Garage doors have been around since approximately 1921. They originally were always made of wood and were a tilt up style. By 1926 the folded garage door was created. This is also around the time that the automatic residential garage door opener was invented. This invention was great because people no longer had to lift their heavy garage doors themselves anymore. As time went on, more and more things started to change about garage doors. There were suddenly different types of garages, different designs available, and even colors. This was all great except that all garage door types were made from wood.
Slowly, people started realizing that wood was probably not the best material to have on the outside of your home. It was open to all the elements which would end up distorting the wooden door. Wooden garage doors were easily damaged by the sun and even started to rot from the rain. Besides the elements beating on the garage door, there were also insects that would start to inhabit the wood. Because of this, wooden garage doors required a lot of maintenance. Many people were frustrated with this, so they decided to take it upon themselves to develop a new type of garage door.
During the 1970's steel became quite popular for garage doors. They would use galvanized steel to create them. They also had two layers of steel that usually had Styrofoam in the middle to provide insulation. This was needed because steel is not quite as good as an insulator as wood is. The great thing about having steel as a garage door is that it is much more durable as well. Now, there was no need for wood to be used. Steel garage doors are much more durable than wood, was low maintenance, and was just as insulated once the Styrofoam was added.
Even though steel was a great option, people still wanted more. Due to this, people kept innovating and soon stumbled upon fiberglass, resin filled wood, and even aluminum was introduced. Aluminum became a great alternative due to the fact that many modern homes already had aluminum siding. This made it very simple for people to match their garage doors almost perfectly with their homes. All of these types of San Bernardino garage doors are very durable and all give some type of insulation.
As you can see, things may have started off quite plain with only wood as an option, but that is not true today. Today you will find multiple materials being used in garage doors. In fact, you can now purchase garage doors that use multiple materials to add a little bit more style.
