Types of Garage Doors

There are many kinds of garage doors to choose a from-sectional, roll-up, slide to the right, side hinged, tilt-up canopy, and tilt-up retractable are the six most common. You must also decide on the content, finish, colour, and special options you want to use for the door, such as windows, insulation, and hardware. There's no need to worry if you're feeling a little confused already-we've produced a rundown of the various styles of garage doors to help streamline the process and teach you a thing or two about each of them to make things simple.

• Sectional Garage Doors - The sectional garage doors consist of panel parts linked to hinges. As the door opens and closes, wheels roll within a vertical track on either side of the opening of the door at the edge of each panel. A curved portion of the track is bent over by the hinges between each panel segment. This function allows the door to sit when fully open or in line with the walls when completely closed, parallel to the ceiling. Cables that control the door are connected to a pair of high-tension springs above the opening and hold it from drifting down when only partially opened. Usually, these garage doors are made of steel, have low maintenance, and can be modified to include window inserts, hardware, textures, and colours. They come in versions that are insulated as well as non-insulated.

• Roll-Up Garage Doors - These are more likely to be used in commercial than residential applications, but roll-up doors are a no-frills design choice designed for areas with restricted ceiling space. This style is made with steel slat sections that roll above the door opening around a drum. To withstand heavy use, roll-up or coiling doors are constructed and high-performance units can be constructed without springs or enclosed to avoid rust, corrosion and freezing. The upfront costs are higher than a sectional configuration due to the heavy-duty design of the roll-up model.

• Slide to the Side Garage Doors - By leaning to one side of the garage and sitting parallel to the wall, the slide to the side garage door works just as the name suggests. These were among the first modes of service and were initially used with little headroom for garages. They pass along lower trolleys that are versatile enough for the floor or ceiling to operate with slight slopes. Slide to side doors do not require balancing springs and do not require a ceiling-mounted operator to have a built-in retractable motor for automatic operation.

• Side-Hinged Garage Doors - On either side of the opening, the old-fashioned style, side-hinged garage doors swing open and shut from a hinged frame. They resemble large barn doors and are generally made of wood, but there are also more commercial-type galvanised steel doors. These classic doors, particularly for garages with obstructions or limited headroom, have been more in demand lately. Side-hinged garage doors can be purchased or fit into existing openings in pre-hung steel frames. With special conversion weapons, they can also be automated.

• Tilt-Up Garage Doors - The tilt-up garage doors do not have parts like side-hinged models-they are made of one solid piece. They have a mechanism for a pivoting hinge, so they can tip up into the garage. When the door is open, the canopy style garage door lies parallel to the garage ceiling and stretches past the front of the building. The tilt-up retractable garage doors rise up and into the garage, similar to the tilt-up canopy design. They are suspended from the frame individually, so they do not protrude past the front of the building.

• Over Retractable Garage Doors - These types of garage doors require more space than tilt-up garage doors is needed for this configuration. While some homeowners opt for this model, they are more difficult to run and usually more costly than other types.

If it's an emergency repair or maintenance of the garage door, regardless of the garage size, style and material, our professional home improvement service team will come to you when it fits your schedule to find the exact problem at hand and solve it quickly to make things as simple as possible.