Wood Garage Door
A real wood door is timber, installed from about $3,000 and easily beyond that for a custom one. Nothing else looks like it. It is also the configuration that asks the most of a Florida owner: humidity swells it, ultraviolet strips the finish, and salt air accelerates both. If you want it, budget for refinishing every two to three years and buy it knowing that.
from $3,000 to $6,500
Rating and code
Ratings are stated as what applies, never as a specific approval number. A Miami-Dade NOA or a Florida Product Approval is issued against a tested assembly at a specific size, it goes on your permit, and the licensed contractor who pulls that permit is the one who puts it there. A number printed on a website proves nothing about the door on your opening.
This page is going to talk you out of it more often than into it, and that is deliberate. We install wood doors and we would rather install one for somebody who knows what they are taking on than replace one for somebody who did not.
The Florida problem is moisture cycling. Wood takes up humidity and gives it back, which means it moves, and a door that swells binds in the tracks it was fitted to. The finish is what keeps the moisture out, and Florida ultraviolet is what takes the finish off.
Realistically that means refinishing every two to three years, sooner within sight of salt water. Owners who keep that up have doors that look extraordinary at year ten. Owners who do not have doors that look tired at year four and grey at year seven, and refinishing then is a much bigger job than maintaining would have been.
Who this door is right for
- Architecturally significant houses where composite would be obvious and wrong
- Historic districts and HOAs that specify genuine materials
- Owners who actively want the material and accept the schedule
- Sheltered openings that do not take direct afternoon sun
Reasons to choose something else
- Refinishing every two to three years, sooner near the coast, and it is not optional
- Swells and moves with Florida humidity, which affects how it runs in the tracks
- Heavy, so springs and opener are specified up and wear faster
- Impact rated options are limited, so generally not an HVHZ door
Starting prices for a standard single door. Your final price depends on the door, the model, the wind rating a replacement needs and what we find. You get a written quote before any work starts.
Request this door
Leave your details and we call you back to measure the opening, confirm the rating your address needs, and give you a written price.
Wood Garage Door
Price shown is installed, for a standard opening. The final number is confirmed after measuring, and the rating is confirmed against your address.
(561) 897-9930Frequently Asked Questions
How often does a wood door really need refinishing in Florida?
Every two to three years inland and sooner within a few miles of salt water, and a west facing door sooner again. That is the honest number rather than the brochure one. If that schedule sounds like something you will not keep to, the composite carriage door gets you most of the appearance and asks nothing of you, and we would rather tell you that now.
Can a wood door be hurricane rated?
Wind rated wood doors exist. Impact rated options are considerably more limited, which is why wood is generally not the material inside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone. If you are in Miami-Dade or Broward and set on the look, the composite carriage route is usually the way to get there while still meeting what the permit wants.
Is composite really that close?
At kerb distance, close enough that most people cannot tell. Up close and with your hand on it, no. The fair comparison though is not new against new, it is year eight against year eight, and by then the maintained wood door looks better than the composite while the unmaintained one looks considerably worse.
