There is no better place to park a car than your own garage. To protect your car from the effects of weather conditions, damage or theft, you need to choose the right automatic garage doors. In addition, their quality and functionality affect the indoor climate and the favorable conditions for vehicle parts and components. Garage doors are used every day, so a lot of attention is paid to choosing the right model.
To understand which doors are best for your garage, look at the pros and cons of all the options.
Sectional automatic garage doors
This is the most common type of garage door. It consists of separate panels – sections that make the doors very flexible. Its flexibility is ensured by fastening the panels together with movable hinge joints. In the process of opening the door, the panels move along guides firmly attached to the edges of the opening inside the garage and placed on the ceiling.
The doors do not need free space either inside or in front of the garage. They will suit the garage of any size and shape of the opening. The gates open silently, since special soft rollers are usually used in their design.
Benefits
- good heat and sound insulating characteristics;
- practically not limited by the size of the opening;
- wide range of finishes;
- safety;
Disadvantages
- a lot of moving elements;
- high price.
Rolling automatic garage doors
Doors of this type will serve well in small garages with an opening height of up to 2.5 m. They are very compact in size and do not require significant space to open the leaf.
The door leaf is made of steel or aluminum profiled strips, connected by a movable fastener. Their height does not exceed 25 mm, which contributes to the great flexibility of the leaf itself. Opening the door assumes its movement up along the guides and further winding on the shaft, placed in a protective box above the door opening.
When using an electric drive with remote control, it is possible to install additional electronic systems to protect the gate from burglary. Automatic door openers at National Garage include multiple wireless or wired PE Beams for added safety and smartphone control.
Benefits
- It is compact;
- have a fairly simple design;
- do not clutter up the garage area;
- do not need space when opening;
- relatively inexpensive.
Disadvantages
- low reliability due to a large number of moving elements;
- poor protection against cold, wind, and dust.
Swing gates
Gates usually open outward in order to save garage space. The most common model is the double-leaf gate. Their main disadvantage is sagging in the case of a large opening.
Swing gates consist of an external frame and two frames of swinging leaves attached to it on the hinges. Sashes are sheathed most often with metal sheets. The gate should be installed at least 10 cm above the ground level to prevent the door from stopping due to uneven ground.
Benefits
- simple design;
- ease of installation and maintenance;
- reliability;
- affordable price;
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage is that free space in front of the garage is required to open the doors.
Lift & Turn automatic garage doors
It is a convenient, practical, and reliable type of garage door. However, they are quite expensive. Their one-piece leaf completely covers the entire opening. The doors lift up and at the same time move to a horizontal position, slightly extending above the entrance. That is a small visor is formed above it.
The gate is opened using a hinge-lever mechanism, so the sash moves up and down along the guides fixed on the sides of the opening, using the special plastic rollers equipped with bearings. To compensate for the significant weight of the door leaf and ensure silent and easy opening of the doors, special torsion springs are used in the gate design.
Benefits
- The doors are compact;
- there is no need for space in front of the garage to open them;
- when open, they do not occupy the garage space;
- can be installed in premises of any type;
- sufficiently reliable.
Disadvantages
- there are restrictions on the number of openings & closings per day (up to 10) due to the high load on the mechanical elements;
- possibility of installation exclusively in rectangular openings.
- if the part of the door is damaged, only its complete replacement is possible.
How not to make a mistake when buying automatic garage doors
Among the many types and designs, you can easily make a mistake in choosing the right option. To prevent this from happening, the following points must be taken into account:
- At the time of purchase, you need to make sure of the quality of the polymer material that covers the gate. An important role is played by the methods by which the parts are galvanized since this is directly related to durability.
- When selecting panels, it is necessary to choose them with high-quality polyurethane filler. Otherwise, after a few years, it will begin to exfoliate, which will lead to a loss of the thermal insulation inside the garage.
- Special attention should be paid to the joints because these elements must be made of high-quality and wear-resistant polymer.
- When purchasing, please note that the torsion springs are equipped with locking mechanisms. This will ensure your safety in the event of a gate breakage: the mechanisms will not let the sash fall but will block it.
- When installing in humid climates, it is necessary to select a material protected by an anti-corrosion layer.
- Pay attention to the presence of traction belts. Different companies may use chains or cables for this. Using the belt is more convenient since there is no need to lubricate it.
- When choosing an electric drive, make sure that it is equipped with an automatic interlock. This is useful if a foreign object gets under the sash.
- To reduce the load while lowering the sash, the electric drive must be equipped with a device that slows down the movement speed.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer for choosing the best garage door. Each garage owner must take the decision, based on the door’s purpose and specific operating conditions. However, we hope that our tips helped you make the right choice.
