Wood Composite Garage Doors as a Faux Wood Alternative

If you’re shopping for a new garage door for your home, be sure to consider our faux wood alternative – wood composite garage doors. These products offer the sophisticated look of wood, but they’re lower maintenance and more resistant to the elements.

In this buying guide, we’ll review everything from the pros and cons of wood composite garage doors to information on which climates they’re best suited for. Plus, you’ll find information on Artisan’s four lines of wood composite garage doors. Let’s get started!

What is Wood Composite?

Wood composite is made from a mixture of wood fiber, plastic, and a binding agent (like glue). It’s a subgroup of natural fiber plastic composites (NFPCs) and may contain fillers like pulp fibers, bamboo, and peanut hulls.

Wood composite (also known as wood-plastic composite or WPC) is heavy, dense, and strong, making it perfect for a variety of outside applications. Along with garage doors, it’s often used for decks, fences, window frames, siding, and more.

Why Choose a Faux Wood Garage Door?

Faux wood garage doors are extremely low-maintenance in comparison to some other door materials. Our faux wood composite garage door materials are naturally moisture-, weather-, insect-, and rot-resistant, so they’ll look brand new for years after installation.

Composite garage doors are an environmentally-friendly choice because they’re made from recycled and sustainable materials. The pliable nature of wood composite also means it can be molded into a garage door of any shape. Plus, it accepts paint and stain just like real wood. And when you do paint or stain your wood composite garage doors, you won’t have to touch them up as frequently.

What Are the Downsides of Wood Composite Garage Doors?

While wood composite garage doors look like real wood (and contain pieces of wood), they aren’t 100% wood. So, if you’re looking for a door that looks and feels like real wood, a composite door won’t suit your needs. Real wood doors are also heavier than composite doors, so they provide more security for the contents of your garage.

Which Wood Composite Garage Door Add-Ons Are Available?

Artisan Custom Doorworks offers a variety of attractive, easy-to-install add-ons for your faux wood garage door. This decorative hardware boosts your home’s curb appeal and helps blend your garage door seamlessly into the rest of your house. We offer the following:

• Clavos to dress up your garage door’s paneling or trim.
• Custom wood jambs and casings to enhance curb appeal and add a touch of sophistication.
• Door stops with weather seals to keep water out and provide excellent insulation.
• Latches to add even more visual appeal to carriage house-style garage doors.
• Pull handles and rings in a variety of styles to enhance the look of any garage door.
• Specialty glass in several varieties to give your door a unique look and feel.
• Strap hinges for a rustic touch that’s perfect for carriage house doors.

What Are the Best Climates for Wood Composite Garage Doors?

Because they’re not 100% wood, composite garage doors excel in any climate. They’re moisture-resistant, which means they won’t shrink or expand in humid climates. Plus, they won’t be damaged or warped by freezing and thawing in cooler environments.

Every Artisan wood composite door features a precision-engineered, heat-reflective finish to minimize solar heat gain and sun damage. This makes them perfect for beach, lakefront, and coastal properties.

How Do You Maintain a Wood Composite Garage Door?

Wood composite garage doors are very low maintenance and can withstand years of exposure to the elements. There’s no need to wash your door on a regular basis or buy special cleaning products.

We do recommend an annual inspection to make sure the finish is consistent across the face of the door. If the finish has lost its sheen, simply apply a clear, protective top coat like Helmsman spar urethane.

Does Artisan Offer Faux Wood Composite Garage Doors?

Yes! Artisan offers four premier, faux wood composite garage doors:

• Benchmark – Wood Composite
• Benchmark 2 – Wood Composite
• Quartet – Wood Composite with Steel Frame
• Rhapsody – Wood Composite with Steel Frame

These faux wood garage doors offer a variety of features and benefits, including:

• Low-maintenance Extira exterior panels that outperform medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and wood in terms of moisture, weather, insect, and rot resistance.
• Factory priming, which means these doors are ready for your custom paint job.
• Beautiful finishes like American Walnut, Dusty Mahogany, Golden Oak, Royal Cherry, Designer White, and much more.
• Lightweight facing panels that ease the strain on door hardware, springs, and operator systems.
• Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) core frames for unbeatable strength and minimal maintenance.
• High-performance urethane insulation for impressive R-values of 9 and up. R-values are used to measure insulation effectiveness.
• Environmentally-responsible construction from recycled, sustainable, water-based materials.
• Tricoya panels that can withstand extreme weather without cracking, delaminating, or degrading.

Still not sure which garage door material is best for you? Learn more in our blog comparing all of our garage door materials!