Full-View Garage Doors: Three Critical Things to Know Before Making a Purchase

You’ve seen them before – full-view garage doors are taking the world by storm. They’re on convenience stores and restaurants, vacation cottages, and pool houses. Are they right for your home, though? Actually, there are a few things that you’ll need to know before you decide to buy an all-glass, full-view garage door.

This stunning California full-view double garage door features a black, aluminum frame that ties in wonderfully with the gray stone and blond wood of the interior. The door also brings the outside right indoors! Note the hardware, which adds a subtle industrial look.

Dubbed the “California”, all-glass garage doors help you turn an entire wall of your home into a massive window. They’re great for homes with views, but they can also work well in many other areas. And they’re not just suitable for the garage. You can add them to your living room, dining room, kitchen, and other areas. Saying that, make sure you consider the three factors we’ll discuss in this article.

1) You get an aluminum frame.

As described by AZO Matering, aluminum frames are good news. Why, though?

• It’s lightweight. Aluminum is lighter than wood or steel. That means you can use a less powerful garage door opener.
• Corrosion resistance. Unlike steel, aluminum does not rust. It develops a natural oxidation layer that protects the underlying metal. This is a great advantage for any environment where moisture is a key player. For instance, if you have a boathouse or a home on the water, you will benefit from having an aluminum garage door.
• Reflecting heat and light. Aluminum reflects light and heat during the summer, so the metal stays cooler in high-temperature areas.

That’s the good news. However, there is also some less exciting news.

Aluminum isn’t the perfect defense. It’s an excellent thermal conductor.

What this means is if you live in a cold climate, the metal can conduct the cold into the house. That may affect your utility bills.

One thing that many people don’t realize is that with a full-view garage door, you need to be comfortable sacrificing energy efficiency simply because it doesn’t have a very high R-value.

In other words, you are unlikely to be and saving energy with one of these garage doors.

Let’s look at an example of a real-world situation. Suppose you have a heated garage. You set the thermostat somewhere between 46 and 50℉. In that instance, you would need a garage door with a minimum of an R-12 value to maintain the temperature within the space, with R-16 construction being even better. Now, imagine how the situation would change if you were not talking about a garage, but instead about your living room, where you prefer to keep it at 72℉. As you can see, there’s a lot of energy required to keep the temperature up without the right level of insulation.

Quebec, Canada is well known for its harsh winter weather. However, nothing could keep one resident from adding a California full-view garage door to her home. Here you can see the white frame and clear windows, as well as the kitchen in the cottage and the surroundings. Despite the wintry weather, it manages to look warm and comfortable!

You could live in a more temperate area and might not think that this is a big deal. Your energy bills are low and maybe you have supplemental options, like warming your home with wood or solar panels. In that case, a full-view garage door might be a no-brainer. Of course, it’ll also add an immense amount of aesthetic value to your home.

2) You run the risk of fogged windows in the winter.

If you live in an area where the winters get cool, chances are that you’ve noticed some of your windows fog up. It’s inescapable. Your full-view garage door is likely to experience similar issues. Why, though?

Condensation happens when warm, moisture-heavy air comes in contact with a cold surface.

And, while you might think that the air in your home is pretty dry, that’s not the case. There are so many sources of moisture in the average home, including:

• Cleaning
• Doing laundry
• Taking showers and baths
• Washing dishes
• Breathin

It’s easy to miss these impacts, though. You open the windows, and the air circulates. But in the winter, your home is sealed up. When that moisture-heavy air begins to cool, it becomes denser and contracts, and moisture is squeezed out of it onto cooler surfaces.

And, since window glass is usually the coldest surface around, that’s where the moisture shows up. Larger windows, such as sliding glass doors, will fog up even more.

Think that full-view garage doors are only for homes with a contemporary style? That’s not true! Check out this stunning country cottage and how well the white, all-glass garage door works with the design. (Image courtesy of Houzz.)

What can you do to help eliminate condensation on your windows? Actually, there are several things that can help. We’ll run everything down for you below.

• Change your interior temp from 72℉ to 68℉. Keeping your home cooler will help reduce the chance that condensation will occur. Just toss on a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of sweatpants.
• Fans can help. There are few things that reduce condensation more than ceiling fans. However, you’ll want to make sure that you have good-quality fans. It’s not just ceiling fans, though. Make sure you turn on the vent fan in your bathroom when you shower and your range hood fan when cooking.
• Invest in a dehumidifier and / or air exchanger. A dehumidify will suck the moisture out of the air in your home. However, an air exchanger will exhaust moisture outdoors and bring drier air indoors.
• Use a wood burning stove. Few things dry out the air better than a wood fire. And, with a wood-burning stove, you get other benefits – the sight, sound, and smell are just a few of them. What better place to relax during the winter than in front of a warm fire, with a full-view garage door showing the surrounding landscape?
• Skip air drying your clothing. Air drying clothing puts an immense amount of moisture into the air. Use your dryer or find times of day when you can hang dry your laundry outdoors.

Condensation doesn’t have to be a problem. A little bit of proactive planning and you can tame it. And it’s not like a full-view garage door is the only thing that would suffer from condensation. Bay windows, sliding glass doors, French doors – they do, too.

3) There are so many windows…

This one might not seem all that important. After all, you’re buying the garage door for the windows, right? Well, some people do that and only realize the implications too late. What are those implications, though?

This California all-glass garage door is in the More layout with a Black frame and Clear windows. You can clearly see the area outside and that the door lets passersby see into the dining and kitchen area.

First, are you concerned about privacy? Or do you want the view?

A lot of this is going to depend on where you live. If you’re in a rural area with acres of open land around your home, chances are that you’re not really going to mind having those additional windows. If you’re in an urban area, though? You might not want everyone on the street staring into your home. At the very least, you might want to reconsider clear windows.

Check out this amazing space from Houzz! It’s open, airy, and sooo lovely. Imagine the views out of both sides of the house as you stand there, coffee in hand in the morning sunshine.

Want to add a bit more privacy to your home? Choose frosted glass (Sandblasted) instead of clear. Not only does it prevent prying eyes, but you get a truly unique aesthetic that will add a lot to your home.

You’re not limited to clear glass. In fact, you can choose from many types of glass to suit your needs and get the level of privacy and protection that you want and need. You can certainly go the clear route if you want but think about frosted, tinted, and translucent panels and what they can offer your home.

You can still have neighbors and benefit from a full-view garage door. All you need is a fence, hedge, or line of trees that blocks the view. Check out this amazing kitchen as an example of what you can achieve (image courtesy of Jeannette Architects on Houzz).

Want to take in that amazing view all the time? A California all-glass garage door is the best way to do just that!

Are you concerned about energy efficiency?

While you might not get the same level of protection you would from a solid garage door, thermopane technology with low-E argon-filled glass can do a lot.

Check out this chart to see how things compare between 1 clear pane + 1 low-E pane with argon and how two clear panes perform. You can also explore this resource to learn more about LOW-E Argon thermopane windows.

Low-E argon windows help to prevent thermal transfer from inside to the outside (or vice versa) while still allowing in all the natural light that you want.

Concerned about safety and damage resistance?

Whether you’re concerned about vandalism or you live in an area where kids are active, you know that the potential for damage to windows is high. The good news? All-glass garage doors can offer a lot of safety and can be very resistant to damage. How does that work?

It really all comes down to the option of installing tempered glass. Instead of regular glass panes, you can install either one or two panes of tempered glass. Why should you do that and what is tempered glass, anyway?

Understanding Tempered Glass

Tempered glass starts out life as ordinary glass. However, it is subject to extreme heating and cooling. That creates a molecular change in the material itself that makes it incredibly resistant to damage. Baseballs, hockey pucks, even hammers will have a hard time damaging your windows.

You also have the option to install one or two panes. Each thermopane window can have a single pane of regular glass and one of tempered glass, or you can have two panes of tempered glass. We highly suggest that you go with tempered glass on both sides with a California full-view garage door.

Not interested in changing out your living room or kitchen wall? No problem! A full-view garage door can also work amazingly well on your, well, garage! You can easily accessories your garage and tie it into the overall aesthetic of the rest of your home.

Is it time to replace that garage door with something better?

We get it. Once you’re bit by the remodeling bug, you want to change everything. You’ll consider repainting the house, changing doors, replacing the siding, and so much more. Why not replace the garage door while you’re at it?

If you go to all that trouble without replacing the garage door, you’re creating what amounts to a 9’ x 7’ eyesore.

Ready to act? Call us today at 781-826-2212.

Are you ready for a new garage door opener or a new overhead door?

At Mortland Door Systems, our team focuses only on garage doors and openers. It’s all we do and all that we’ve ever done. We’ve built our expertise over the decades and, today, we’re the leading experts in the area. We would love the chance to help you find the perfect garage door and opener for your home.

Do you already know which garage door you want?

Just drop us a line and ask us for a quote by email.

Need some inspiration before buying?

Check out the results we’ve achieved for other clients in our photo gallery. You can also take a picture of your garage door with your smartphone and then use our Design Centre to explore how different garage door styles will look on your house. It's simple, fun, and fast!