Free Inspection, Same-Day Fix Garage Door Services in Valhalla, NY

Valhalla, NY, is a lovely town in Westchester County. Over the years, the community has experienced massive growth and development. As the area shifted from rural to suburban living, garage doors became a staple in the residential homes of the area. This mirrors the larger history of the garage door industry in the United States.

In the early days of Valhalla’s development, homes often featured carriage houses to store horse-drawn carriages. These large structures had wooden doors that opened outward, allowing easy access for the carriages. As the automobile became more popular in the early 1900s, many homes in Valhalla began converting these carriage houses into automobile garages.

By this period, the garage door was still in its early stages. In those early garage doors, people manually operated by opening and closing the doors using a rope or chain system. They were usually different in design and material but mostly made from wood, as it was in the earliest days of carriage house doors.

As the number of automobiles continued to increase, so did the demand for garage doors that would be more efficient and secure. In the 1920s, this need was satisfied with the innovation of the overhead garage door. Roll up along their tracks, such doors were far more space-effective than the standard carriage doors in that they required no outward swing. This aspect made them quite ideal for suburban homes with growing numbers of attached garages.

During the 1930s, steel began to supplant wood as the material of choice for garage doors. Steel was stronger, required less maintenance, and offered better protection against the elements. This change in materials was reflected in the growing popularity of overhead garage doors throughout Valhalla and the surrounding areas.

After World War II, Valhalla experienced a significant residential development with many new homes being built that featured attached garages with overhead garage doors. This time also introduced the electric garage door openers. Homeowners could now operate their garage doors at the push of a button, making the process more convenient and secure.

During this period, the garage doors were usually steel or aluminum. Thus, they provided strength, offered low maintenance, and easily met the demand of fast-growing suburbs such as Valhalla for modern, efficient solutions.

 Energy efficiency was a hot issue for homeowners in the 1970s. Thus, insulated garage doors started to be installed in more houses in Valhalla. With the introduction of foam insulation, attached garages became better thermal efficient and therefore more comfortable for the owner.

Safety, too, became a significant issue at this time. To avoid hitting people or objects with doors, automatic reversing mechanisms were now to be made standard. The development of photoelectric sensors meant that the garage door would now reverse its direction if something came into its path while it was closing.