Which Garage Door Type Is Right for You?
Garage door replacements may sound like an easy task, but do you know how many different types there are? You have up and over, roller, sectional, and side-hinged. All types open up an accessible entry to your garage, but the wrong door on your driveway or car can make your life more difficult.
Here are the 4 types of garage doors simplified to help you make decisions faster.
Up and over
Most likely you’ve seen an up and over garage door. They are very common and typically found on homes built before the nineties. These designs are easy to automate with motors and repairs on your own are not as difficult since there are easy to follow instruction online instead of paying a service to do it.
However, you should consider the clearance. These types of doors swing out as they open, so your car cannot be parked close to the garage door. If you have a short driveway, consider all of these details before you make a purchase.
Roller Doors
While most garage doors swing out, roller doors open by coiling up into a drum above the door. Since they don’t need extra room out front, and don’t hang down into the garage, they make it easy to clear headroom. This is a very useful feature for short driveways and for garages that you enter and exit multiple times a day.
It is true that roller doors are more expensive than up and over doors, and repairs on faulty mechanisms are not easy to do yourself. That is part of having a more complex and expensive door. And that is the convenience of roller doors, they come with trade-offs.
Sectional Doors
Sectional doors are similar to roller doors. They also have to track up and open horizontally above the garage door. However, while roller doors have a single coil that they roll up to open, sectional doors have several. For that reason, they provide the same clear headroom and no outside headroom clearance as roller doors.
Because sectional doors are made up of individual panels, they also have more options for appearance than roller doors. They also provide more insulation. If better garage insulation is important because of temperature needs from items being stored inside, then sectional doors are a great option.Side Hinged Doors
Side hinged doors open like a traditional pair of doors ith hinges. They have a classic appeal and there is one practical advantage – you can open one side and close it without needing to lift the whole door.
However, side hinged doors are generally the slowest to operate compared to the other types of doors. This is one of the reasons why most people tend to choose them from a design perspective, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Driveway Measurements
Side hinged and up and over doors can create real issues if you have fewer than 2 meters of space between the garage and the road.
Roller and sectional doors do not have these issues, and so do are a much better option. From there it’s a case of budget and how much you plan to actually use the door. Spending a bit more for a door you plan to open twice a day every day will be worth it.
Real estate agents, buyers, and constructers all have to take into account the space a garage could add to a home, the space a buyer has to pay for, and the space a buyer wants to pay for. The simple fact is, a garage adds value to a home. However, the value is determined by […]
It’s not just about what one wants; properly sizing garage doors is extremely important when one is buying a new garage door and even more important when one is building a garage from scratch. If a door is too small, it’ll mean squeezing a car in and out, and a user might risk adding scratches […]
Until there is a problem, most people do not give much thought to their garage doors. If you park your car in the garage, the type of door you have and whether it is insulated can actually be a big factor in considering the protection of your vehicle. Without insulation, the garage can get as […]
If you use your garage every day to park your car, you might have had to get out to open the door in the rain, wind, or other inclement weather, and have wished for the added convenience of automated opening. Nowadays, automated garage doors are much more common and affordable. But, is the added convenience […]
When looking at replacing your garage doors, you will probably first ask yourself how much it is likely to cost. This is a not a question that can answered easily as there is a very wide price band when it comes to garage doors. Firstly, you need to decide what type of garage door you […]
Is a Single Garage Actually Big Enough for a Modern Car?
Most people believe that a garage is a part of a house where a car is supposed to be parked. A lot of people make this assumption while purchasing a house with a garage. They make this assumption without thinking about the dimensions of the garage. Most modern cars have a larger width than older cars and given the fact that the average age a car is about 10 years. Hence, in most cases, the car will not be able to fit in the garage.
What most single garages were built to
British properties that were built between the years of 1960 and 1990 most commonly built garages that were 2.4 metres by 4.8 metres for each single car garage. For that particular decade in the global automobile market, with the example of a Ford Escort that was manufactured in 1985, that was a reasonable standard as an example of reasonable average width for a car. Ford Escots for that era had a width of approximately 16 cm.
A Ford Focus is a little over 1.8 metres wide. A Ford Kuga, which is one of the most popular vehicles in the UK, is almost 1.9 metres wide. When you park in a 2.4 metre wide garage, you have 25 cm on either side of the car. It is possible to do that, but the thought of getting in and out of the car will cross your mind each and every time.
When the length of your car is equally as tight, that could lead to issues.
People seem to be more concerned about length than width, but modern cars are getting longer as well as wider. This is a problem especially if you use the garage for storage like bikes, chest freezers, or work benches which will fill up with things really quickly.
If you want to be able to open the boot and walk around the back of the car as well, have a minimum of 5.5 metres of length. If the garage is shorter than that, measure your car before assuming it’ll work. Boot lids are getting bigger, and bigger.
The garage itself might be wider than the door opening.
This happens all the time. Lots of older single garages only have door openings that are 2.1 to 2.3 metres wide and are barely workable. If you have a wider car, pulling it through the opening and using mirrors is really stressful. In fact, it’s probably the worst time of your day, every day. It’s the dark and you’re rushing to work.
If you’re replacing the door, check to see if the opening can be modified at the same time. It’s a bigger job, but doing it now is a lot less than doing it later.
When it doesn’t quite fit.
For someone that has to garage a car in a space with a tight opening, folding the wing mirrors is a habit that soon becomes second nature. If you are the type of person who has to do it a lot, you eventually won’t have to think about it. Surprisingly, a lot of room is freed on the sides with wall-shelves.For larger family cars, some garages simply aren’t workable for parking, and it’s best to be honest about it. Covered parking isn’t ideal if it means years of scraping the car door against the frame, or sacrificing the ability to drive the car because passenger-side car door access is the only way to get out.
Sometimes it even makes more sense for the garage to be a workshop or storage area and the car to be left on the driveway. It’s up to you if that’s the outcome. Just don’t wait months for a change that you likely will not adapt to.