National Curb Appeal Month Tip: Replace Your Old Garage Door

August is the time to take stock of your home exterior. Are your shrubs overgrown? Do the shutters need painting? Should your old garage door be replaced?

During National Curb Appeal Month, make time to take a fresh look at your home exterior. 

“Making positive changes to your home almost always has payback,” says realtor Vincent A. Stanson, a REALTOR® associate with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in New Jersey. “It doesn’t matter if you’re making changes for your own personal enjoyment or as enticements to sell a property. When you upgrade any aspect of your home it results in positive return on investment.”

Taking Stock of Your Garage Door
On the home exterior, one of the top projects you can do to improve curb appeal and get long-term value is to replace an aging garage door.  

Has severe weather, searing sun or even trash cans banging into it taken its toll on your garage door? All of these combine to reduce the look — and possibly the functionality — of your older garage door.

Investments with Long Term Value
Here’s the good news. According to the 2020 Cost Versus Value Study, replacing your garage door returns a whopping 94.5% of your investment cost. That’s the second highest recoup value of more than 20 home improvement projects in the study including replacing siding or windows, adding a deck or remodeling a bathroom.

“Replacing a garage door to update a style, gain on energy efficiency savings or enhance curb appeal is a smart idea,” says Samantha Sutton, renovator of the After Hours project. “If the garage door can be seen on the front of the house, like ours can, it’s critical to make sure the unit complements the rest of the home exterior.”

Using HaasCreate 
“We used the HaasCreate online tool to preview what the new American Tradition Series™ doors would look like on our home,” says Sutton. “ With so many great options, being able to visualize them on our home was a game changer.”

Visualizers like HaasCreate allow you to “see” what a new garage door will look like on your home — including the addition of privacy glass, the style door and colors. Within minutes the free online tool can show you a variety of garage door styles on your home plus options for window glass, colors/woodgrains and even decorative handles and hinges.

“Using all the free tools available from manufacturers is a smart way to start home improvement projects,” says realtor Stanson. “Product samples, literature and online visualizers can all help make home upgrades less daunting and more productive.”