A garage door is an important part of your home or business. It not only protects your home or business from intruders, but also provides comfort and convenience. There are many different types of garage doors in the market, each with unique advantages. Choosing the right on that first your needs, comfort and style is an important before making the decision. The guide below provides details on eight types of garage doors along with their unique advantages to help you find the right one.
- Side Hinge-Garage Door
This garage door uses steel hinges to open outward, which is not like any other design. This gives room for maximum height enabling drive-through space and more ceiling storage room for big vehicles. But this garage door normally needs to be manually operated. People who utilize their garage as a workshop for storing their vehicle, in the long run, are the ones who install this kind of garage door. Since this garage door is set up in pairs, it is ideal for controlling the amount of breeze or air you need as you work on projects inside the garage.
Seldom, you will find a side-hinge garage door set up with a garage door opener that is electrical. This door does not allow for another car or something else in front of the garage door as it opens. Since these doors meet at the middle, they are not as secure as their counterparts. But due to their simple design, their maintenance is easier than other garage doors. Unique advantages of these types of garage doors include:
- More ceiling storage room
- More drive-through space
- Controls breeze in the garage
- Up and Over Garage Door
This type of garage door is popular, easy to use, and effective as well as very secure. It can be manufactured using various materials, including timber, GRP, steel, and uPVC. Regardless of your budget, this type is a good option. You can find it in two styles, namely retractable and canopy. Each design is ideal for garage entrances of various sizes, where the canopy is more ideal for doors less than 8 feet in width, and manual operation is necessary. Retractable garage doors are usually wider than 8 feet or any dimension that needs automation. Unique advantages of these types of garage doors include:
- Secure
- Simple to operate
- Can be automated
- Use of various materials in its production
- Ideal for various garage sizes
- Sectional Garage Doors
The most famous garage door design in the market is the sectional garage door. It utilizes both vertical tracks on the garage side and horizontal tracks on the garage ceiling to lift and close the garage door. Sectional garage doors are the centre ground between roller doors and single-panel designs. Sectional doors normally consist of 3-8 big panels that drawback up overhead to the garage’s ceiling. This can minimize the space of storage on a smaller garage ceiling.
The sectional garage doors’ exterior vertical tracks let you maximize the garage’s opening width. They give room for insulation to keep your garage’s interior cool during the summer and warm during the winter. As a result of the well-engineered design, these doors are quite expensive. They need various parts and numerous tracks for operation. This increases the likelihood of problems to occur in its mechanism. Frequent maintenance and lubrication are needed to keep smooth running of your garage door. In case of a breakdown, seek professional help. Its popularity has led to numerous appearance options. There is a wide variety of finishes and designs of sectional garage doors available to suit your house. Unique advantages of these types of garage doors include:
- Its vertical opening suits short driveways
- Allows for automation
- Maximum drive-through height can be attained
- Ideal for various shapes and sizes of the garage entrance
- Canopy Garage Door
It’s an up and over garage door that only utilizes vertical tracks on the door frame’s rims to open. Almost a third of it was designed to bulge externally, offering more shelter outside the garage. It has a torsion spring to aid in manual operation. Unique advantages of these types of garage doors include:
- Vertical opening
- Extra shelter
- Torsion spring for manual operation
- Roller Garage Door
This garage door is made as a compact solution and is typically constructed with corrugated steel panels. This lets the whole garage door to roll up without issues into a box atop the garage opening. Unlike retractable garage doors, these doors lack horizontal tracks directing you back into the garage. The extra space can give room for more storage space on the ceiling of the garage. Additionally, access doors to the attic or roof within the garage will fail to be blocked.
Roller-up garage doors are usually more costly than other door types but have limited appearance. It is not easy to hide the lines from the door’s corrugated part. These panels also make it hard to personalize your door with different paint. This garage door is very secure and durable. After installation, it needs minimal maintenance. Because of the nature of the steel frame, it is able to withstand harsh conditions of weather. A majority of roll-up doors are insulated to protect your garage from summer and winter. Since the door rolls up straight down or up from the above compartment, it is quieter than the rest. Moreover, most of them are automatic. Unique advantages of these types of garage doors include:
- Vertical opening
- Effective insulation
- Suitable for automation
- Side walls can be utilized for storage
- Steel Garage Door
This type of garage door is more secure and powerful than doors made from fiberglass, aluminum, and wood. Technology that offers room for embossing metals having wood-grain patterns and new long-lasting coating make the current steel doors appear like wood without much maintenance. Unique advantages of these types of garage doors include:
- More powerful and secure
- Appear like wood
- Little maintenance
- Automated Garage Door
Almost all garage doors can be automated. So, you can use a reliable and convenient automatic mechanism to update your current door or purchase a new automatic garage door. This kind of a garage door is simple to operate and has numerous security features to boost access. You can get an automatic garage door for any budget. Unique advantages of these types of garage doors include:
- Boost access to the garage
- Use of latest technology
- Applicable to most garage door types
- Retractable Garage Door
This is a single panel garage door that fully retracts back inside the garage. It has been designed particularly for electrical operation. This automated garage door typically operates with less effort on the horizontal tracks that direct them back into the garage, easing noise when opening and closing. Unique advantages of these types of garage doors include:
- Automated garage door
- Minimal noise when opening and closing
- Effortless operation
Conclusion
These eight types of garage doors will offer you sufficient options for your garage. However, you can still learn more about garage door types to understand how your needs can be better met.
