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Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - Focus_Driver

I can't decide between a 10ft automatic roller door or a standard manual up and over door. Both are around £600. Does anyone have a auto roller door? I've seen one and they appear immensely practical as they roll up like a curtain blind but the steel material its made of seems very thin. An up and over door looks better imo but its manual operation only.

Edited by Focus_Driver on 16/03/2010 at 23:45

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - commerdriver
we have an up and over door (no power to the garage) with all the bits in place and maintained (rollers cable etc) very light and easy to use.
Late in-laws house had an electrically operated roller door, again ideal easy to use slightly better because the door did not intrude into the garage space.
In either case robust enough for weather protection and stopping chance pilfering.
Neither is really secure on its own. For real security you need extra locks anchored into the concrete.
IMHO choose whatever looks better on your garage
Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - Focus_Driver
Thanks commerdriver, I think the up and over door looks better so will probably go for that one.
Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - Clk Sec
An up and over door looks better imo but its manual operation only.

You could look at a retractable type up-and-over door, which is likely to be available in both manual and automatic versions. It might be worth starting with a manual and upgrading it to automatic if the need arises in the future.

Clk Sec

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - pmh3

If you are thinking of installing an up and over door with a view to future automation do not install a 'canopy', style door. Although they are cheaper at the outset, they cost more to automate and also loose headroom when fitted with the necessary additional arm. (ps a trackless canopy generally cannot be automated).

From your OP you do not seem to have considered a sectional door. For a description of types see www.garagedoorautomation.com/doors.html .

The big advantage with roller and sectional doors is that you can park right up tight to them if driveway space is limited, and draughtproofing tends to be better if the garage is being used for other purposes.

Edited by pmh3 on 17/03/2010 at 09:34

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - Clk Sec
If you are thinking of installing an up and over door with a view to future automation do not install a 'canopy',

Quite right.

Also, if you need as much width as possible, it might be worth looking at the retractable plus up-and-over door (I think that's what they are known as), where the lifting gear is set a few inches higher than normal.

Useful for most standard cars.

Edited by Clk Sec on 17/03/2010 at 10:09

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - piston power

The only ones i can comment on are the ones we have at work in the train sheds there electric with a fast motor and chains on the end if the motor packs in you shold have this or similar device to open/close.

In the wind which ours run east/west there quite noisey and do blow inwards in extreme winds however in your small garage this may not be a problem these doors you can imagine are very tall.

Personally i would go for it every time much easier than the standard one giving you the extra room to work with etc.

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - barneybear

I used to have two single garages side by side. We built over the garage and replaced with one wide roller door. Best thing we did. Easy to press the remote button and roll straight in - means it always goes away, and its a Grand Espace with roof bars, so plenty of headroom which would not have been possible with an up and over. We lost about 2 inches on the length of the gargae as the roller sits just inside. It jammed once, but the fitter came back and resolved the problem easily - a simple nut had come loose and the slight vibration caused the mechanism to keep stopping. It seals to teh floor with a thick rubber strip and I've closed it on my foot with no ill effects - ie it senses as soon as it hits something and reverses - very happy.

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - Paul1000

Hi all

I have brought a Novoferm sectional door with power lifter for £2700. Unfortunately the reseller in Guildford was unable to install it correctly which resulted in me having to get another reseller to re-fit the door for an additional £400. They also dented it further and denied doing it.

Novoferm head office sent their guy down and said I have to go back to the original reseller and will not provide me with any written report to use against them.

My point is be very careful when buying expensive and difficult to fit doors as the law is that you have to sue the reseller.

Sectional doors are more trouble than they are worth.

Especially do not buy any doors from Novoferm as they are a bunch of cowboys that feel comfortable with customers being turned over by their own resellers

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - P3t3r

Hi all

I have brought a Novoferm sectional door with power lifter for £2700. Unfortunately the reseller in Guildford was unable to install it correctly which resulted in me having to get another reseller to re-fit the door for an additional £400. They also dented it further and denied doing it.

I got a Novoferm sectional door too and it's brilliant. Mine was a bit cheaper than yours and still works perfectly after about two and a half years I think. It was from a local company and the fitter did an amazing job, which is very unusal these days. It was just one guy who fitted it and he even swept the garage floor when he finished, dispite not leaving until around 19:00!

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - pmh3

Hi all

I have brought a Novoferm sectional door with power lifter for £2700. Unfortunately the reseller in Guildford was unable to install it correctly which resulted in me having to get another reseller to re-fit the door for an additional £400. They also dented it further and denied doing it.

....................................................................................................................

Somebody must have seen you coming! A typical price for a powered sectional door would be around £1300 for a single width (£1700 double) if you used the suppliers I mentioned above.

Novoferm doors have a good reputation for quality - but IIRC they operate on a an 'agency' basis so you are at the mercy of the quality of staff for your local (or not so local) agency. Best advice is to use a local well established company.

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - Mae Langer

i know this is a really late reply but just for the heads up only, i have an auto roller door and it's not that expensive i got it from West Mindland Shutters i just want to share it and recommend it to you for future use. You can visit them at: westmidlandshutters.co.uk/garage-roller-doors.html

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - concrete

In my previous property I had a large garage, enough for two full size cars (Honda Accord and Peugeot 406) when built. I installed a Henderson up and over door which was 14' x 7' in old money! When set up it was surprisingly easy to operate manually and even SWMBO could operate it. However later I added an electric motor kit with remotes and that worked an absolute treat. No more getting out of the car in the rain etc. The door is oviously inside the garage when open and did shade one of the lights but I still managed to get a Transit van in with room to spare at one point.

Cheers Concrete

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - xtrailman

I have a double garage with two folding electric doors, theres only around 5 sections to the door so very few jionts to wear, and they are also insulating.

After ten years they still work with no issues.

For me a roller door has more potential to fail due to the many joints.

Garage doors - up and over v automatic roller - oldruffian

We had a roller door in a house we sold a couple of months ago. It worked perfectly for several years - and then the Sompfy motor failed. These are made in France and fit tightly inside the roller mechanism - and there wasn't a cheap reliable alternative. We were landed with a bill for £480. The roller door was wonderfully convenient - but I suspect an old-fashioned one would have been a lot cheaper to fix and would in any case have been more durable.