Why Your Garage Door Should Have a Douglas Fir Frame

Our custom garage doors are built (from the ground up) with a solid wood Douglas Fir frame. While this greatly excites us because we understand the quality of this type of wood, not everyone knows exactly what this means. 

What is Douglas Fir? Why does it make a high-quality door frame for all-wood garage doors?  

What is Douglas Fir? 

Although “fir” is in its name, Douglas Fir is not a type of fir tree. They are evergreen trees, meaning that they keep their needle-like leaves throughout the year. The wood that comes from these trees is a type of softwood, but don’t let that name fool you. Softwoods aren’t always soft, and Douglas Fir is actually a very sturdy and hard wood, which is why it’s often used in millwork, boats, flooring, furniture, and, of course, garage and entry doors. 

The Benefits of Having a Douglas Fir Garage Door Frame

The very makeup of the wood that comes from Douglas Fir trees makes it an incredible garage door frame for many reasons. 

Strength and Longevity

Douglas Fir has a botanic structure that lends to its strength, bulk, longevity, and stiffness. It offers exceptional dimension strength, meaning it has strength when compared to its weight. Doors made from this type of wood will stand the test of time. They will not sag, wear down, or become brittle and weak over time. A garage or entry door made with Douglas Fir wood will last many decades. 

Environmental Resistances

Exterior doors must be able to withstand everything nature throws at them, but despite being a material that comes from trees, not all types of wood have exceptional environmental resistances. Many things, from cold temperatures to high winds, moisture and insects pose a danger to certain types of wood. 

Douglas Fir wood has exceptional environmental resistances that include: 

• Weather: Douglas Fir has a cellular structure that prevents significant swelling and shrinking, which means it will not warp over time. 
• Moisture: Douglas Fir is not waterproof (no wood is), so it will need to be coated. However, it does have a heavy resistance to rot. CAMBEK garage doors are built specifically to repel moisture, and the Douglas Fir frames are at the core of this resistance. 
• Wind and storms: Douglas Fir has the necessary strength to prevent damage due to high winds and storms. For more information, see how our garage doors are hurricane rated. 

Workability

Despite its high strength, Douglas Fir is a remarkably workable material. It is malleable, allowing it to be cut and fabricated into many complex shapes. This material (along with the Western Red Cedar we use, are at the heart of the customization we provide. Our custom garage doors take on any shape and style, and designers and architects have created some truly stunning designs over the years. We take any design and build the garage or entry door from scratch, creating a unique door you can’t find anywhere else. 

Want to talk about the design of your door or the other materials we use?
Get in touch with us today for a free consultation.

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