Garage door replacement advice please

[Oakie]

We're looking at replacing the manual roller doors on our double garage with a single door using a remote opener. https://www.dominator.co.nz/residential-doors/steel-sectional-doors/
Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

[Laava]

So you currently have 2x doors and are looking at putting in one large one?
You will be getting rid of the middle divider between doors so massive improvement.
I am assuming you have had a quote? Pretty simple replacement unless the divider section is loadbearing.
Will need the door rebate cutting through but that is not a big job...

[johcar]

We replaced our (broken) single tilt-a-door about 12 months ago with a Dominator sectional door.

Even without the powerlift, the door is really easy to open, really well-balanced.

We went for the WiFi version so can control the door via an app on our phones as well (and see whether we left the door open without having to go home to check), as well as a couple of the traditional remotes.

Also got the insulated sections on the door, more from a noise reduction POV than trying to stay warm (not really an issue in Auckland).

The motor and door itself is really quiet...

Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk

[BMWST?]

a sectional dorr goes up and bacl across the ceiling so access to that ceiling space will be blocked if the door is open.Was going to mention insulation ,and also have ability to have different materials on the outside if you want .as long as the single doors arent to narrow i dont see a huge wide door as an advantage.You can only use one side at a time i woulda thought.
If you lose the central support you may need a much much bigger lintel going across the big opening.You can almost guarantee that normal timber wont be enough if you are now talkng a 4.8 opening.You may therefore lose some height at the door head too

[jasonu]

If you are planning on doing it yourself look it up on utube. There are plenty of good videos and it really isn't that difficult.
Pay close attention to tensioning the springs!!!

[slofox]

I have a sectional door, Garador brand. It too is very quiet and well balanced. Hasn't missed a beat in nine years. No complaints here.

[Berries]

Power cut. Can you still get in to the garage to open it manually from inside?

Weight. The wife designed the two thick wooden electric doors we have and they weigh a ton. The motor works fine but two incidents come to mind. Me opening it manually and it bouncing back a tiny bit then just being over the balance point before it came crashing down and I went and got x-rays for a possible broken shoulder.

Secondly, and a fucking close call, was a combination of factors. Wife parked the car and as per bloody usual turned off the ignition without turning off the wipers. Unusually she actually reversed it in this time. I get the joy of the school run the next morning. Start the car and begin to move forward as the wiper naturally returns to its resting position. Problem is the wiper catches the manual release cord for the garage door as I am pulling forward. I realise and hit the picks straight away but not before door again goes past its tipping point just as one of my kids walks in to view. Seriously, if it had hit them on the head it would have killed them. Had forgotten about that until I saw this thread, can still see the horror unfolding in slow motion in front of me. The steel doors will be way lighter.

This is a new twin garage we built. The original garage has a roller door but a sideways one not up and downer. Can store tools behind that so have lost little storage. As said above, the rails and the chain for an electric door do reduce storage capacity.

[jellywrestler]

Power cut. Can you still get in to the garage to open it manually from inside?

a lot of doors have a external hole for this situation and a tool, not a problem if you have other access to the garage though, just go in and operate it manually.

[Berries]

a lot of doors have a external hole for this situation and a tool, not a problem if you have other access to the garage though, just go in and operate it manually.
We had temporarily misplaced the key for the normal door that was our only other way in.

[jellywrestler]

We had temporarily misplaced the key for the normal door that was our only other way in.

that's no fault of the door though is it?

[BMWST?]

Power cut. Can you still get in to the garage to open it manually from inside?

Weight. The wife designed the two thick wooden electric doors we have and they weigh a ton. The motor works fine but two incidents come to mind. Me opening it manually and it bouncing back a tiny bit then just being over the balance point before it came crashing down and I went and got x-rays for a possible broken shoulder.

Secondly, and a fucking close call, was a combination of factors. Wife parked the car and as per bloody usual turned off the ignition without turning off the wipers. Unusually she actually reversed it in this time. I get the joy of the school run the next morning. Start the car and begin to move forward as the wiper naturally returns to its resting position. Problem is the wiper catches the manual release cord for the garage door as I am pulling forward. I realise and hit the picks straight away but not before door again goes past its tipping point just as one of my kids walks in to view. Seriously, if it had hit them on the head it would have killed them. Had forgotten about that until I saw this thread, can still see the horror unfolding in slow motion in front of me. The steel doors will be way lighter.

This is a new twin garage we built. The original garage has a roller door but a sideways one not up and downer. Can store tools behind that so have lost little storage. As said above, the rails and the chain for an electric door do reduce storage capacity.

that is nothing to do with the idea of a bigger garage door but everything to do with a poor installion of your doors The springs need to be tightened or replaced with those more suitable to the actual weight of the doors

[BMWST?]

We had temporarily misplaced the key for the normal door that was our only other way in.
look it up on youtube,breaking in to a garage via the garage door is easy

[slofox]

Power cut. Can you still get in to the garage to open it manually from inside?



In my case, yes. Another ordinary door round the back.

[Oakie]

So you currently have 2x doors and are looking at putting in one large one?
You will be getting rid of the middle divider between doors so massive improvement.
I am assuming you have had a quote? Pretty simple replacement unless the divider section is loadbearing.
Will need the door rebate cutting through but that is not a big job...

Yes, exactly that and the divide is not loadbearing.

[Oakie]

as long as the single doors arent to narrow i dont see a huge wide door as an advantage.You can only use one side at a time i woulda thought.

That was our original thought, just to get the one most used door done but because the divide is really only there to guide the door and is not structural we had to get both doors at the same time ... or get a large door to cover both.

[Oakie]

If you are planning on doing it yourself look it up on utube. There are plenty of good videos and it really isn't that difficult.
Pay close attention to tensioning the springs!!!

Um ... shit no. I'll 'get a man in'. I know my limitations. Don't want the fecking thing falling on Mrs Oakie's head. Oh, hang on ...

[BMWST?]

That was our original thought, just to get the one most used door done but because the divide is really only there to guide the door and is not structural we had to get both doors at the same time ... or get a large door to cover both.



so there is already one large beam that goes right across both openings?Not stopping and starting again in the middle?.

[Laava]

Yes, exactly that and the divide is not loadbearing.
Easy peasy then, get a quote, which will be installed and go for it. Then you get a warranty for door and installation.
Don,t even think about installing a new door yourself, you will save fuck all and struggle about putting the whole lot up.

[Oakie]

so there is already one large beam that goes right across both openings?Not stopping and starting again in the middle?.

Correct. Good solid beam. The divide is just a strip of steel designed to guide the doors rather than give any structural support.

[Bonez]

We had temporarily misplaced the key for the normal door that was our only other way in.
Well that wasn't terribly bright. Did you not have a spare?

[Berries]

that's no fault of the door though is it?
Never suggested that it was. Just offering a note to someone with as much experience of electric garage doors that I had.

[awayatc]

Power cut. Can you still get in to the garage to open it manually from inside?




The door i have has got battery back up in motor...enough to open garage door a couple of times when electricity is off.....
I suppose that this is the new norm...?

[Oakie]

The door i have has got battery back up in motor...enough to open garage door a couple of times when electricity is off.....
I suppose that this is the new norm...?

Don't know. Don't recall seeing anything about battery backup although I wasn't looking at the accessories much.

[neels]

We had 3 old and not very functional tilt doors replaced with sectionals by Ashton garage doors, they were the only ones who were sensible about sorting out something workable with low ceiling height and the alterations to the openings that were needed to make things fit.

[awayatc]

Don't know. Don't recall seeing anything about battery backup although I wasn't looking at the accessories much.

just a standard feature with my "Merlin whisper drive"....it beeps when it opens when electricity is off, and goes a bit slower...but opens none the less