First "Major" House Project

Okay, that title might be misleading.  It was the first "major" house project we did (something more than painting, weeding, or installing a new appliance), but we didn't actually do it ourselves.  We definitely paid someone else to do it.

Anyways...during our home inspection when we bought the house (back in September 2009), we realized that the garage door had some issues.  Namely, it wouldn't stay up.  Our inspector thought that tightening the springs would probably do the trick, so we didn't think too much about it.  After living here for a few months, we had someone come to look at the door (and, ideally, fix it), and we were told that actually, the springs had already been tightened as much as they could, and at this point, all we could really do would be to replace the door.

Shortly after we were told that, we also realized that the door was falling off the track.  If we did open the door, one side of two of the panels was hanging off the track, just waiting to fall.  Additionally, the wooden door was "smiling" (warped enough that, from the outside, the bottom of the door looked a bit like a smile...turned up on the ends).  It kind of makes sense that a wooden door in a super rainy area would probably warp after awhile.  I was searching for a "before" picture, but I don't think I really took one.  This is probably the best picture I have of (part of) it.

You can at least see that it was gray, and it had little squares on it.  I guess I never really cared to take a "before" picture of our crummy garage door.  :)

So finally...about a year after we moved in to the house...we had the garage door replaced.  One guy came and did it by himself, and by the end of that day, we had a brand new, white, non-wooden, insulated garage door.  And a super quiet garage door opener.  I love it.

Other than the fact that the garage door opener is so quiet that I can't hear it from inside (even from our bedroom,which is located directly above the garage!), my favorite thing about this new door is that we can actually park the car inside the garage!!  You may be aware of the fact that it rains a lot around here.  I love that I no longer have to walk through the rain to bring in the groceries from the car.  :)