Garage doors with windows: layouts, glass and inserts

Where the windows go, which glass to choose, and what they cost the door in insulation, from Garaga's and Amarr's own specifications.

Most garage doors with windows carry a single row of them across the top section: 28 of the 34 in Protech's own job photographs do. You choose four things: the layout, the window size, the glass and any insert. The trade-off is heat. A sealed glass unit is about R-2, against about R-16 for a polyurethane door.

Protech Garage Doors sells, installs and repairs doors with windows, and the range we fit is on garage doors in Ottawa, with garage doors in Mississauga and garage doors in London for the other two branches. The figures below come from Garaga's and Amarr's own pages. Full-view glass doors are a separate choice, covered in modern garage doors.

What the window options are on a sectional door

A sectional door is a stack of horizontal sections hinged together, and windows are set into one of them or run up one side. Garaga's windows page splits the choice into layout, size and style.

Layouts

Top row: one row across the top section, the layout most doors carry.
Vertical row: a column of windows running up the door.
Left side or right side: the column set at one edge, which suits a door with horizontal grooves.
Custom: any arrangement the door model allows.

Sizes

Garaga builds four window sizes, and each suits a different door design:

Slim, 40 by 7 inches: a narrow band for mid-century and Scandinavian houses.
Short, 21 by 13 inches: close to square, for doors with shorter embossed panels.
Long, 40 by 13 inches: a wide rectangle for larger panels, and more light.
Panoramic, 24 or 30 inches high depending on the model: the most light of the four.

Amarr's Hillcrest page lists windows in Clear, Obscure, Frost or Dark Tint glass, insulated glass as an option, 11 DecraTrim insert designs and 5 DecraGlass windows.

Why windows change how warm the door keeps the garage

Glass is the weak spot in an insulated door, and Garaga says so plainly. Its FAQ on adding windows to a door's look puts a sealed double-pane window at about R-2 and a 1 3/4-inch polyurethane door at about R-16. If R-value matters most, its advice is to leave the windows out.

The glass you can have also depends on the door behind it. Garaga's types of glass page sets it out by construction:

3-layer polyurethane doors: single-pane, Thermopane or Low-E argon glass, tempered or laminated on one or both sides depending on the window size.
2-layer polystyrene doors and open-back doors: single-pane annealed glass only.

So a door bought for its R-value should carry sealed glass. Garaga's LOW-E Argon page rates two clear panes at R 2.0 with 81% of the light through, and a Low-E pane with argon at R 3.6 with 79%.

Frost and fog on the glass

In Ottawa the glass spends a long time cold. Environment Canada's 1991 to 2020 normals for the airport count 76.4 days a year when the temperature never climbs above 0 °C, 23.7 of them in January.

Moisture on the inside face of the glass comes from the air in the garage. Fog between the two panes is different: the seal has failed. Garaga's window warranty covers its sealed units for 10 years against condensation between the panes and 1 year for the thermal break. A broken pane is not covered once the door is installed and accepted.

For how much insulation an attached or heated garage needs in the first place, insulated garage doors works it through against Ottawa's heating season.

How to choose the glass and where it goes

Privacy and placement are one decision, because the section you choose changes what the street can see.

Garaga's advice is to put the windows in the top section for some privacy and security while still letting daylight in. Choose the third section only if you want to see out. If you do, mirror or dark grey tinted panes let you see out while making it very hard to see in.

Then the glass. Garaga scores each of its 15 glasses for privacy out of 5, from Clear at 0 to most of its sandblasted and patterned ones at 4. The four it lists as most popular are offered on every door it builds:

Clear, 0 out of 5: the most light and a full view in.
Tinted, 1 out of 5: a light grey tint.
Satin or White Sandblasted, 4 out of 5: soft, diffused light, the frosted look.
Pinhead, 4 out of 5: a grainy texture that hides the view.

The other eleven, from Black Satin to Chinchilla and Glue Chip, are for its Standard+ and Eastman doors. Most of them match a glass in Novatech entry doors, so a garage door can carry the same glass as a Novatech front door.

Decorative inserts and grilles

An insert gives a plain window the look of divided panes. Garaga's decorative inserts clip into its window frames on the outside of the glass, come in the door's colour and can be taken off or changed later. There are ten designs, from Richmond and Stockton to Cathedral. Stockton Arch and Richmond Arch fit long windows only, and Williamsburg short windows only.

The other way to get the same look is a grille sealed inside the glass. Garaga's Orion windows hold aluminium grilles between the two panes, so there is nothing to clean around, in 4 Vertical Lites, 8 Lites and 4 Lites patterns, on Standard+ and Eastman doors.

Adding or replacing windows on a door you already have

Windows can be added to an existing door, but not to every one. Garaga's FAQ on adding windows says the models and sizes available depend on how the door is built, and it lists what changes:

The door gets heavier, so the springs that balance it have to be readjusted.
Window sizes are limited so the sections keep their strength.
A full row of windows in the top section of a door with an electric opener needs a reinforcing bar across the full width.
Cutting holes in a door is not a do-it-yourself job.

A cracked, fogged or dated window is a smaller job. Garaga's windows page says one can be replaced without replacing the door, as long as the door is in good condition, with a compatible window found through a dealer. Protech is a Garaga dealer, and a replacement window or section is ordered through garage door parts in Ottawa.

Why the springs matter: they are sized to the door's weight, and how long garage door springs last explains what an unbalanced door does to them.

Windows on doors Protech has fitted

Protech's own Business Profiles carry the clearest record of what people choose. Of the 43 house doors in those job photographs, 34 are sectional doors with windows. Three more are full-view glass doors, and six have no windows at all.

Of the 34, six carry a column of windows at one edge, all of them on doors with horizontal grooves or long panels. The other 28 carry a row across the door, and every one whose photograph shows which section puts that row at the top.

Three of the before photographs show raised-panel doors with sunburst windows. None of the three was replaced like for like: one became a smooth door with a row of divided windows, one a long-panel door with two windows across the top, and one a long-panel door with none. The sunburst still has a place, on a dark green raised-panel door with two sunburst glass inserts on the showroom wall.

How to choose the windows, step by step

Decide what the garage is for. Heated, attached or under a bedroom points to sealed Low-E glass in a polyurethane door, or no windows.
Choose the section: the top for privacy, the third only if you want to see out.
Choose the size the door's panels take, and the layout: a top row, or a column at one edge on a grooved door.
Choose the glass by its privacy score, then decide on an insert or an Orion grille.
Measure the opening, not the door hanging in it. Standard garage door sizes covers the clearances.
Try the whole door on a photo of your house in Garaga's Build Your Door designer.

Then look at the glass in person. In Ottawa, the showroom at 46 Grenfell Crescent, Unit A, in Nepean is open Monday to Friday from 8 to 6 and Saturday from 9 to 2. The opening is measured before anything is ordered, for garage door installation in Ottawa or at the other two branches.

Call (613) 845-9950 in Ottawa, (289) 975-9045 for Mississauga and the GTA, or (226) 270-9715 for London. Every line answers 24 hours.

Questions people ask

Short answers to what comes up most often.

Can windows be added to an existing garage door?

Often, depending on how the door is built. Garaga says the extra weight means the springs must be readjusted, window sizes are limited to keep the sections strong, and a full top row on a door with an electric opener needs a reinforcing bar. It is not a do-it-yourself job.

Are garage doors with windows a good idea?

For light, yes, and windows in the top section keep the garage private. The cost is insulation: Garaga puts a sealed window at about R-2 against about R-16 for a polyurethane door, and advises leaving windows out if R-value matters most.

Why do some garage doors have windows?

To bring daylight into a garage whose only opening is often the door, and for looks. Garaga notes the garage door is often 30 to 40% of the front of a house, so windows matched to the entry door change how the whole house reads.

Can you replace just the window or one panel of a garage door?

Yes. Garaga says a cracked, fogged or dated window can be replaced without replacing the door if the door is in good condition, using a compatible window from a dealer. Garaga's panel page adds that a single section with minor damage can be replaced too, though a new one may not match a faded door.

How do I stop people seeing into my garage through the windows?

Put the windows in the top section, above eye level, or choose a glass with a high privacy score: Garaga rates its sandblasted and patterned glasses 4 out of 5. In a lower section, mirror or dark grey tinted panes let you see out while hiding the inside.

How do you clean garage door windows?

Garaga's advice is a mild dish or car-wash soap with a soft cloth, frame first, then glass. No abrasive cleaner, gas, paint thinner or acetone, no scraper or razor on polycarbonate, and never a pressure washer.