that gives an eye-popping first impression to every visitor of your home. We offer a selection of beautifully designed garage doors that will add a classic touch to any traditional or modern driveway. Contact us today or stop by our showroom — the only showroom in Oakville— so we can provide you with the door you deserve.

Garage Door Safety Tips

A garage is more than just an empty space. It welcomes your car, yourself and your family. It stores snowmobiles, soccer balls, and power tools. It’s basically part of your family. But if you go in and out of it every day, you may forget your garage door is even there — or that it’s still a powerful machine that needs to be taken care of to ensure that your family is kept safe.

Avoid severe mishaps by following these garage door safety tips:

1. Perform Self-Checks

It’s important to continually check the safety sensors in your garage door.

The sensors, located on the rails of the door, reverse the direction of a closing door if a person or animal crosses underneath it. To test the sensors, begin closing the garage door as usual and stick an object such as a broom under the door. If the door doesn’t immediately reverse, call a professional to inspect and repair the sensors.

2. Keep Children and Animals Away From Doors and Door Openers

Children are naturally curious. But the garage door is never something that should be played with. When opening and closing the garage door, make sure children and animals don’t come near the door until it is all the way up or down.

Also, make sure that children know never to put their hands in the joints between the panels of the door while it’s opening or closing. NEISS reports over 7,500 injuries from fingers getting stuck in garage doors every year.

3. Keep Your Remote With You at All Times

Likewise, keeping your garage door entry remote with you at all times ensures that children will not accidentally get access to the remote and hurt themselves or others. Remind children that the remote is not a toy. Explain the dangers that can occur with the improper use of the garage door.

Not only will you be protecting your children and yourself from harm by keeping your remote with you, but you can also prevent break-ins by never leaving your remote in your car. Leaving a garage door remote out in the open creates an easy target for burglars. Your garage door is a key to your home. Treat it like one by keeping it with you like you would a house key.

4. Keep Your Garage Door Closed When Not in Use (And Avoid Giving Out Passwords)

Another way to protect your home from theft is by keeping the garage door closed when not in use. Only give out your passcode to people you trust — never to repair or delivery people.

If you need to let someone in temporarily, many newer entry systems allow you to enter a temporary PIN that you can set to be used a certain number of times. Making use of this feature ensures that only those you trust have continuous access to your garage.

5. Get Regular Garage Door Maintenance

Getting your garage door regularly tuned up allows you to have peace of mind that your door is working as it should.

Trust Upper Canada To Ensure Garage Door Safety

At Upper Canada Garage Doors, we are proud to offer quality repair jobs — never rushed jobs — to Oakville and the surrounding areas. Contact us today to schedule your garage door service and repair. We look forward to becoming your trusted garage door provider.

Top 2018 Garage Door Design and Color Trends

Keeping up with yearly real estate trends is hard. You want to stay relevant and keep your property value high, but you don’t want to spend a fortune to get a look that’ll go out of style within the next 12 months. You need durability that will last you for years with the effortless style that the whole neighborhood will envy.

Many homeowners work tirelessly to improve the appearance of their home. From sidewalks and driveways to siding and shutters, they approach the summer ready to tackle all the projects they can handle to improve their home’s beauty.

But they often miss the one key feature that will instantly improve a home’s value and charm.

Believe it or not, one of the best ways to increase your home’s curb appeal is through the purchase of a new garage door. In fact, garage door replacement has the highest payback rate of 2018 home remodeling projects, giving you an average 98.3 percent return of the amount spent on your upgrade. It’s important not to take your garage door for granted any longer.

Many home design trends continuously change. But the right garage door will look timeless, providing you with the beauty and style you need for your home to look its best and maintain its maximum value and curb appeal for years to come. Here are some of the top garage door trends and design ideas in 2018 that you should consider when you’re in the market for your home’s next new look.

Biggest Design Trends

Your garage door’s design builds your home’s character. Gone are the days when nearly every house on the block featured simple white-paneled garage doors that matched neither their home’s aesthetic nor its personality.

These top garage door design trends taking over 2018 will add a personalized charm and sophistication to your home:

Materials

Your door should be a fun addition that welcomes visitors into your house with its eye-catching design. Classic garage door materials regained popularity in 2018, and modern styles allow you to customize your door to match your home’s look perfectly.

1. Wood

Garage doors were primarily made of wood from the carriage-house days of the 18th and 19th centuries to the late 1960s. While they were replaced in the ’70s by more modern materials such as aluminum and fiberglass, wooden garage doors recently resurged in popularity and gained exposure through home decorating magazines.

Wood garage doors provide an appealing rustic charm to those looking for a country aesthetic. Wood adds a cozy feeling to any home, particularly to farmhouse-style houses, and can be paired with metal and glass windows to create a pleasing blend of vintage and modern architecture.

Of course, real wooden doors are often impractical.

Wood is hard to maintain and protect from harsh weather and rot. Traditional wood doesn’t last as long as modern materials, which is why many suppliers offer the best of both worlds with steel or aluminum doors made with faux-wood overlays.

These doors will boost your home’s value while protecting your valuables from the harsh outdoors and your wallet from frequent garage door repairs. They provide the beauty of the classic wooden garage door with the anti-wear protection of newer materials.

For an added vintage touch, evoke the traditional wood door aesthetic of long ago with carriage style garage doors. Despite its age, homeowners love this time-honored style for its added charm and country appeal. Carriage house doors accounted for one out of every five garage doors sold in 2013, a number that has remained steady ever since.

2. Modern Materials

Of course, you want your doors to match the existing aesthetic of your home. You also want doors that you’ll enjoy looking at for years to come. So if wooden doors don’t appeal to you or don’t match your home’s current look, fear not. Other favorite 2018 options like fiberglass, aluminum and steel can prove just as successful at creating an eye-catching look for your garage.

Fiberglass: Fiberglass still reigns as the most popular garage door material. Easy to maintain and available in a range of style and color options, these doors effortlessly give life to your garage. They’re also easily paintable, so you can add unique trim that pops from your home.
Aluminum: Aluminum offers a more modern upgrade with a sleek design that allows your home to look stylish at an affordable cost. It’s easy to take care of and requires little maintenance. A favored choice for modern-style homes, aluminum gives your door a contemporary flair and make the garage look more expansive, specifically when combined with glass.
Steel: Steel-paneled doors come in a variety of different colors and provide another affordable alternative, with the broadest range of pricing options. These doors are durable and dent-resistant, allowing them to last for years if properly cared for.

Each material has different pros and cons that you should take into consideration and discuss with your garage door supplier before your purchase. But each can provide the perfect look for your 2018 home renovations.

3. Windows

You need your home to appear friendly and inviting. And a gloomy, cave-like appearance isn’t the warm welcome you want to give your family and visitors. Garages shifted in 2017 from gaping, storehouse-like spaces to open expanses of natural light and beauty, aided by the addition of huge windows in garage doors.

Windows provide the inviting openness of natural light that garages of the past lacked, and the shift from bland slabs of panels to sunny, windowed designs signifies a change in overall garage use and perspective.

Glass windows come in a variety of style and color options that can be set to match the accents of your door and your home. Vertical window patterns add a modern look, while an all-window door can add a bold statement to your home’s design.

Frosted windows are a useful option that allows you both privacy and inviting natural light. They come in a range of opaqueness options, so you can choose how much privacy you want in a garage.

Top Color Trends

Garage doors are becoming a focal point for your home’s exterior. While homeowners of the past wanted sophisticated traditional doors that blended into their homes, experts increasingly place eye-pleasing garage doors as one of the home’s most critical outdoor pieces.

This makes sense because the garage door is one of the first things you and your guests see upon pulling into your driveway.

To take full advantage of this focal spotlight, use splashes of color to wow and welcome visitors. Color is a simple way to keep up with changing home improvement trends, as many types of doors are easily re-paintable and can be customized to fit your needs.

Bold color combinations that brighten the garage are rising in popularity in 2018. Here are some color trends that will boost the appeal of your new garage door:

1. Matching or Complementary Colors

Your home already has its own unique style. The trim, window panes, shutters and other outdoor features are what make your home yours. Don’t try to force the garage door to fit a different mold apart from your home’s preexisting aesthetic.

Use colors that match your home’s preexisting color scheme to make your garage door an effortless part of your home. Matching colors can be used on the trim surrounding the door, on any window trim or on the door itself.

On the other hand, complementary colors — colors found opposite each other on the color wheel — prove that opposites do indeed attract when it comes to fashion and design. These colors bring out the best in each other and allow the other to stand out. Color wheels can help you choose your perfect complementary shades. These can also be used as a decorative trim to highlight the garage door’s features or as a bold standalone color to draw attention to your door.

Play around with a mix of matching and complementary colors for the perfect blend of sophistication and eye-popping design that will set your home apart in its appeal.

2. Blues, Greens and Browns

One of the top new trends of garage door color is the rise in the popularity of cool colors like soft green hues and deep shades of blue. These colors will pop out from a traditional off-white home exterior. Greens and blues have calming qualities, perfect to come home to after a long day of work.

Again, avoid colors that mismatch your home’s preexisting color scheme. Brown, the color of most wooden doors, is another favorite 2018 option that can be paired well with both cool and warm color tones. It works well with nearly any home.

3. Black Doors and Accents

Black is back.

A perfect match for wooden garage doors or with virtually any paint color, you can use black to paint the door’s trim, handles or faux hinges to accessorize your door and make a sophisticated statement.

For a strikingly bold look, take the extra step and get an all-black garage door. This move might seem daunting, but off-blacks such as blue-black or dark grey have remained some of the trendiest color options throughout the years.

Other Top 2018 Trends

Sometimes the best features of your home are the ones you can’t even see. While color and design are important parts of your garage door’s appearance, the following non-visual trends boost your door’s comfort and security:

1. Insulation

Insulated garage doors are becoming a hot new trend in garage door renovation. One of the most sought-after features in a garage door is its ability to keep the garage protected and warm through all seasons and types of weather.

If you’re looking to save energy while keeping your home warm during harsh winters and cool during hot summers, insulation is a crucial part of your garage door, especially if you use your garage as a hangout spot or a home office. Insulated doors are eco-friendly and cut down on heating and cooling costs, so you’ll save money in the long run if you spend a little more on your door’s insulation.

Today, most collections of garage doors come with insulated and non-insulated options. But this trend won’t be going away any time soon. Hop on board to increase your home’s market value, improve your comfort and allow you to get the most use out of your beautiful new garage.

2. Technology

In a time when the top five spots on the Forbes list of Most Valuable Brands are technology-based, it comes as no surprise that 2018 ushers in the rise of technology-based garage door accessories.

Smartphones have controlled televisions, thermostats, drones and security cameras for years. And that’s not a bad thing. Smartphone controls can provide you and your family with added comfort and security. Now, the remote control trend has extended to the garage.

Open and close your garage door, turn lights off and on, check your door’s security and more with Wi-Fi-connected smart garage doors and accessories. Added smart security cameras allow you to monitor your garage from any part of the world with the touch of a finger.

Many newer garage door openers come equipped with smart technology while other accessories such as cameras can be bought and added.

Any smart garage door hub easily adds to your garage’s value, but it also gives you added peace of mind. It allows you to go through your day without worrying about your garage door and your home’s security, making this trend well worth your money.

Get the Most Out of Your Door

With so many changing design and color trends, 2018 is the perfect time to update your garage door and get the most out of your garage use. And whether you’re looking for a boost of color, some eye-catching windows or an entirely new door style altogether, Upper Canada Garage Doors can help.

Upper Canada Garage Doors offers some of the best selections and most competitive prices in the Oakville, Burlington, and Milton areas. We’re a proud dealer of Clopay products, so you know you’re getting a top brand you can trust when you order from our vast selection of garage door styles and sizes. And with our employee-based workforce and excellent customer service, you know you’re always getting a quality job, never rushed.

Our selection includes many of 2018’s top trends, including faux-wooden and carriage-style doors. All our garage door series come with a variety of window designs and color options, so you’re sure to find a combination to fit your home. Don’t just dream about making your garage door dreams a reality. Contact us today or visit our showroom in Oakville to learn how we can help you get the most out of your garage with a door you’ll love.

Why it’s Time to ‘Get Off the Fence’ About A New Garage Door

It’s not something you do very often. In fact, you’ll probably change homes more often than you’ll ever get a new garage door. And that longevity is both a blessing and a curse.

The good part is that new garage doors are designed to last a very long time. Despite the fact that they are the largest moving object in your home, door designs, materials and technology have advanced to the point where most homeowners will only need to replace their garage doors once.

But that infrequent need for a new door can be a bit of a problem. Primarily, because it’s done so rarely, most people are very unfamiliar with the process of finding, buying and installing a new garage door – or even when they should start the process.

Instead, they start making subtle ‘adjustments’ in how they use the door. You know – you have to pull up on one side more than the other to make it open. Or you don’t notice the squeak that jars your neighbour awake every morning.

But unknowingly putting up with the ‘characteristics’ of a too-old garage door is still not the most pressing reason to get a new one. Many of Scarborough’s famous bungalows and semi-detached homes were built in the 1950s and 1960s. And, incredibly, many of those homes still have their original garage door.

Even if those doors still work properly, there are good reasons to change them. And if you’re suffering some of the other symptoms we mentioned above, which is why you’re thinking of replacing the door any way, the following points means you no longer have an excuse to avoid getting a new garage door.

1. Reduce Heating and Cooling Costs

Most new garage doors are insulated. And most old garage doors aren’t. Few homeowners understand how much of the house’s heated and cooled air can be lost through an attached garage. Especially if you have a room above the garage, an insulated garage door keeps more of your heated and cooled air where it belongs: inside.

Insulated doors also make your garage quieter; they give you the option to use the garage year-round as a work or recreation space; and they reduce the strain on your car’s engine during cold weather starts.

2. Less Expensive Than You Think

Again, because we don’t replace garage doors often, and simply due to the size of the door (it’s big – it must be really expensive!), most people over-estimate the cost of buying and installing a new door. Prices can vary, but your new door, even one that’s insulated, is probably more affordable than you think and can be installed in a day or less.

3. Smooth Functioning

New garage doors are well-balanced so that it takes very little effort to open and close them. Homeowners who have needed to replace their garage door openers often don’t realize it’s because the door is old and doesn’t move smoothly. That puts extra strain on the opener and reduces its life. So a new door will either save your back, or your garage door opener.

4. More Curb Appeal

Garage doors are the largest single feature on your home and can account for up to 40% of its look. In other words, installing a new door can be like re-doing a large part of the front of your home. Not only does that increase your home’s curb appeal, but, if you ever sell your home, you can bet that the old rusting door that you’ve been nursing for 20 years will be a huge turn-off for buyers.

If you add the money you can save from reduced energy costs and the increase in home value that a new door can bring, it far outweighs the cost of the door – which, as you now know, is lower than you think.

4 Tips to Keep Your Garage Door in Tip-Top Condition

So how’s your garage door doing? Chances are it’s working perfectly fine. Despite it being the biggest, heaviest moveable thing in your home, and that you use it a couple times every day, your garage door is remarkably reliable.

Unfortunately, that steady dependability can lead to neglect. Look at it this way, compared to some of the other systems in your home, like the furnace, electricals or plumbing, how often do you do even the smallest amount of maintenance on your garage door?

Don’t feel bad if you haven’t done any. Again, if it was properly installed, your door can work well for decades, even without maintenance. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t extend the lifespan of your door, or prevent problems from happening at the worst possible moment, by regularly doing just a few fast, simple checks on your door.

And, considering it’s warmer outside, the spring and summer are the best times for garage door maintenance.

Here’s a checklist of things you can do to give your door the attention it deserves and help to keep it working in tip-top condition for longer.

1. Give it Room to Move

Even if you take care to keep things out of the path of your door, it’s not a good idea to store anything even close to it. While a garage door opener has safety systems to reverse it if it hits anything or if it there’s anything in its path, hitting an object as it closes can eventually put it out of balance. The closer you store things to your door, the more chance there is that they may accidentally fall into the path of the door or its rollers.

2. Help it Run Smoothly

Like any moving piece of equipment, it helps to keep your door well lubricated so it runs smoothly. Between its rollers, panels, hinges, springs, handles and so on, most people don’t realize how many moving parts are on a garage door.

a. For metal-on-metal moving parts, like the hinges and spring assembly, a petroleum-based lubricant, like 3-in-1 or WD-40, is best.

b. For rubberized parts, including the weather stripping between the door’s panels, along the bottom of the door and along the door frame outside the door, a silicone-based lubricant is best.

3. Check Your Remote

Have you ever pulled into your driveway – it was probably pouring rain – and no matter how frantically you press the remote, the door refuses to open?

There’s a good chance that it’s not the door’s fault. The problem is more likely that the batteries in your remote are drained. While it’s impossible to predict when batteries will fail, check the timing between when you press the button on your remote and when the door reacts. The longer the time, the closer the batteries are to failure.

4. Put the Safety Systems Through Their Paces

The systems we mentioned earlier that prevent the door from closing when anything is detected in its path, or when it contacts something as it closes, are very important for the personal safety of you and your family and to avoid any damage to your car or belongings.

The first safety system, that prevents the door from working if something is in its path, are the door opener’s photo eyes. They are located close to the floor on both sides of the door inside your garage. If anything blocks the signal that passes between the eyes, the door will not work, or it will work briefly before reversing.

To check that the eyes are functioning as they should, find a length of 2×4 wood, or anything else that will block the signal. Stand away from the path of the door and start it closing. Place the end of the wood between the photo eyes. The door should reverse when you do this. If not, the photo eyes should be inspected by a garage door professional.

The second safety system can also be tested with a length of wood. With the door open, place the wood on the garage floor where the door touches the floor when it’s closed. Close the door. It should automatically reverse when it touches the wood. If not, call a pro.

It probably took you longer to read this post than it will to check all the points that we mentioned. It’s not a lot of time to make sure your garage door operates safely and lasts as long as possible.

What a Difference a Garage Door Makes!

If you’re in the market for a garage door, you can’t be blamed for being a little apprehensive about the purchase. As we pointed out before, you probably won’t buy a new garage door more than once or twice for as long as you own your home. That means it’s tough to get to know about what’s available, who the best manufacturers are, and which installer you should choose.

It’s one of the reasons why we at Upper Canada Garage Doors are part of the Garage Door Guild, which is one assurance you have that you’re dealing with a reputable company. Even more, all our installers and technicians receive ongoing training in the latest garage doors and their proper installation, maintenance and repair.

But, as much as we’d like to say that simply by choosing us, any concern you have about getting a new door will be solved, it’s not true. If even the most highly-trained garage door installer put a low-quality door onto your garage, then you could still be in for lots of trouble.

So not only do we need to know what we’re doing, but we need to offer the best doors for your garage.

One of the door manufacturers whose products we offer, Clopay, is the largest maker of residential garage doors and is the only garage door builder backed by the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

When we include the other trusted garage door brands that we represent, we believe we offer you an unbeatable one-two punch of beautiful, well-built doors and reliable, qualified installation and service.

But What if That’s Not Enough?

Unfortunately, no matter how much we do to set ourselves apart in the garage door installation marketplace, homeowners very often think of their garage doors the same way they think of their roof. “If it isn’t broken (or leaking), don’t fix or replace it”.

That thinking might work for your roof. If your roofing shingles are managing to keep the water and snow out of your home, that’s not a bad argument for leaving it be. (Although it makes sense to look for signs of potential trouble on your roof, especially when the roof is older, and get it fixed before a leak happens).

But, aside from the role they play in your home, there’s one big difference between your garage door and your roof.