Garage Door Construction: Choosing a Number of Layers

by Rachel Lyon, Editorial Director for Direct from the Designers

While it’s easy to focus on curb appeal, the build of your garage door can go much deeper than what you see from the street. Garage doors constructed with multiple layers come with a host of practical benefits over their single-layer peers, so it’s a good idea to get acquainted with all the possibilities and find the right balance for your budget.

For illustrative purposes, and because they’re the most popular, we’ll go over the layered construction of steel garage doors here. These are the options available from Clopay®, our architect-preferred garage door manufacturer!

1-Layer Garage Doors

The most affordable choice, 1-layer garage doors are just what they sound like—they use a single piece of steel per panel. Any design like raised or recessed panels on the front face will be reflected on the back side you see from within the garage. Due to the joints where panels meet, 1-layer doors have a bit of depth and are more stable than a single flat piece of steel, but they don’t provide any notable insulating effect. That’s where additional layers start to come in!

2-Layer Garage Doors

When you step up to a 2-layer garage door, you’ll find a layer of polystyrene foam board insulation applied to the back side of the door. This increases the R-value of the door a modest amount—the exact amount depending on the thickness of the insulation selected—and also naturally provides some soundproofing. Each panel of the door holds its own piece of foam board between the top and bottom joints, allowing the door to open and close without interference. This puts that bit of depth to good use!

3-Layer Garage Doors

The third layer in a 3-layer garage door is steel again, which effectively sandwiches the insulation between two skins of durable, galvanized metal. This gives a cleaner look on the inside of the garage and also protects the insulation from damage, but it doesn’t really increase the R-value of the door. However, at the 3-layer level, you get to choose between the slab of polystyrene foam board or polyurethane foam that is injected between the steel layers and expands to fill every nook and cranny. If you opt for the polyurethane, you’ll roughly double the R-value of the door compared to polystyrene of the same thickness! A 3-layer garage door with polyurethane insulation also operates more quietly and is more resistant to dents, as the expanded foam prevents rattling of the door components and adds support to back up the steel layers.

4-Layer Garage Doors

After three layers, the additional layers come from materials applied to the front surface of the door to give it more dimension. Wood-look composite cladding that covers the whole door surface can be the fourth layer in some cases, but composite overlays applied over a wood-look paint application on the steel base also count. It just depends on the style of the door! In any case, 4-layer garage doors feature polyurethane insulation to better support the composite, so they provide a great R-value and all the other benefits that come with this construction.

5-Layer Garage Doors

Finally, 5-layer garage doors build on everything 4-layer garage doors offer. They feature wood-look composite on the base and overlays, which adds thickness and helps the door look like authentic wood. The composite pieces come in different grain patterns to mimic different wood species, so you can choose whatever suits your home and even mix and match for a custom final appearance!

If you’re in the market for a garage door to complete your new home or upgrade an existing one, Clopay® has you covered with a full range of durable doors in every style. They also have tons of finishing options, so you can make each one your own! Not sure where to start? Try this door design tool to virtually build and try different options on an image of your own or a similar home!