Frequently Asked Questions

All Apple residential steel garage doors are already painted with a baked-on finish. No additional painting is required. If you want to apply another color, however, the following steps are required. NOTE: Only paint the exterior of the door while it is in the closed position. Use the following solution, with a soft bristle brush, to remove mildew and other surface contaminants: 1 cup household Spic n Span® detergent 5 gallons warm water Rinse thoroughly with water. Use a powder cleanser like Comet®, diluted with water, with a soft bristle brush, to prepare the surface for better paint adhesion. Do not use sandpaper, deglossers, or liquid sandpaper to prepare the door surface. Rinse thoroughly with water and allow to dry. Use a high quality acrylic latex exterior paint. Apply according to manufacturer's instructions. Do not use oil-based paint or any "rust-inhibitive" paint. Do not paint in direct sunlight or when surface is warm to the touch. Lap marks will result. Brush application is recommended. Avoid getting paint on any gasket seals between door sections.

If you purchased a Sentry, Guardian, Vanguard or Protector garage door opener, click this link.  http://www.appledoor.com/pdf/Remote_Keypad_Instructions.pdf

If you purchased a Viper garage door opener, click this liink.  http://www.marantec.com/ca/pdfs/Install_Transmitters_0503.pdf

If you purchased a Liftmaster or Sears Craftsman garage door opener, click this link.  http://www.liftmaster.com/consumerweb/service/faq

For all others contact us at 1.800.277.3667.

R-value is a material's resistance to heat flow. In the winter the goal is to limit the passage of warmer air inside your home to outside. In the summer just the opposite, restricting the warm outside air from entering your cooler air filled home. Since garage doors, entry doors and patio doors are a large part of the exterior envelope of your home, it is important to use well insulated products that will add to your home's overall R-value. Since the garage door is the largest opening in your home we'll consider the insulation choices available today. Today's garage doors range in R-value from 3.0 - 18.5. Why such a wide range? The big variable is the type of insulation used. There are two basic types, polyurethane and polystyrene. Polyurethane is injected in a liquid state and expands to fit the void space of the section. Typically these types of garage doors have an outer and inner steel skin, also known as "sandwich construction". Depending on the garage door section's thickness, R-values range from 12.0 - 18.5. As for doors insulated with polystyrene, just imagine the same material as a styrofoam coffe cup. Instead of injecting it is pre-cut and placed into the door sections which leaves voids and air pocket. R-values range from 3.0 - 10.0, again depending on door section thickness. However polystyrene is less expensive than polyurethane.

When a garage door opens, it travels through its arched horizontal track. When this happens the door's top section rises above the track vertically. Therefore the "headroom" needed is an important clearance consideration. Headroom is defined as the space between the top of the door frame opening to the ceiling (or first obstruction). An example would be as follows. If you have a 7ft tall garage door, how much headroom would be needed for installation? For a standard track installation, the mimimum headroom needed is 12". If there is less headroom available, special "low headroom" style track is an upgrade option. If an automatic opener is to be installed also, add 3" to the headroom clearance required.

Yes, we have custom designed door capabilities for all of our door and awning products. Specifically, all garage doors, entry and patio doors, storm doors and even pet doors are made to fit your opening. While we do have stock size doors, since 1973 we've been able to meet the odd size requirements our customers request when our competitors cannot. Challenge us, you will be very pleased with our custom capabilities.

Unless you are a trained professional, we would strongly advise against it. All garage door springs, both torsion and extension, are under extreme tension. In the case of torsion springs, one needs special tools called "winding bars" to adjust them. Even with the proper tools it is extremely dangerous to adjust these springs. The International Door Association (IDA) recommends that you contact a local garage door professional to accomplish this task.

The term "windloaded" relating to garage doors has to do mostly with local building code requirements. Especially in coastal areas or states with higher than normal winds, local building codes will require that garage doors must be reinforced to meet specific windload requirements. Areas like the southeastern coastal U.S. require a windload rating to resist hurricane force winds of up to 120 mph. Apple Door offers a complete line of windloaded garage doors in all styles and designs.

Apple garage doors come in a wide range of materials. Our carriage house doors are custom made one door at a time out of hand selected premium hardwoods. Carriage style doors are also available in fiberglass and steel exteriors with urethane decorative overlay boards. For a more modern look, aluminum garage doors made with solid panels and glass are very popular with architects and home designers these days. No matter which garage door material you choose, insulating options are a very important consideration. Most models are available with high density polyurethane insulation or a basic polystyrene material.