Faux or Smooth? A Guide to Garage Door Finishes

The benefits provided by high quality garage doors often go unnoticed by homeowners, simply because they are hidden beneath well manufactured surfaces.

In this guide, Southern Doors explains the importance of different textures and applications, including faux and natural finishes and explores some of the reasons why they are as important to you as making your colour, style, type, and material choices.

Key to this conversation is the fact that top manufacturers purposely apply finishes to their products to offer practical benefits such as promoting longevity and reducing maintenance.

Here are some examples:

Smooth Textures

Smooth textures offer an exceptionally clean, contemporary look. But they also have functional advantages. Erosion protection on good quality steel up-and-over garage doors, for example, is provided by galvanising, coupled with thick powder coating available in a variety of colours to provide resistance to unwanted chips.

Furthermore, sectional doors are often designed with smooth panels (other textures are also available) as multi-layered designs with a sealed top coating, adhesion primer, corrosion resistance steel layer, and additional protective coatings wrapped around insulation foam.

Composite

Glass Reinforced Polyester (GRP) is light, durable, and easy to maintain, and can come with a UV protective gel coating, useful for homes built in high sea-salt areas.

Timber Options

As an example, Cedar provides nature’s own appeal and comes with natural attributes to help repel ‘The Elements’. It’s also easy to clean with restaining required only once every three years to keep it in good condition.

Faux Finishes

Woodgrain options don’t readily show up dents, and scrapes, but should they appear, they can be easily repaired. Unlike natural wood they don’t need to be treated or stained, saving time on maintenance.

Manufacturers also provide stone effect options for ultra-modern architectural styles, and silk-like finishes with inherent characteristics that can minimise surface wear on automatic garage doors.

Heat Bonded Foil

Often installed to complement windows and entrance doors which also have foil lamination applied, this heat bonding technique delivers a permanent and realistic timber-look which copies the colour and pattern found on different types of wood. It provides a hard-wearing surface, with some brands offering a 7-Year guarantee.

Other Types of Protective Coating

High-quality film coatings on the inside and outside of some roller door curtain slats for instance provide abrasion protection, making them easy to clean, and UV-resistant.

Our Top Tip

When choosing your next garage door check out all types of textures and finishes before you come to a decision. They can be as wide-ranging as they are beautiful. Equally so, consider them as ‘investment protection’. The best options, endure the test of time, and although they may cost a little more, the pay-off will save you hundreds of pounds in low maintenance and manufacturing quality compared to low budget, basic options.