We supply and install residential and commercial garage doors from Garaga, Amarr and Stanley. Most of what a door costs, and most of what it does for you afterwards, comes down to three decisions: the material, the number of layers, and the insulation between them.
| Steel door | Construction | Insulation | Holds up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single layer | One skin of steel, struts showing inside | Almost none | Dents more easily. Fine on a detached garage nobody heats |
| Double layer | Insulation behind the steel skin | Some | Better than a single skin |
| Three layer | Insulation sandwiched between two steel skins | Most | Stiffest and quietest, and much harder to dent, because the inside skin does structural work |
Steel is the usual choice. A single-layer door is one skin of steel with the struts showing on the inside. It is the lightest and the cheapest, it dents more easily, and it insulates almost nothing, which is fine on a detached garage nobody heats.
A double-layer door adds insulation behind the steel skin. A three-layer door sandwiches the insulation between two steel skins, which is stiffer, quieter and much harder to dent, because the inside skin does structural work rather than just covering the foam.
The insulation is either polystyrene, which comes as a board slipped into the section, or polyurethane, which is injected and expands to fill it. Polyurethane bonds to both skins, so it gives a higher R value for the same thickness and a noticeably more rigid door. It also weighs more, which is why the spring has to be sized to the door and not to the opening. What that R value does and does not measure, and when the foam is not the thing worth paying for, is in the guide to insulated garage doors.
A full-view door is an aluminium frame carrying glass or acrylic panels. It is the look on most contemporary builds: frosted or tinted glass, a dark anodised or powder-coated frame, and daylight in a garage that would otherwise be a cave. It insulates less well than an equivalent insulated steel door unless the glazing is thermal, and it is heavier than it looks, so headroom and spring sizing get checked before it is quoted.
A real wood door is a carpentry product: cedar, hemlock or fir, usually over an insulated core. It suits a house whose front calls for it, and it needs refinishing on a cycle the owner has to be willing to keep. Composite gives the same grain and the same shadow lines without the refinishing, at the cost of the depth a real timber section has up close.
Whether the garage shares a heated wall with the house. Whether a room sits above it. Whether the door faces the street or the side. Whether anything in the garage cares about the temperature. A door on an attached garage under a bedroom is a different specification from the same opening on a detached shop, even though the two openings measure the same.
For an unheated attached garage, Natural Resources Canada's Keeping the Heat In says the walls, the ceiling and the door that adjoin the house must be insulated and air sealed, to cut heat loss and to keep garage fumes out of the house. Where a bedroom sits over the garage, that includes the garage ceiling. The overhead door is not among the surfaces the guide names.
An attached garage also brings a legal requirement. Ontario's carbon monoxide rules say a house with an attached garage must have a CO alarm next to each sleeping area, and since 1 January 2026 on every storey as well.
Every door is measured on the opening before it is quoted, because headroom, backroom and the track type are what decide which models will physically fit. The installation page covers what that measurement is looking for.
Every one of these is measured on your opening before it is quoted. Most people settle the shape first and the model number after.
Princeton P-11 · Traditional
Overlays over a flat steel base, laid out symmetrically, with strap hinges and handles to match. Glazing sits in the top section only, and the divided lites are what stop a wide double door reading as a wall.
Eastman E-22 · Carriage House
Two-tone: a dark body under light overlays laid out as a crossbuck, with strap hinges and handles. The contrast is the whole effect, so it sits best on a house whose trim is already a different colour from its siding.
Standard+ North Hatley LP · Carriage house
A long-panel face in a woodgrain finish instead of a raised-panel grid. It reads as timber from the street and needs none of the refinishing real timber needs. It comes in two insulation levels, which is the decision to make before the colour.
Standard+ Shaker-Modern XL · Contemporary
Wide horizontal sections with the glass set to one side rather than across a full top row. The offset window is what stops a large dark door reading as a blank slab, and it suits a flat-roofed or dark-brick front.
Standard+ Vog · Contemporary
The face is flat and unbroken from jamb to jamb. It is the least forgiving door here: nothing on it hides a dent, and a track that is even slightly out of true shows along the top edge.
California · Contemporary
An aluminium frame carrying glass, clear or sandblasted or tinted. It is the one door here that lights the garage from outside. Garaga says the trade plainly on its own page: a full vision door should not be chosen for its insulation.
G-5000
The standard bay door: polyurethane injected between two steel skins, a grooved face, one and three quarter inches thick. Thinner and thicker builds exist at R-12 and R-18, and choosing between them is a question about whether the building is heated.
G-4400
An aluminium frame glazed across the whole face, for a showroom or a service bay the street should be able to see into. It is not insulated, and the glass is chosen per opening from more than twenty types, tempered or not.
Photographs are Garaga’s, the manufacturer whose doors we install. They show the models, not jobs we have completed. Colours shift on a screen, and headroom, backroom and the track decide which of these will physically fit an opening, so everything here is where a measurement starts.
Short answers on what usually breaks, what a visit involves and what it costs to put right.
The door skin usually outlasts everything that moves it. Springs, cables, rollers and the opener are wear parts on a cycle count, and they are replaced several times over the life of a door that is otherwise sound. A door is usually replaced because it has been hit, because a section has rusted through at the bottom, or because it is single-layer on a garage that now needs to hold heat.
For heat, not usually, unless the garage is heated or used as a workshop. For everything else, often yes: an insulated door is stiffer, quieter, and far less likely to dent, and a three-layer door hangs straighter over its life than a single skin.
Sometimes. A new door often weighs more than the one it replaces, so the springs are sized for the new weight and the opener is checked against it. An opener that was already at the end of its life, or one that is underpowered for a heavier insulated door, gets replaced at the same time rather than being asked to drag it.
Every service the branch nearest you can send a van for.
Broken springs, cables, rollers, tracks, sensors, trims and any garage door opener problem. Fast, professional service when you need it.
Broken garage door springs? We replace torsion and extension springs safely and professionally to get your garage door working properly again.
The door starts down and reverses, or the opener light blinks and will not close. What the photo eyes are telling you, and when it is only alignment.
Garage door off track or not moving properly? Protech can safely realign the door, repair damaged tracks, replace rollers and get it running smoothly again.
Springs, cables, drums, rollers, hinges, brackets, seals and opener parts. What is on the truck, what is matched to the door, and what is not a DIY part.
A door that will not move, or stops halfway. The check order that tells you whether it is the opener, the springs, the track or ice, before anyone touches it.
Call (613) 845-9950 at any hour, or email info@protechgarage.ca for a new-door quote with no rush.
