It’s fascinating how so many folk spend time and money enhancing the value of their home by installing a top of the range kitchen or laying beautiful tiled floors, yet seem totally oblivious to the elephant in the front drive. Yes, we’re talking about garages and carports; those diminutive items that account for a mere twenty percent or so of the whole visual aspect of most houses.
Long before anyone ever gets to appreciate the sumptuous quality of the interior decor they will have passed on the property simply based on first impressions. No, it’s not fair and people really shouldn’t judge by looks but that’s how it is and they do, so deal with it or lose out.
It’s a plain, simple and hard fact that if your garage doors are dented and rusty or sporting the not-so-latest in scuffed vinyl panels then you might as well change the house name plate to read “Hobo Hovel”. Visitors and prospective purchasers will subconsciously make their mind up quite quickly about the property and its owners based on what hits their eyeballs and the impression they form in this case is unlikely to be favourable.
So what can you do to restore the balance in your favour? Simple really; if you have a garage then invest in decent door panels that complement the rest of the house and fill that 20% of visual real estate with something that projects quality. Not unlike wearing a clean, pressed shirt rather than a pizza stained rag that skipped its last three dates with the laundry basket.
So what constitutes a decent garage door panel? Well, that’s a bit like asking what’s a quality car – you can go for a rambling analytical answer or you can just say “Mercedes”. Where garages are concerned the shorthand for quality is “wood”. Though long ago usurped by steel (just as Ford took over the auto market) there is no getting away from the fact that if you want to cut a good impression then good old wooden garage doors hit the spot every time.
Much the same applies if you happen to have a carport instead of (or indeed as well as) a garage. In the field of cheap and nasty there is little that beats a steel (or worse, PVC) carport. And it’s also just so unnecessary since good quality wood carport kits are easy to find, not expensive and simple to construct. But above all, they can be specified and customised so they look like they properly belong with the house as opposed to resembling something that was left abandoned on the drive.
So, joining the list of things that say more about you than money, keep in mind the humble (but ever so in your face) garage door and its cousin the carport.
Check out these other great articles on roller garage doors, garage door insulation and roll up garage doors.
Related posts: