Classica Collection Steel Garage Doors

Classica is the premium steel carriage house line, and it is the door we point people to when they have looked at the Oak Summit and decided they want something built heavier. The one in the photo is the Lucern design with a closed arch top and a woodgrain finish, which from the street is about as close as a steel door gets to passing for wood. There are seven stamped carriage house designs in the collection and most of them can be ordered with either the arched top section or a plain square one, so you can still have the carriage house look on a house where an arch would be wrong.

What actually separates this collection from the Oak Summit is inside the panel. The Classica is built in single, double and triple layer versions, and the triple layer uses polyurethane instead of polystyrene, which brings it to around R 13 where the Oak Summit tops out near R 6.6. The steel is heavier as well. On an attached garage, and especially one facing west that takes afternoon sun all summer, that is worth paying for, and if there is a bedroom or an office over the garage you will notice it in there before you notice it anywhere else. On a detached garage that nobody heats it is money spent on nothing, and we will tell you that rather than sell you the expensive one. There is more on how the layers go together on the steel garage doors page.

Windows, color and hardware

Windows go in the top section and there are six trim patterns to choose from, Danube, Madeira, Nile, Rhine, Seine and Thames, along with two decorative glass designs called Jardin and Trellis if you want more going on than plain lites. The glass itself can be clear, frosted or tinted dark, and on this collection it can also be ordered insulated, which the Oak Summit does not offer. That last one matters more than people expect, because on a door with a full row of windows the glass is where an insulated door gives the most back.

Color is not much of a limit either. There are thirteen standard factory colors, and past those the factory will match Sherwin Williams, so if you are trying to hit the trim color on the house it can be done, it just adds a couple of weeks to the order. The woodgrain finishes come in golden oak, walnut and mahogany, and we have found the painted finishes hold their look longer, though the woodgrain is what most people want when the front of the house already has wood in it. Decorative handles and strap hinges come in eight styles and they are worth the money on a door like this, because a carriage house door with no hardware on it reads as a plain door with shapes stamped into it. There is more about those on the decorative hardware page.

What it costs

A steel door installed runs between $1,200 and $2,400 depending on the size of the opening, the insulation and the design, and the Classica sits toward the upper end of that because of how it is built. The warranty is the other thing you are paying for, lifetime on the workmanship and on the paint, where the Oak Summit is two years on the workmanship and twenty five on the paint. If you want to compare the two, the Oak Summit Collection is the lighter and less expensive door with more window combinations to pick from. Tell us the width of your opening and whether the garage is attached and we can get close to a number on the phone, or we will come out, measure it, and bring the color samples and the hardware so you can hold them up against the house before anything gets ordered.

Call Garage Door Repair Pros at 916-238-6413 about a Classica door.