Ziegler Custom Wood Garage Doors
         Architectural Home Improvement

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The modern day Garage is an evolution of the earlier day legendary Carriage House which housed horses and carriages alike.  The openings to these carriage houses or modernly known garages were closed off with standard swinging carriage house doors with a barn-like appearance sometimes with windows on the top panel.  These two-leaf carriage house doors soon became the norm for custom-built carriage houses all across the country.  Heavy but decorative iron hinges, iron knockers and iron handles were often implemented for functionality purposes but soon became quite decorative and used to add character to these beautiful custom wood carriage house garages.  As time went by and with the invention and availability of automobiles to the general public; the carriage house or garage began its evolution into what we now know as automobile garages. 

Early Automobile Accommodations (Integrating garages to the home)

As cars became a common necessity to the general public, so did the demand to find a place to store them while not being used.  This demand for change resulted in as described by early architects and builders in the early 1910's as the re-invention of the "Carriage House" outbuilding (Garage). Up to this era in time, people considered the carriage house or "outhouse" as a place to keep all means of transportation along with horses, this more than anything kept the smell of horse manure away from the main house.  With the arrival of the self-powered vehicle this was no longer a concern and people saw the commodity of keeping this form of transportation closer to the main house to avoid the discomforts of rough weather conditions such as snow, rain or whatever mother nature brought along.  Carriage houses were often beautified with custom wood carriage doors some even with windows at the top to complement home architecture.

At around 1910 when the automobile industry was booming so was the necessity to find new and innovative ways to store vehicles.  Many people profited by building garages that were kept warm and clean to store vehicles away from the farm animals.  People, especially the wealthy, saw this as an additional comfort in life to avoid the stench of horse manure penetrating their automobiles.  Carriage houses took a whole new ideal and were thought of something more than just a place to keep animals and buggies.  This marked the birth of the modern-world garage building that could be built near the main house since there was no smell to keep away from the house any more.  Soon carriage houses were not being called carriage houses but garages.

A little history on the word "Garage": It is difficult in today's date to envision a world without garages (carriage houses) or perhaps a language without the word garage. However, this word may have not existed before the 19th century and most certainly not before the 1700's; possibly such a thing itself did not even exist before the end of the 19th century. The word garage is a direct borrowing of French garage, which was first recorded in 1802 in the sense "a place where one docks." The french verb garer, from which garage was derived, originally meant "to put goods under shelter," then "to moor a boat," and then "to put a vehicle into a place for safekeeping," that is, a garage, a sense first recorded in French in 1901. English almost immediately borrowed this French word, the first instance being found in 1902. (The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

The Need for an Innovative Custom Carriage / Garage Door

So now that carriage houses had evolved into garages, there came the need for a more conventional and at the time "a more contemporary" transformation for garage doors.  Sure, carriage house doors were beautiful and functional for their original intended use; the problem with carriage house two-leaf doors became evident as they were used more and more.  The strap hinges and traditional hardware were not proving to be up to par with the new demands and uses of the customary carriage house garage door.  Soon screws became lose, hinges broke, the whole structure of the door was not made to withstand the new use they were supposed to satisfy.  To compel to these problems, Carriage house doors could not be opened without shoveling snow for hours before being able to open them.  Although swinging barn-like doors were borrowed from the original carriage house styles it soon became evident that the old barn way was not going to cut it for the use of a garage.

The first attempt at alleviating this garage door problem was the invention of sliding tracks for garage doors, more useful garage door designs were created. Doors that slide took a lot less space if the doors could stay within the  garage space so that, on a sliding door track, garage doors could be moved from side to side, across the front part of the garage facility. This  meant that the garage would have had to be at least twice the width of the garage door. Another improvement was still needed and it came in the form of a garage door that was cut into several sections (parts/pieces), then connected with hinges together at intervals this allowed the garage door to fold around a corner. This invention facilitated everything because the garage didn? need to be much wider than the door itself.

Finally!  The Overhead Custom Sectional Wood Garage Door Arrives.

C.G. Johnson invented the Custom Overhead Garage Door in 1921. .  . And what an invention!  This new garage door could be lifted upwards and folded parallel to the garage ceiling. And 5 years after this folding mechanism, in 1926, Mr. Johnson also invented the electric operator, to help those who had trouble lifting the heavy wooden door or simply found it unnecessary to open these doors manually. This was the birth of the Custom Overhead Door Corporation, which is one of today's leading manufacturers and service provides of garage doors.  Ziegler Door, Inc. in Orange County follows these same steps but with greater class and elegance according to many people.

It was no surprise when the overhead custom wood garage door swept the garage door industry. Wayne-Dalton, also an industry leader, is one of the leading manufacturers and service providers of garage doors and garage door openers, it has a fairly interesting history. It all started out when Mr. Emanuel Mullet bought a garage door business from an Ervin Hostetler in the mid 1950's. Ervin had already invented a wooden door that folded horizontally to store itself overhead.

Wayne Door, as Wayne-Dalton was known in 1956, was moved to Mt. Hope, Ohio, the largest Amish community in the world. That turned out to be a very ?rafty move. They hired the fine Amish craftsmen living in the region, resulting in the production of a line of superior-quality garage doors. Throughout their thriving history, Wayne-Dalton has been a leader in garage door innovation, introducing new technology in the areas of garage door openers, pinch-resistant doors, and tamper-resistant bottom brackets, just to mention a few.

Perfect Overhead Mechanism + Architectural Style

As garages were incorporated to the architecture and construction of newer homes people started to look differently at the still carriage-house-like doors that had been available.  Soon new styles were introduced bringing design ideas from all over the world.  People who built Spanish style homes wanted Spanish style garage doors to match the rest of the architecture.  Shortly after one could find Mediterranean garage doors, French garage doors, Mexican garage doors, Tuscan garage doors, Tudor garage doors . . . the garage door style list is endless.

Aside from the styles that were in demand there also came the options in materials, paintgrades and/or staingrades that were used on these newly developed garage doors.  Woods now vary anywhere from a select tight knot cedar to the denser woods such as mahogany and teak.  There really are no limits to the variety and/or amount of options and/or styles that are now available.  Beware however because there's only a handful of manufacturers out there that can do the job right.

Garage Door Operators / Openers

As garage doors continued to improve and the availability of electricity the incorporation of the electric garage door operator became an almost natural feature that had to happen.  These apparatuses were a well-embraced mechanism that allowed homeowners to open their garage doors remotely from the comfort of their cars without the need to step out of their cars to open heavy garage doors by hand.  This has been by far the most useful garage door invention in the history of garage doors.

The leading manufacturer of modern day openers is Lift-Master selling thousands and thousands of garage door operators on a yearly basis.  Lift-Master has invented numerous safety features that allow common households to have and operate automatic garage doors.  One of the most noted invention was the photo-eye sensors that allow an operating device to check for any obstructions when prompted to operate.  Should the photo-eye sensors capture any obstacle in the path of the operating garage door it automatically stops the operating door and returns it to the open position.  This keeps children, pets or vehicles away from danger by disabling the garage door close shut on someone or something.  In addition to this safety feature, should it fail, the motor has internal sensors that send force setting signals to the motherboard of the operator.  For example, if the photo-eye sensors fail for whatever reason and there is someone in the path of the closing door, the internal opener sensors will sense a resistance pressure as it touches a person and or object as it travels down.  Once the signal is received and it is perceived as an obstruction, again, the door will be retracted into its open position.  Needless to say, modern day automatic garage doors are remotely hazardous to anyone.

The Carriage House Nostalgia Still Thrives

Isn't it quite a phenomenon how we're still trying to relive the past?  This is where the traditional carriage house garage door steps out of hibernation with a renovated attitude and modern commodity, still holding its nostalgic vintage look.  Yes, some garage door companies out there have brought the carriage house garage door as a modern sectional, automatic overhead garage door.  People like to add the strap decorative hinges and either iron knockers or pulls to give it the old appearance of opening like two-leaf swing doors.  These doors fool the eye but are quite surprising when you see them roll away into the overhead garage door ceiling. 

Carriage house doors have become a historic icon that has both kept its original glamour and has embraced the commodity of modern technology.  It's no surprise that modern architects, designers and contractors still want to keep this nostalgic look and for good reason too.