Carriage Style Garage Door Overlay

Situation

Due to the growth of overhead carriage house style garage doors and the escalating importance of a home’s curb appeal, garage door manufacturers were looking for a supplier to produce carriage house style overlays.

Challenge

The carriage house style overlays required consistently high performance, despite varying weather, sunlight, and other environmental conditions. In addition, since the manufacturers were promoting curb appeal, attractive appearance qualities were essential. The following concerns were considered:

  1. Due to the various weather and seasonal temperature changes a garage door endures, the product required a low coefficient of thermal expansion (COE).
  2. The product also required a high heat distortion point. This was especially crucial in the Southern United States as high temperatures and direct sunlight could quickly elevate the temperature of the garage door and the overlay.
  3. Aesthetically, manufacturers wanted to separate their product from others on the market. Therefore, some visual customization was required.

Solution

Formtech’s cross-functional team provided the following solutions:

  1. Formtech developed competencies in producing composite extrusions containing polymer blends. These composites satisfied the manufacturers’ needs for a low COE, high heat distortion point product. Through rigorous testing, Formtech’s engineering and quality departments proved that these composite materials met the manufacturers’ criteria.
  2. Formtech also recognized the importance of the unique appearance desired by each manufacturer. To fulfill this need, Formtech developed custom overlays per manufacturers’ drawings that oftentimes had a decorative edge. For other manufacturers, Formtech satisfied this need by developing a proprietary overlay that could have a plastic embossing pattern unique to each manufacturer.

Results

Formtech was able to produce carriage house style overlays that exceeded their clients’ expectations.

  1. Formtech’s customers were satisfied with the COE, heat deflection, and overall weatherability of the product.
  2. The custom overlay and/or plastic embossing pattern satisfied the customers’ desires for a unique product and helped to increase the curb appeal of the garage doors.