As the housing market begins to come back around, it’s time to start thinking about ways to add value to your home before you put it on the market. Curbside appeal is important to almost all homebuyers. When potential buyers drive past your home, do they want to inquire further? A simple way to improve the curbside appeal of your home is to improve your garage door’s appearance. 

If your garage door does not face the front, a simple steel door without windows may do. However, most front-entry homes have garage doors that face the streets. These homes benefit the most from decorative garage doors. 

A Dallas reseller for C.H.I. Overhead Doors said, “Adding windows to an existing door is difficult because the section must be removed, loaded on a truck and taken to the warehouse that deals with a particular brand and model of garage door.” He suggested that since the cost of labor is so high for this practice, most homeowners opt to install a new garage door altogether. 

CHI Overhead Doors’ spokesman urges homeowners not to cut corners. He explained, “Trying to make a builder’s door look nice is like repainting an old Rambler -- it will still be ugly when you are done.”

A garage door style that has come into popularity recently is the glass door. A Charlotte garage door specialist, Paul Cardone of Garage Door Guru, explains, “Glass garage doors are becoming more popular because of the way they look. They're trendy and modern. I recommend people get a door with no windows because they break, they're expensive to replace and people can look in to see if you're home.”  

A newly popular design is called the carriage house door. Carriage house doors are made of wood and contain decorative windows. The spokesman for CHI Overhead Doors advised that he prefers painting wood garage doors to staining them. He explained, “Although staining looks richer, it needs to be redone every couple of years while painting does not.”

Whether you are wanting to improve the look of your home and the performance of your garage door to sell your home, or just to enjoy it more as you live in the home, use Angie's List consumer reviews of garage door repair companies to find the highest rated providers in your city. Angie's List offers reviews you can trust from consumers just like you.