Glass Garage Doors: A Vancouver Trend

Ten years ago a full-view glass garage door in Vancouver was a commercial product someone had put on a house. Now we fit them most months, and almost always for the same reason: the owner wants the garage to be a room.

It is a West Coast answer to a West Coast problem. We have a lot of grey, a lot of rain, and a lot of garages that are the only unclaimed square metres on the property. Put daylight into one and it stops being storage.

What people actually do with them

• Workshops. The most common by far. Being able to see what you are doing without three fluorescent tubes changes the space entirely.
• Gyms. Second most common, and the reason is usually that nobody wants to exercise in a windowless concrete box.
• Studios and offices. Increasingly, particularly on detached garages with a bit of separation from the house.
• Actual garages. Some people simply want the elevation, and there is nothing wrong with that - it is the single biggest change you can make to a facade.

The three honest drawbacks

1. Privacy

Clear glass means the street can see your garage. Most people solve this at specification rather than afterwards: frosted or obscure glazing gives you essentially all of the light and none of the display. It is what we fit more of than clear, by a wide margin.

2. Warmth

A single-glazed aluminium door is a cold door. If the garage is heated, has a room above it, or shares a wall with living space, specify insulated glazing units and thermally broken frames. It costs more and it is not optional if you want the space to behave.

3. Weight

Glass is heavy. This is not a drawback so much as a specification issue, but it is the one that gets missed - and it is expensive to miss.

The wrong springs on a full-view door will fail early and take the opener with them.

Spring sizing on a glass door is a calculation from the actual weight, not a lookup from a chart. The opener has to be matched to it too. Any quote for a full-view door that does not mention either is a quote to be careful with.

How to specify one properly

• Glazing: frosted unless you have a specific reason for clear. Tinted if the elevation faces hard south or west.
• Frames: black anodised is the contemporary default and sits well against cedar. Clear anodised is quieter. Powder coating opens up colour.
• Sightlines: slimmer stiles mean more glass and a sharper look. It costs more and on a modern facade it is usually where the money should go.
• Insulated units: yes, if the space is heated. No, if it is a detached cold workshop.
• Springs and opener: sized to the real door weight. Ask, and expect a straight answer.

Is it worth it?

If you are going to use the garage for something, yes, and it is not close. If it is where the car and the recycling live, the money buys you a facade and nothing else - which may still be the right call, but it is worth being honest with yourself about which one you are buying.