In the 70s and 80s, standard size up & over garage doors were the norm here in the UK; most doors were 7 feet wide for a single door and 14 feet wide for a double door, with heights of only 6’6 and 7’10”. This meant there was a limited choice of size and design, along with the inconvenience of drive-through height, and the door panel hanging into the opening.
Plus, cars of decades past were much smaller than those we drive today. The width when you measure a modern-day car across the wing mirrors proves to be significantly different to older vehicles. With the ownership of 4x4s and SUVs also increasing, the height and width become issues for standard garage doors.
New Garage Door Options
So, during the 1990s, roller and sectional garage doors began to appear in small numbers among houses in the UK. Both of which maximise the garage door opening, and offer convenient vertical operation so cars can be parked on either side of the door. They were also able to offer insulation options, unlike up & over doors.
But, habits are hard to change and architects were not always understanding the issues in core garage design. Many new homes were being built where the garages were only measuring at 7 feet and 7’6″ wide. This often left homeowners struggling to drive their cars into their own garage, an issue we would often hear during customer calls.
The Garage Door Centre Approach
The Garage Door Centre took a proactive approach during this time, driving the message home that your car width must be checked before deciding on your garage design and door choice.
We estimate that the minimum single width garage opening needs to be around 8 feet (2438mm) wide. Ideally, you also need to have a door of at least 7 foot high to enable most 4×4 vehicles to enter the garage. However, the real focus has to be on the final drive through sizes (daylight opening), and not just the ordering sizes for the door.
Modern Garage Requirements
Today, many homeowners don’t use their garage for car storage at all, and they are often transformed into the likes of a gym, workshop or playroom. Some are even specifying garages at 4-5 metres width allocated to each car internally, simply to avoid doors banging on the wall or adjacent cars.
Cars with longer and wider builds such as Bentleys, Rolls Royce’s and Lamborghinis are obviously going to require a larger space, however even standard cars of the modern day can struggle with the use of a 7 foot wide up and over door.
However, there is now a vast array of options in terms of the different mechanisms, various panel arrangements and new fixing frame methods, all actively solving previous issues to make the garage useable.
Garage Door Sizing Solutions
Up & Over Doors
If you have an existing garage that you find challenging, the old school solution is to switch out your old door with one that is fitted behind the brickwork opening, rather than between (there must be space to do this).
A pretty standard single garage opening in the UK is around 2290mm wide (7’6’ roughly), and if your current up and over door is fitted between the opening then it will have a steel or timber sub frame around the door, and you will most likely have a 7 foot wide door. Replace this door and frame with a new door to the inside face of this opening, and you can easily fit a 7’5” or 7’6” wide up and over door and gain extra crucial inches: in many cases, this can be the difference in being able to use the garage or not!
Sectional & Roller Doors
Alternatively, good quality roller and sectional garage doors are constructed made to measure, allowing you to order the door as the brickwork opening to allow full maximisation of the aperture. Whilst there can be a minor charge for sectionals of a non-standard size, the benefits and are huge.
Whilst both roller and sectional doors offer the same convenient vertical opening, be sure to research their significant differences. For example, the insulation and security of a sectional far outweighs that of a roller door.
Side Hinged
There has been a recent resurgence of side hinged door types in the UK due to their convenience in converted garages, largely because of their convenience of entering as a pedestrian. The extensive range available offers effective insulation options, high-spec doors and made to measure services, perfect for a garage office or gym.
Manufacturers such as Carteck, Teckentrup and Ryterna offer excellent side hinged door designs, with various bespoke aesthetics available too.
Convenient Solutions
In the UK there are now endless options that will allow you to find an ideal garage door in terms of sizing and performance. The manufacturing, construction, and modern technology that is available makes for the availability of hugely advanced doors and solutions.
We would advise to always check the size of the garage before buying your home. If the brickwork opening is not wide or high enough in the first place, there is no magic garage door to solve this.
The installation of four garage doors is a pretty ordinary job for us. But, this one stands out, as the project consisted of the survey and installation of two sectional doors, and two roller garage doors!
The Garage Door Centre team have completed yet another fantastic project, this time comprising of the installation of four beautiful cedarwood up & over garage doors for this large, external garage building.
This simply stunning job shows off the beauty of timber against its natural backdrop, with surrounding trees and greenery. The doors were finished in Burnt Oak to suit the dark timber cladding, working well in contrast against the roof tiles whilst encompassed by nature.
Our skilful team, consisting of professional garage door experts, is dedicated to specifying and installing only the very best roller garage doors. With lots of options available on the market, it is our duty to ensure the perfect fit for every application, with high quality products, parts and installation. This is something we continually achieve with our fully certified, knowledgeable engineers.
And… that’s exactly what we’ve done here! This is one of our recent SeceuroGlide Original roller garage door installations.
Our bespoke services have allowed for this outstanding roller garage door to be fitted between the opening, fully trimmed, including the flawless archway, in Golden Oak uPVC by our in-house installation engineers. Each slat is 78.5mm twin walled with an aluminium profile, offering a level of insulation for the garage.
How you can secure your property with insulated roller doors…
By Alice Dove, Director at The Garage Door Centre
This was an interesting project, as our client first contacted us in August 2020 saying that he had been told by every other garage door firm, that they “would not touch it”, which was interesting to hear!
Initial Workings
Our client has three openings in a beautiful renovated cart lodge, on sloping ground. Each opening is sloping and each one is on lower ground than the next, making each opening different from the next and not square. Here is an exaggerated drawing of their alignment:
Once we had initially estimated the job through phone calls and emails for the client, using some very good client measurements, the client confirmed that he wanted to go ahead. Our experienced surveyor headed over to the site on the 1st September 2020. This triggers a final, formal, detailed quotation. The sloping bottom slats had to be specified individually for each curtain as they were a nonstandard width and height.
How to reduce your outlay when you are working on a timber cladded home. “Open for Infill” Versus Ready Made!
By Alice Dove, Director. September 2020
Beautiful timber up & over matching the surrounding cladding
Having seen some beautiful home development work recently on my travels, this made me put pen to paper to describe how you can match your new development to the garage door whilst managing your outlay, which is particularly useful if you are destroying your budget on your development, rather than doing this the other way around by organising a garage door that is “open for infill” after you have already decided on your cladding type. The latter is the more bespoke and therefore a higher cost option.
With newly introduced guidelines, including hygiene upkeep and social distancing, our excellent and dedicated team have been back to work, installing quality garage doors of all types.
This is just one of the new doors recently installed by The Garage Door Centre in Northamptonshire. It really shows off the difference it makes when you install a sectional garage door between the brickwork opening, whilst finishing off the look with a frame.
Here, the fitting team have used the executive framing kit from SWS,
In most basic models of roller shutter garage doors there is little or no security at all and they can actually be quite easily lifted up from the bottom. As most roller garage doors are electrically operated in the UK, the electric motor simply lifts and lowers the door curtain and relies entirely on gravity for the operation. When fully closed, the roller curtain is simply hanging from the barrel inside. Although many models will state there are various security ‘straps’ attaching the curtain to the barrel and performing some kind of security function, the reality is they are either totally ineffective or easily pushed back against or broken.
Thinking of investing in a pair of side hinged garage doors, or not quite sure which garage door type is best for you? Well, he’s four simple reasons why side hinged doors can be an excellent choice for your home and garage…
1) Modern Technologies
STEEL Side Hinged Garage Doors
Side hinged doors offer a traditional operating mechanism, making them perfect for those with more traditional homes and garages. Despite this, there are now various modern options in regards to materials, with manufacturers such as Carteck, Ryterna and Hormann constructing steel side hinged doors that boast great levels of insulation and security, two factors that are frequently required.
Our range
of steel side hinged doors consist of both insulated and non-insulated options,
with locking upgrades on certain models also available.
