Recommending a simple standard up and over garage door

The recommendation of anything without fear of repercussions is always difficult, but with an up and over garage door for us it is easy after the 24 years of experience we have had supplying and installing them. If you want a garage door that has been developed over many years specifically for the following:

High quality appearance
Absolute ease of operation
High quality mechanism options
The best panel strength using box section galvanised steel
Security through strength and excellent locking
Value for money, even the lowest price in some sizes
Excellent range of standard sizes
Choice of colours and materials – Steel, Timber GRP or Upvc
10 year guarantee
Pre assembled from the factory

Who makes such a garage door? You need look no further than the superb Hormann Series 2000 range of up and over garage doors.
These garage doors have been available in the UK for over 20 years now and are assembled in Leicestershire, Hormann themselves as a company have been producing doors for 75 years!! Hormann are an international company with the origins in Germany and are still owned by the same family that set the company up all those years ago. They are proud of their products and rightly so. As well as up and over garage doors Hormann also produce high quality entrance doors, industrial doors, commercial doors, specialised hinged steel doors and many other construction products including a vast range of electric garage door and gate operators for all applications.
Hormann also are the outright owners of Garador garage doors but although the doors look almost the same, and the operating gear is, the door panels for Garador are constructed in a different way and arguably are not quite as strong as they are button locked in the corners and not welded like the Hormann doors. This aside the Garador range is still a very high quality range of doors and they do offer slightly different designs to the Hormann range.

Still not convinced, then give us a call for all the very latest prices and promotions on Hormann doors…
Call free on (0800) 525442 or email enquiries@thegaragedoorcentre.co.uk

Topics: Up And Over Garage Doors

Along with the substantial  increase in the use of electric garage door openers since the 1990’s domestic garage doors have become a mine field of choice now for the discerning house owner. The increasing value of 4×4 vehicles and cars has also fuelled the requirement for higher specification and more secure garage doors, with a multitude of varying designs, sizes and intricate mechanisms now available. It is only natural that home owners have come to rely on increasingly high tech products to protect their investments at home, and garage doors are no exception, especially if you have an attached garage leading through to your main house. If you are one of the many households with one or more cars it may be time to consider looking at some of the superb new garage doors available.

Price

An obvious first consideration in the process of buying, although because garage doors vary so much in a number of ways this is a difficult area to recommend. Prices vary depending on the material primarily as well as the size; for example, timber doors are generally higher priced compared with steel or fibreglass (GRP) garage doors. However, those who require the look of wood but maybe cannot afford a timber door can buy relatively lower priced models produced in aluminium or steel with highly developed laminate finishes recreating very realistic wood effects.
The mechanism can have a massive effect on the price, for example: a vertical boarded one piece up and over door, say in a 7’ x 7’ size, can be around £800 where as if the door was a vertically boarded round the corner, sliding type garage door it may well be around £3,000 (in the same timber species of course).
Insulation, glazing, factory finishes, special sizes and so on all contribute towards increasing the price but one piece of advice – beware a ‘cheap’ garage door – they are large items and with cheap parts or insufficient panel strength you may well find you have a problematic purchase, this is especially true with side hinged and roller garage doors (see our article on roller door pricing).

Very generally the order of prices for garage doors goes like this (lowest to highest):

• Steel up and over doors
• Steel roller shutter doors
• Steel/GRP side hinged doors
• Upvc up and over doors
• GRP up and over doors (higher quality doors)
• Steel sectional garage doors
• Aluminium roller shutter doors
• Timber up and over doors
• Timber side hinged doors
• Timber sectional doors
• GRP sectional doors
• Timber round the corner doors
• Silvelox timber up and over doors.

Of course this list is very general and many of the doors would swap places once special sizes, colours, windows, etc were added and there are exceptions to some of the door types as well from certain manufacturers.

Material

Materials generally used are steel, timber, aluminium, PVC and GRP. With timber garage doors you will get an enormous variation in price with different timber species, and the most common species are usually cedar wood, oak, hemlock, iroko and larch. More than the price however the door panel material also affects the potential overall performance of your garage door. A steel garage door should usually be the strongest and sectional doors can be supplied in double skin panels up to 45mm thick with incredible strength and insulation properties.
Timber is very versatile and the designs are limitless if a standard design does not suit.
Aluminium is generally only used for insulated double skin roller doors and a couple of specialised sectional doors. GRP is also very versatile and is used extensively now for most mechanisms as it does possess great strength if correctly produced – again beware of cheap GRP doors, they are only usually cheap as they have very little material in them.
Sometimes the material you need is dictated by your house exterior, local planning regulations or maybe even location. For instance  if you live in a coastal area it would not be a good idea generally to use a steel garage door that is prone to corrosion, especially when constantly exposed to saltwater. A GRP (fibreglass) garage door will be a better option.
If you prefer the look of timber but do not have the time or desire to maintain such a garage door then you can consider a steel up and over or sectional door with a laminate woodgrain finish, now available in most colours required.

Mechanism

This is a very important and much overlooked consideration. A lot of people simple choose a garage door by design and size but give little consideration to how it may (or may not!) operate in their garage design. The operating mechanism that your garage door is based upon (sectional, roller, canopy, side-hinged, etc) depends a lot on the areas inside and outside your garage. If you have a narrow garage and have limited space near the entrance, then it is usually best to buy a roller door rather than an ‘up and over’ one piece door. If your garage has a low ceiling, you might want to consider a side-hinged door rather than a sectional one, since the latter requires a bit more headroom. Side hinged garage doors have enormous benefits for regularly used garages as you only open one side to enter and exit, like a normal door.
Do not forget to check garage door sizes carefully to ensure they fit well with your garage door opening, many people order garage doors as they are standard sizes to find they have to make great adjustments around the sub frame usually compromising the overall performance of the door and frame. It is easy nowadays to get a purpose made garage door at very little extra cost. Also, if you are planning on using an electric door opener  then check with a specialist on the best door and motor combination. A lot of companies will tell you a canopy type door cannot be electrically operated but this is nonsense. The real issue is having a canopy door capable of being automated as there are many quite flimsy up and over garage doors that have been sold over the years that cannot be automated as the panel is too weak. A Hormann or Garador (post 2004) canopy door can be easily and safely automated with the correctly specified electric operator (Hormann or Garador would be best but Marantec and Seip also work superbly)

Security

This is one of the most commonly asked questions – How secure is the garage door?

This is a very difficult question to answer as there are so many ways a potential intruder may attempt to break through a garage door, depending if he has tools, etc. Most modern garage doors have very good locks as standard, look out for the industry standard, a euro profile cylinder lock with a good quality handle and internal locking rods, preferably not cables, although some are very effective. Roller shutter garage doors use different locking methods and have many extra devices to help make them more secure, check with the individual manufacturer if you are not sure and security is high on your priority list.
The resistance to attempted break in is obviously governed by the strength of the actual door panel itself and a good example of a low security garage door is the ABS up and over door. This is a door panel made from a fairly thin plastic type material which can be cut through with a sharp knife very easily to gain access to the internal lock and then opened, all very quietly as well.
The locking on a door can be fantastic but if the door panel construction is flimsy then the lock is useless as the door can be bent or smashed through. At the other end of the scale is a door like the Hormann LPU40 sectional which has panels constructed form double skinned, foam filled steel sections offering great resistance to forced entry with or without tools.
The most secure garage doors generally are double skinned sectional doors, good quality side hinged doors, Hormann, Novoferm and Garador steel up and over doors and good quality insulated aluminium roller doors, particularly the Seceuroglide Excel which has a security level 1 rating as awarded by the LPCB. The Silvelox up and over door system is exceptionally secure but has a price tag that scares a lot of people but if you want a no compromise, bespoke timber garage door with security then take a look at the Silvelox range. The Rundum Meir round the corner door system also has considerable secure features.
A common mistake is to fit a budget electric door opener to a garage door forgetting that in doing so you usually remove the manual locking system and then in basic form rely upon the electric operator towing fixture to hold the door secure. Whilst this may be reasonably OK adding certain latching devices can bring the door up to much higher levels of security. Check with the manufacturer or specialist what can be done if you need security.

Reliability & Maintenance

This final consideration for some people actually convinces them to buy or not to buy a garage door. Nowadays many of us are very busy and have little time or enthusiasm left to maintain major household implements, even on weekends. Well here is a revelation – most modern garage doors don’t really require huge amounts of maintenance, even timber doors properly treated before or on installation can have a protection that requires just cleaning (like most items) to maintain a long lasting beautiful panel finish. GRP garage doors and Upvc doors are virtually maintenance free, again, just keep clean. High quality steel up and over, side hinged and sectional doors are all galvanised and painted using modern techniques and paints that last a very long time.
Mechanisms may require a little attention occasionally, especially if the door is used very frequently or you live near the coast where the corrosive effects of salt water may well cause issues if not checked. Again higher quality garage door mechanisms tend to have components that are galvanised or zinc plated to maximise the life span. Regular oiling, regular cleaning and regular checks on moving parts will of course be recommended just like it is with your car. A remote control garage door is considered a ‘machine’ in legal terms so again it is obvious that some maintenance may be required but most modern electric operators have Kevlar and nylon belt drives that do not require oiling at all.
A correctly fitted modern, high quality garage door should be an item that causes you no real issues at all in the long term, but remember if you ‘buy cheap you buy twice’. Check the credentials of any installer if you feel his price is a bit low, if it seems too good to be true you should remember that it usually is.

For full advice on any aspect of choosing a garage door call The Garage Door Centre free on (0800) 525442 or email us directly enquiries@thegaragedoorcentre.co.uk

Topics: General

Front Entrance Doors are a unique way of personalising your home and giving it character.

Topics: Front Entrance Doors

Insulated garage doors are manufactured nowadays in many forms. The 2 main types of insulated garage doors sold in the UK are either a sectional or roller type. These 2 door types open and close vertically without any part of the door swinging out like other garage door types, this gives the best possiblity of sealing the door around the edges with rubber seals and therefore give the best overall insulation value when combined with the double skinned foam filled panel designs available.
Insulated roller doors are usually manufactured from individual slats each approximately 75mm tall and 20mm thick with a slight curve to give the best possible rolling properties.
Each slat is linked to the next one by a shaped aluminium hook formed as part of the overall process of producing each slat and this is the weak point if any that means aluminium roller doors do not usually have a ‘U’ value as they cannot be properly tested with these tiny gaps possible. The sectional door however has a very precise formed top and bottom edge to each panel, of which there are only usually 4 in a standard height door, and these panels have rubber seals as well to give an excellent seal between the panels when the door is closed.
This means sectional doors can be given insulation ‘U’ values and these vary depending on the thickness of the door panels which vary from 20mm through to 45mm.
The insulation values generally from either of these 2 door types gives an incredible difference inside your garage, cool in the summer and warm in the winter or more the point a possibility of a constant temperature – ideal for car collector enthusiasts but also ideal if your garage is attached to your main house as it will not draw heat away in the winter so much.
Of course another great benefit of an insulated garage door is that because the panels are double skinned they are very strong and resistant to damage and attempted forced entry by would be burglars and this is another reason for purchasing the door even if you do not think you need the insulation.

Topics: Insulated Garage Doors

Sectional garage doors are fast becoming one of the most popular and practical choices for a safe, very secure and easy to use versatile garage door system in the UK.
Available from various manufacturers they are produced in sizes up to 6500mm wide and 3000mm high for domestic use and much larger sizes for commercial applications in warehouses, factories, distribution depots and others
They are called sectional doors because they operate in seperated individual horizontal panel sections, opening and closing vertically in tracks without any swing out from the structural opening and tracking mechanism at all. Because of this operation almost any shape of structural opening can be accomodated, i.e. arched, angled corners, etc.
The construction of a sectional door with rollers on either side of each panel and panels available in 20 – 45mm thick double skinned steel sections give it enormous strength and therefore with a good lock or a high quality electric operator, very good security, a factor most people require in garage doors these days.
Most manufacturers of sectional doors provide rubber seals to the top, sides and bottom of the door as standard which combined with the operational action offer perfect protection from the elements. The bottom seal will only provide full , effective sealing if the floor is level however, a fact often overlooked.
The insulation and sealing properties are excellent compared to any other type of door due to the combination of the rubber seals and the double skinned panels (foam filled) helping to reduce the heating costs in many homes with integral garages and certainly helping in commercial and industrial premises where the doors are used frequently and are often very large.

Topics: Sectional Garage Doors

Most households who have a garage constructed after about 1960 will have an up and over garage door of some sort fitted assuming the original door is still in place. Back then there were very limited choices of designs and the doors were nearly always steel or aluminium. There were only a handful of standard sizes and some fairly creative spring operating sytems and arm lifting mechanisms. Most of these systems would now be unacceptable and deemed to be dangerous for many reasons.
Modern up and over garage doors still offer the widest range of styles and materials as they are always constructed as a one piece panel and as they can be manufactured from steel, timber, Upvc and GRP (Fibreglass) the diversity of design is endless. As well as an enormous choice of standard designs and sizes companies like Hormann and Novoferm offer what is known as an ‘open for infill’ door which is basically a factory built chassis with all the mechanism, locking and framing but the main panel left for individuals to insert timber or Upvc in whtever design is required, although within some weight limitations.

Topics: Up And Over Garage Doors