New Garage Doors: Cox Door Company

I've been busy ripping our house apart from top to bottom. We started with the kitchen reface, and now my beaten down garage doors were the next target. The poor wood doors that have served this house since 1987 had finally given up. To start, they had water damage and were rotting; and the openers were opening and closing whenever THEY wanted to, instead of when I needed to get in and out of the house. Basically, everything had hit the statistical end of it's life and needed replacing.

I used Cox Door Company, a family-run outfit out of Indian Trail. They were professional, courteous, came out when they said they would and offered me a fair price for the work. First, we tried to repair the existing garage door openers to see if they had any life left in them. The repairman warned me that this was not the best route of action given the condition of everything, but being a cheap New Yorker, I had to at least give it a shot. Sure enough, the very next day they started acting up again. The repairman came back at no charge with brochures for new doors and openers.

Now, I've never purchased a garage door before, but I was amazed at the options and price ranges. I knew that I wanted a carriage house (barn) styled door, as you drive directly up to my garage and it's a big part of what you see. I figured it should at least be attractive.

These doors can cost you a fortune, but I settled on two eight foot Haas Doors. The repairman advised that though there were other options that were more expensive, that he considered these doors to be the best on the market. They provided a tight seal against the elements and were a sturdy and paintable steel with an insulated center. These were $700 a pop--which is way cheaper than other doors that were easily twice that to start. I decided to go for the style with no windows, as the fix-it dude said that they allowed heat to enter and they might be a security issue with someone peeking into the windows. There goes $1,400 bucks for two.

Next came the openers. Luckily, my home warranty covered both of these since they were both barely functioning. There were two options: the first was a $300 residential Liftmaster with a 5 year warranty; and the second was a $450 Elite Series Liftmaster with a lifetime warranty on the motor. The warranty would only cover for the cheaper one, but I ended up springing for the more expensive model and sucking up the difference. Bang! Another $300 bucks for two openers.

At the end of the day I spent $1,700 for two new doors and opener units, and the things work like a dream. Who new a garage door could be so quiet? Finally, I don't have all sorts of creepy-crawlies getting into the garage since the new seal is super tight. Plus, the temperature in the garage has dropped at least 25 degrees with these new doors. How do I know this? Well the opener wall control unit tells me the exact temperature in the room, the time, and date and a whole bunch of other things. Now, if it would only tell my husband to take out the garbage, I'd be set!