New Garage Doors · Tuscaloosa, AL
Carriage house garage doors fitted on Tuscaloosa homes
Want the look of old swing-out coach doors without giving up an opener? Carriage house doors are sectional doors dressed to look like a pair of hinged doors. We help you choose the build, size the springs to its weight and hang it square.
- Answered 24/7
- Tuscaloosa, Northport and West Alabama
- Overlay and composite builds
Updated October 2026
A carriage house garage door in Tuscaloosa is almost always a sectional door that lifts overhead on tracks, with trim boards, a center stile line and black hardware that make it read as two swing-out doors. The real choice is what sits under that face: insulated steel, composite overlays or solid wood, and each changes the weight the springs carry.
Carriage house doors
A coach-house face on a door that lifts like any other
The look comes from details, not from how the door moves. Vertical boards, a crossbuck or Z-brace in the lower panels, a row of square or arched windows, and decorative handles and strap hinges all copy the doors on old coach houses. Behind them sits an ordinary sectional door with rollers, hinges and torsion springs, so it opens straight up and an opener runs it like any other.
That matters at fitting time. Overlay boards and windows add weight, so a carriage door is usually heavier than a plain steel door of the same size, and the springs have to be sized to it. On a garage that has only ever had a flat panel door, we check the springs, the opener and the headroom before ordering. Our insulated steel options page covers the plainer option if the budget points that way.
Choosing a build
Steel overlay, composite or real wood behind the carriage look?
| Steel with overlay | Composite overlay | Solid wood | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Face | Steel skin with stamped or applied trim | Molded composite boards over a steel frame | Cedar, hemlock or another species |
| Upkeep | Wash and touch up scratches | Wash, repaint when faded | Refinish every few years |
| Weight | Lightest of the three | Moderate | Heaviest |
| Damp air | Fine if scratches are sealed | Boards do not rot or swell | Needs a sealed finish on every face |
HomeAdvisor puts carriage house doors at $1,200 to $8,000 per door across all three builds. Solid wood usually lands toward the upper end.
Cost
What a carriage house garage door costs to buy and hang
One published range covers the whole style, from overlay steel to custom wood.
| Job | Typical range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Carriage house door, per door | $1,200 to $8,000 | HomeAdvisor |
Planning range from HomeAdvisor, not our quote. We price your door once the size, build and windows are chosen.
What moves the price
- Door size. A double-car opening takes a much larger door than a single, and a taller door adds a section.
- Face build. Steel with overlay trim costs least, composite boards sit in the middle and solid wood costs most.
- Windows. Arched or square glass in the top section adds cost, more so with insulated or seeded glass.
- Insulation. An insulated steel core behind the overlay adds thickness, weight and price.
- Springs and opener. A heavier door may need new springs, and an older opener may not be up to the load.
On install day
What goes into hanging a carriage house door
- Measuring the opening, headroom and side room
- Removing the old door, tracks and springs
- Setting new tracks plumb and level
- Stacking sections with hinges, rollers and struts
- Winding springs to the finished door weight
- Fitting handles and strap hinges square to the board lines
- Testing balance, seal contact and the opener auto-reverse
Two ways to get the look
Steel Carriage-Style Overlays
This is the build most homeowners pick. The base is an insulated steel sectional door, and the carriage boards are either stamped into the steel or applied as overlay trim on top. Stamped versions cost less and weigh less, but the shadow lines are shallow. Applied overlays give deeper edges that read better from the street, especially on a craftsman or farmhouse front. We check that the board lines meet cleanly across the section joints when the door closes, and we fit the decorative hardware so it never fouls a hinge or roller.
Composite and Wood-Look Doors
Composite doors use molded boards, often polyurethane or a wood-fiber blend, laid over a steel frame, with a grain you can stain or paint. Up close they pass for cedar, but they do not swell, split or rot when summer humidity sits in a closed garage. Wood-look steel goes a step further on price, printing a grain finish onto the steel skin. Either suits a home that wants the warmth of wood without the refinishing schedule a real wood door needs. Clopay, Amarr and C.H.I. Overhead Doors all build carriage designs in these materials.
From pick to hang
How a new carriage house door gets chosen and hung
Measure and look
We measure the opening, headroom and side room, and look at the house so the board pattern suits it.
Choose the build
You pick the material, window style and color, and we work out the finished door weight.
Remove and prepare
The old door, springs and tracks come down, and the jambs are checked for rot or loose fasteners.
Hang and balance
Sections, tracks and springs go up, the hardware is set square, and the door is balanced and tested.
Old streets and lake homes
Carriage doors from Pinehurst to Lake Tuscaloosa
Two parts of town suit this style especially well. In Pinehurst, a National Register historic district since 1986, older homes often have detached or narrow garages where a flat steel door looks out of place, and a carriage face fits the street. North of the river, larger homes around Lake Tuscaloosa, the 5,885-acre reservoir formed when the North River was dammed in 1970, sit in damp lake air. There, composite boards and sealed steel hold up better than bare wood, and coated hardware keeps rust streaks off the trim.
Carriage house designs we install from Clopay, Amarr, Wayne Dalton and C.H.I. Overhead Doors, plus openers sized to run them.
- LiftMaster
- Chamberlain
- Genie
- Craftsman
- Clopay
- Amarr
- Wayne Dalton
- C.H.I. Overhead Doors
- Raynor
- Haas Door
- Hormann
- Martin Door
- Linear
- Marantec
Common questions
Carriage house door questions
Most do not. They are sectional doors that lift overhead on tracks and only look like hinged doors. True swing-out doors exist but do not suit a standard opener.
Often, if it is in good shape and rated for the weight. A tired unit may need replacing, covered on our opener installation page.
They are decorative and bolt to the face. The door still runs on its own hinges and rollers behind, so the handles are for looks, not lifting.
Usually, with a low-headroom track kit, but the door adds thickness and weight. We measure the space above the opening before you pick a design.
That is where most designs put them, so they stay above car height and keep the lower boards unbroken. Some makers offer lower windows, but choices narrow.
Add-on trim kits exist, but they add weight the springs were not sized for and the bond can fail in summer heat. A door built with overlays holds up better.
Wash them with mild soap a couple of times a year and rinse off spring pollen. Painted composite can be repainted with exterior acrylic when it fades.
It can if the pattern stays simple. A clean two-panel layout without heavy crossbucks usually looks right under a low roofline.
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