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Best type of garage door

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:01 am
by Oldmogman
Could anyone advise on the best type of garage door in their experience?

I was going for the traditional up-and-over type for the double garage I'm building, but I've been told a door of this size can be unwieldy as it's likely to twist in use and may come off its runners.

Another option, is roller door or a sectional one (similar to a roller but with large sections that slide into the garage roof void when the door is opened) preferably manually operated rather than electric. However, these seem to be very expensive and I have no experience of how reliable they are in use and how secure they are.

The bottom line is I needs something that is sturdy, simple, reliable and secure - and devoid of gimmicks that last five minutes!

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:42 am
by SteveClem
I had a galvanised steel roller door,manually operated by a chain, at our last place. It was robust,secure and totally reliable and you got a good workout using it! It was on a barn,rather than a garage,so rather large.
Now got a couple of modern double garages and installed electric roller doors to both. They have been fine too,I've just needed to replace the odd battery in the remote controls. Just clean and lubricate as necessary.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:46 am
by ianmack
I’ve had a one piece double door for fifteen years and I find it okay. It does twist a bit when being opened and closed but it hasn’t come off its runners. It sometimes takes two or three goes to close and lock it because the lock works against brackets which aren’t very strong and have needed straghtening on occasion.

A friend had a double garage with two single doors with a brick pillar between them and he found this awkward on occasion.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:08 am
by geoberni
Oldmogman wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:01 am

I was going for the traditional up-and-over type for the double garage I'm building, but I've been told a door of this size can be unwieldy as it's likely to twist in use and may come off its runners.
I would say that depends entirely on what you are prepared to pay to get the quality required. Cheap doors will flex more.
My only personal experience of an Up n'Over double door was when I lived in the USA for 3 years, there was one built into the house we rented with a remote electric operation as you'd expect out there. Never had any problem with it and some days the door would be operated up to 10 times, depending on our activity that day. You hardly ever left the cars outside because we were in the desert and it was a case of always putting the cars under cover from the sun.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:14 pm
by moggiethouable
I have an old metal up and over.
Hendersons of Durham built it in the 60s.
It has come off the runners a couple of times until I modified it with stop bolts, I would prefer the old wooden left and right opening doors given the choice.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 10:26 pm
by biomed32uk
I have a sectional door that rolls up into the roof space, electrically operated and have had no problems with it. There are various options with these such as an external handle and release, which I opted not to have for security, and having it insulated, its quite thick and is not just bits of pressed tin.

Wasnt cheap though, but you get what you pay for.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:40 am
by Blaketon
SteveClem wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:42 am I had a galvanised steel roller door,manually operated by a chain, at our last place. It was robust,secure and totally reliable and you got a good workout using it! It was on a barn,rather than a garage,so rather large.
Now got a couple of modern double garages and installed electric roller doors to both. They have been fine too,I've just needed to replace the odd battery in the remote controls. Just clean and lubricate as necessary.
Echo. I have had a galvanised, industrial roller shutter for 26 years. It's about 13'6 wide and 7' tall. It has a chain drive but the gears could be connected to a motor. Aside from periodic oiling of the moving parts, it's needed no attention. It's very secure and if anyone were to tinker with it, it would make a lot of noise - it can rattle in the wind.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 11:08 am
by Murrayminor
I built my garage about ten years ago and decided on a roller shutter door, I have just replaced the motor (an easy job) and other than the motor it has never caused me any issues.
My door is 10ft wide by 8ft high.
It has a remote with it so I can open the door as I approach.
the roller shutter door is worth every penny, I have had up and over doors and they are rubbish after a few years.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:09 pm
by olderisbetter
After we did the garage extension we decided to make the doors out of box section and clad them, The cost was a factor but the security and look tipped the balance.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 6:45 pm
by Keith 66
One basic problem with up & over doors is that if you give them a good thump at the top in the middle it is often enough to pop them open, or a crowbar in bottom corner. I fitted shoot bolts in all four corners these are set on 18mm plywood pads bedded on a big wodge of body filler & bolted through with coach bolts from the outside.
So far they have stopped two break ins as attested by the crowbar gouges on the frame.
The doors are shortly to be replaced with steel box section & angle iron ones with steel plate panels.
Once you have amassed a good collection of tools you want to keep them.

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 12:07 am
by irmscher
One of those square ones :oops:

Re: Best type of garage door

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 11:27 am
by Blaketon
Keith 66 wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 6:45 pm One basic problem with up & over doors is that if you give them a good thump at the top in the middle it is often enough to pop them open, or a crowbar in bottom corner. I fitted shoot bolts in all four corners these are set on 18mm plywood pads bedded on a big wodge of body filler & bolted through with coach bolts from the outside.
So far they have stopped two break ins as attested by the crowbar gouges on the frame.
The doors are shortly to be replaced with steel box section & angle iron ones with steel plate panels.
Once you have amassed a good collection of tools you want to keep them.
When I moved into my house, there was a tatty, pre fab 20 X 10 garage with it. It was better than nothing, so I used it for it's intended purpose from the start. There was no key for the up and over door but if I went inside, I could pull the locking bars, from inside, to release the catches. I fitted a new padlock to the side door and that was it. It was hardly Fort Knox, yet when someone pinched my neighbours car, off the drive, they could just as easily have taken mine (As it happened, they bottled it and brought it back :o ) but it was out of sight........and these days do you expect to find a car in a garage? Anyway, a couple of year later, I had the new garage built (At least the block work; I did the rest) and when the builder arrived, to demolish the old one, he just grabbed the handle from outside and pulled it open. It came a a shock to me. My parents had a Henderson up and over, as described by moggiethouable and that was a different thing entirely; I don't think you could have forced that so easily. Having said that, it was clad in cedar wood and I think an axe would have made short (Though noisy) work of it. I haven't been passed that place for some time (Built 1963/4) but so far as I know, the door is still there.