What Are The Different Types Of Garage Doors?

Some people find garage doors to be a difficult concept to grasp. This is because you may choose from a wide variety of garage door styles that are each created with a specific purpose in mind.

A door alarm that really can detect movement up to 30 feet away is a good idea, for instance, if your kids are still in school.

Wooden or fibreglass panel are always an option if you'd prefer a door with a more refined appearance than the typical steel panels.

Many alternatives exist. If you're not sure what kind of garage door would be best for your needs, check out the article we wrote about the topic below.

What Are The Materials Used In Garage Doors?

The material a garage door is constructed from has a significant impact on its functionality. Certain materials are more concerned with aesthetics than with withstanding severe weather conditions. Listed below, you'll learn about the various components that can make up a garage door.

Garage Doors Made Of Wood

When it comes to aesthetics, few materials can compete with just a wood door frame. It features a classic style that will wow your relatives and neighbours. Wood garage doors are attractive, but are they practical for most households?

Just to cut to the chase: no. Why, we'll tell you.

Wooden garage doors are good at conserving energy, but they don't do well when exposed to the elements, such as snow, rain, or hail. This is because cells swell, decay, and deform when wet.

Your garage door's aesthetic value, for which wood is typically chosen, will suffer greatly if you do this.

Moreover, they require a lot of care and attention. Maintaining their attractiveness will need annual painting or staining. So, you need to invest a lot of time and money into maintaining your wooden garage door.

In terms of expenditures, wooden garage doors are prohibitively expensive.

This is because they are commonly thought of as the gold standard when it comes to garage doors because of their timeless elegance.

Composite Wood Garage Doors

Garage doors made of wood composites are a more affordable alternative to solid wood doors. The fibreboard and wooden frame are both high quality.

In order to provide a more refined appearance, the skins of some composite materials garage doors are constructed from high-density fibreboard.

These garage doors lack the elegance and sophistication of wood garage doors and other materials. You might compare them to a low-cost wooden garage door.

Wood-composite garage doors are rather efficient, which is a plus. The polystyrene insulation at their centres keeps warm or cool air in your garage where it belongs.

Metal Garage Doors

A wooden garage door can't perform what aluminium garage doors can. They can withstand the wet and windy conditions since they do not twist, rot, or swell. The price is also much lower for them.

This is not to say that aluminium lacks any issues.

You will quickly discover this summer that aluminium is a poor heat conductor. Because of this, the temperature in your garage will rise to intolerable levels.

An attached garage can increase your monthly energy costs because your air conditioner will have to work harder to maintain a comfortable temperature inside the house.

Even though your garage isn detached from your home, you must nevertheless remain concerned about your car as well as other goods stored inside being exposed to that artificial heat.

Similarly, dents are significantly simpler to create in aluminium garage doors. Your aluminium garage is vulnerable to the elements, including hail, strong winds, and active kids.

Garage Doors Made Of Steel

Steel garage doors are the result of combining the aesthetic value of wood with the low maintenance requirements of aluminium and increasing the energy efficiency of all three materials. For homeowners, it's the best choice.

Steel garage doors can be personalised in numerous ways, including with panels, window inserts, and paint or wood grain patterns.

That allows you to appreciate the natural beauty of wood without the maintenance hassles.

Steel garage doors, like aluminium ones, require almost no upkeep. They don't need to be decorated or stained and won't warp, rot, or enlarge when exposed to water. Steel garage doors are the easiest to operate of any material.

Metal garage doors are also great since they save money on energy bills year-round. With its foam core, these doors seal off your garage so that your climate control stays put. Your utility expenses will go down and your garage contents will be safe from the elements if you do this.

Steel doors are the most long-lasting choice. Steel is resistant to dents and dings caused by hail or backyard basketball. Your steel garage will last for many years and still look great.

Garage Doors Made Of Glass

Glasses garage doors are indeed a bit more cutting-edge than conventional wooden or metal doors.

They're not exactly secure, which is a factor. Everyone can look inside your house at any time. That way, they'll always be aware of your whereabouts.

The difficulty is that no matter how thick or durable the glass is, it cannot compete with the longevity of materials like wood, steel, or aluminium. Hence, over time, you should expect to witness damage from things like hail and severe winds in the form of chips and cracks.

The openness that glass garage doors provide is a major selling point for many homeowners. This would be a great solution if the weather ever cooperated with your plan to convert your garage into a habitable room.

The location of your garage is another factor to consider. You may feel less concerned about intruding upon others if it is located in the backyard. But, glass garage doors are not something we would suggest.

Garage Doors Made Of Fiberglass

The fibreglass garage door is one of the lighter solutions. Because to its lightweight construction, it makes less noise when opening and closing.

They are also resistant to warping, rotting, and expanding due to moisture exposure, comparable to the various garage door materials mentioned above.

Fibreglass garage doors are notoriously inefficient because they are poor insulators.

As a result, the outside air will be capable of entering your home, making you uncomfortable all year long. The cost of utilities like heating and cooling will also rise.

Fibreglass garage doors, in particular, are notorious for cracking in the winter. Fibreglass garage doors may not be the best choice due to the bitterly cold winters.

Garage Door Types And How They Open

That's a lot of data to process, but we're just scratching the surface here. The way in which a garage door swings open is another useful distinction. Some lean inward, while others are segmented. Discover the many garage door options based on their opening mechanism.

Garage Doors In Sections

Modular Garage Doors are a relatively recent innovation in the Garage Door market, and they let you personalise your garage door in terms of style, colour, and finish.

Amazing additions to sectional garage doors include thermal insulation, windows, and ventilation grilles.

Such garage doors could be opened and closed manually, but an automatic opener customised to the door's length, weight, and number of panels is recommended for optimal use.

You probably have a sectional garage door, as they are the most popular style of garage door among homeowners.

The sectional garage door has a panel that is divided into individual pieces (thus the name) and attached to one another with hinges. The flexibility of a garage door panel is facilitated by the hinges.

If you have a sectional garage door, it will roll up a track and into your garage until it hits the ceiling. After that, it will continue to curve and travel alongside the horizontal track until it reaches the roof of your garage.

Garage Doors That Roll Up

Roll-up doors offer an inexpensive design alternative for locations with low ceilings and are more common in business than residential settings. This design utilises steel slat sections between 2" and 3" in width that move around a drum situated above the door aperture.

Heavy use is no problem for roll-up or coiling doors, which can be constructed without springs or encased to protect against rust, corrosion, even freezing.

The roll-up variant is more expensive than a segmented form up front because of its robust construction.

Have you ever needed to transport a huge poster board but were prevented from doing so due to its bulk? Tell me what you did. I imagine you coiled it into a tight cylinder. Rolling garage doors experience the same problem.

A roll-up garage door, when opened, begins to move around a barrel mounted within the garage above the door opening. The horizontal slats that make up the door's construction make it flexible enough to follow the building's curves and twists.

It's unlikely that you'll come across any houses with roll-up garage doors. Nonetheless, these garage doors are common in warehouses and other industrial settings.

Garage Doors That Slide To The Side

The side-sliding garage door, as its name suggests, slides to one of the garage's sides and rests in a wall-to-wall configuration.

They were one of the earliest operational designs, and they were initially designed for low-ceilinged garages.

They move along with lower carts that are adjustable to accommodate for uneven surfaces.

Slide-to-the-side doors include a retractable motor and no balancing springs, so they can be operated automatically without a ceiling-mounted operator.

One of the early ways to operate a garage door was by sliding it to one side or around a corner. These types of garage doors are less common today.

Then how do you get through them? Slide the garage doors to the side, pivot to one side, and run parallel to a wall instead of bending upward or running parallel to the ceiling.

A garage door that slides to the side is unusual, but not unheard of in spaces with limited headroom.

Garage Doors With Side Hinges

The garage doors of this relic of the past open and close with a swivelling motion thanks to a movable frame on either sides of the door's aperture.

Most commonly constructed from wood, these doors can come in galvanised steel for a more industrial look.

These traditional garage doors have been seeing a resurgence in popularity as of late, particularly in situations where there are impediments or low ceilings. Garage doors that open on the side can be installed into pre-existing steel frames or purchased separately. In addition, they are automatable with the use of conversion arms.

The sides hinged garage door, commonly known as a swing-out garage door, is another common type of garage door. When open, they resemble massive barn doors.

Side hinge garage doors feature hinges on the sides rather than between the panels (as the name suggests). The doors can now be opened by swinging open instead of lifting or sliding. Hinge direction can be altered to open either inside or outwards from the house.

Garage Door Rollers

When most people think of a garage door, whether automatic or manual, it's a Roller Garage Door that comes to mind.

Our Roller Garage Door is indeed an excellent choice for both commercial and residential settings due to its durability and convenience. A Roller Garage Door is typically installed in a garage or to replace an existing fence (rather than a fence gate).

The steel curtain of a roller garage door swings vertically upward and rolls around a drum, providing stability and strength thanks to the door's ribbed design.

This reminds me of the metaphor where the garage door "rolls up like a carpet" and rests above the garage opening. Installed as either a manually operated or electronically operated garage door, this is a simple way to boost the safety of your house or business.

Garage Doors With Tilt

Tilt-up canopy garage doors, like side-hinged varieties, are constructed entirely of one piece.

They can be tilted up and into the garage thanks to the pivoting hinge mechanism. When open, the canopy door extends in front of the house past the ceiling of the garage.

Unlike sectional garage doors that move to one side or overhead, tilt-up doors only have a single panel. Instead, they tilt up into your garage when opened. Tilt-up garage doors might be either one of two distinct varieties:

The most common type of tilt-up garage door is the canopy design. A rotating hinge mechanism raises the door, allowing it to slide back level to the ceiling of your garage.

Whenever the door is open, a small portion of it will protrude beyond the exterior wall of your house. Similar in function to a canopy door frame, a tilt-up retractable door keeps the garage enclosed and out of sight when open. A tilt-up extendable garage takes up more room than an adjustable canopy garage door since the door pivots on its own hinges and is not attached to the frame.

While modular garage doors have won the hearts of homeowners everywhere, some people still prefer the convenience of tilt-up doors. Tilt-up doors are typically more expensive and more harder to operate than sectional garage doors, so keep that in mind as you weigh your options.

Retractable Garage Doors That Tilt Up/Up And Over

Tilt-up retractable doors are similar to canopies in that they may be raised and retracted into the roof of a garage. Yet, as they are not attached to the house's frame, they do not jut out in front.

More room is needed for this setup compared to standard canopy garage doors. Some homeowners may prefer this model despite its higher price and more complicated operation.

Garage Doors: Single Vs. Double

When it comes the width, garage doors can be either single or double. Single-car doors allow for one vehicle to pass across, while double-car doors allow for two cars to pass through.

The standard width for a single garage door is 8 feet, while the standard width for a double door is 16 feet, though these dimensions are not set in stone. Thus, before you go out and buy a garage door, make sure that measure the opening.

Garage Door Template Vs. Custom-Built Garage Door

Choosing between a prefabricated door and a door made specifically for your garage is equally important.

Garage doors sold in home improvement stores tend to be generic, one-size-fits-all affairs. There are no customization options for the door's appearance or dimensions.

Your garage door can be built to your exact specifications, including size, colour, window inserts, and hardware. Make your ideal garage door a reality by following these steps.

You are aware that the standard height for a single door is 8 feet and the standard height for a double door is 16 feet, but that these measurements are not always reliable. It can be difficult to find a standard garage door that will work with a non-standard opening.

Conclusion

Garage doors can be a difficult concept to understand, but there are many alternatives to choose from. Wood garage doors are attractive, but are not practical for most households. Composite garage doors are a more affordable alternative to solid wood doors, and are constructed from high-density fibreboard. These materials are more concerned with aesthetics than with withstanding severe weather conditions. Wood-composite garage doors are efficient and can withstand wet and windy conditions, while aluminium garage doors are vulnerable to the elements.

Steel garage doors are the best choice due to their aesthetic value, low maintenance requirements, and energy efficiency. Glass garage doors are more cutting-edge than conventional wooden or metal doors, as they can be personalised with panels, window inserts, and paint or wood grain patterns. They are also the easiest to operate and save money on energy bills year-round. Glass garage doors are popular due to their openness and security, but they are not as durable as wood, steel, or aluminium. Fibreglass garage doors are inefficient due to their poor insulators, and are notorious for cracking in the winter.

Modular garage doors are a recent innovation that let homeowners personalise their garage door in terms of style, colour, and finish. They can be opened and closed manually or with an automatic opener. The sectional garage door has a panel that is divided into individual pieces and attached to one another with hinges. The roll-up garage door, when opened, begins to move around a barrel mounted within the garage above the door opening. Side-sliding garage doors slide to one of the garage's sides and rest in a wall-to-wall configuration.

These types of garage doors are less common today, but are still common in warehouses and other industrial settings. The most important details in this text are the different types of garage doors, such as side hingses, roller doors, tilt-up canopy doors, and swing-out garage doors. Side hingses open and close with a swivelling motion, while roller doors swing vertically upward and roll around a drum, providing stability and strength. Tilt-up canopy garage doors are constructed entirely of one piece, and can be tilted up and into the garage thanks to the pivoting hinge mechanism. These doors are popular in commercial and residential settings due to their durability and convenience.

Tilt-up garage doors only have a single panel and tilt up into your garage when opened. They can be either one of two distinct varieties: the canopy design, which raises the door to the ceiling, or the extendable design, which keeps the garage enclosed and out of sight when open. Tilt-up doors are typically more expensive and harder to operate than sectional garage doors, so keep that in mind when weighing your options. Garage doors are not attached to the house's frame and require more room than standard canopy garage doors. They can be single or double, with the standard width being 8 feet and the standard height being 16 feet.

When choosing a garage door, it is important to measure the opening and choose between a prefabricated door and a door made specifically for your garage. It can be difficult to find a standard garage door that will work with a non-standard opening.

Content Summary:

• Some people find garage doors to be a difficult concept to grasp.
• This is because you may choose from a wide variety of garage door styles that are each created with a specific purpose in mind.
• A door alarm that really can detect movement up to 30 feet away is a good idea, for instance, if your kids are still in school.
• Wooden or fibreglass panel are always an option if you'd prefer a door with a more refined appearance than the typical steel panels.
• Many alternatives exist.
• If you're not sure what kind of garage door would be best for your needs, check out the article we wrote about the topic below.
• The material a garage door is constructed from has a significant impact on its functionality.
• Certain materials are more concerned with aesthetics than with withstanding severe weather conditions.
• Listed below, you'll learn about the various components that can make up a garage door.
• When it comes to aesthetics, few materials can compete with just a wood door frame.
• It features a classic style that will wow your relatives and neighbours.
• Wood garage doors are attractive, but are they practical for most households?Just to cut to the chase: no.
• Wooden garage doors are good at conserving energy, but they don't do well when exposed to the elements, such as snow, rain, or hail.
• This is because cells swell, decay, and deform when wet.
• Your garage door's aesthetic value, for which wood is typically chosen, will suffer greatly if you do this.
• Moreover, they require a lot of care and attention.
• Maintaining their attractiveness will need annual painting or staining.
• So, you need to invest a lot of time and money into maintaining your wooden garage door.
• In terms of expenditures, wooden garage doors are prohibitively expensive.
• This is because they are commonly thought of as the gold standard when it comes to garage doors because of their timeless elegance.
• Garage doors made of wood composites are a more affordable alternative to solid wood doors.
• Wood-composite garage doors are rather efficient, which is a plus.
• The polystyrene insulation at their centres keeps warm or cool air in your garage where it belongs.
• A wooden garage door can't perform what aluminium garage doors can.
• They can withstand the wet and windy conditions since they do not twist, rot, or swell.
• The price is also much lower for them.
• This is not to say that aluminium lacks any issues.
• You will quickly discover this summer that aluminium is a poor heat conductor.
• Because of this, the temperature in your garage will rise to intolerable levels.
• An attached garage can increase your monthly energy costs because your air conditioner will have to work harder to maintain a comfortable temperature inside the house.
• Even though your garage isn detached from your home, you must nevertheless remain concerned about your car as well as other goods stored inside being exposed to that artificial heat.
• Similarly, dents are significantly simpler to create in aluminium garage doors.
• Your aluminium garage is vulnerable to the elements, including hail, strong winds, and active kids.
• Steel garage doors are the result of combining the aesthetic value of wood with the low maintenance requirements of aluminium and increasing the energy efficiency of all three materials.
• For homeowners, it's the best choice.
• Steel garage doors can be personalised in numerous ways, including with panels, window inserts, and paint or wood grain patterns.
• That allows you to appreciate the natural beauty of wood without the maintenance hassles.
• Steel garage doors, like aluminium ones, require almost no upkeep.
• They don't need to be decorated or stained and won't warp, rot, or enlarge when exposed to water.
• Steel garage doors are the easiest to operate of any material.
• Metal garage doors are also great since they save money on energy bills year-round.
• With its foam core, these doors seal off your garage so that your climate control stays put.
• Your utility expenses will go down and your garage contents will be safe from the elements if you do this.
• Steel doors are the most long-lasting choice.
• They're not exactly secure, which is a factor.
• Everyone can look inside your house at any time.
• That way, they'll always be aware of your whereabouts.
• The difficulty is that no matter how thick or durable the glass is, it cannot compete with the longevity of materials like wood, steel, or aluminium.
• Hence, over time, you should expect to witness damage from things like hail and severe winds in the form of chips and cracks.
• The openness that glass garage doors provide is a major selling point for many homeowners.
• This would be a great solution if the weather ever cooperated with your plan to convert your garage into a habitable room.
• The location of your garage is another factor to consider.
• You may feel less concerned about intruding upon others if it is located in the backyard.
• But, glass garage doors are not something we would suggest.
• The fibreglass garage door is one of the lighter solutions.
• Because to its lightweight construction, it makes less noise when opening and closing.
• They are also resistant to warping, rotting, and expanding due to moisture exposure, comparable to the various garage door materials mentioned above.
• Fibreglass garage doors are notoriously inefficient because they are poor insulators.
• As a result, the outside air will be capable of entering your home, making you uncomfortable all year long.
• The cost of utilities like heating and cooling will also rise.
• Fibreglass garage doors, in particular, are notorious for cracking in the winter.
• Fibreglass garage doors may not be the best choice due to the bitterly cold winters.
• That's a lot of data to process, but we're just scratching the surface here.
• The way in which a garage door swings open is another useful distinction.
• Some lean inward, while others are segmented.
• Discover the many garage door options based on their opening mechanism.
• Modular Garage Doors are a relatively recent innovation in the Garage Door market, and they let you personalise your garage door in terms of style, colour, and finish.
• The sectional garage door has a panel that is divided into individual pieces (thus the name) and attached to one another with hinges.
• The flexibility of a garage door panel is facilitated by the hinges.
• If you have a sectional garage door, it will roll up a track and into your garage until it hits the ceiling.
• After that, it will continue to curve and travel alongside the horizontal track until it reaches the roof of your garage.
• Roll-up doors offer an inexpensive design alternative for locations with low ceilings and are more common in business than residential settings.
• This design utilises steel slat sections between 2" and 3" in width that move around a drum situated above the door aperture.
• Heavy use is no problem for roll-up or coiling doors, which can be constructed without springs or encased to protect against rust, corrosion, even freezing.
• The roll-up variant is more expensive than a segmented form up front because of its robust construction.
• Have you ever needed to transport a huge poster board but were prevented from doing so due to its bulk?
• Rolling garage doors experience the same problem.
• A roll-up garage door, when opened, begins to move around a barrel mounted within the garage above the door opening.
• The horizontal slats that make up the door's construction make it flexible enough to follow the building's curves and twists.
• It's unlikely that you'll come across any houses with roll-up garage doors.
• Nonetheless, these garage doors are common in warehouses and other industrial settings.
• The side-sliding garage door, as its name suggests, slides to one of the garage's sides and rests in a wall-to-wall configuration.
• They were one of the earliest operational designs, and they were initially designed for low-ceilinged garages.
• They move along with lower carts that are adjustable to accommodate for uneven surfaces.
• Slide-to-the-side doors include a retractable motor and no balancing springs, so they can be operated automatically without a ceiling-mounted operator.
• Then how do you get through them?
• Slide the garage doors to the side, pivot to one side, and run parallel to a wall instead of bending upward or running parallel to the ceiling.
• A garage door that slides to the side is unusual, but not unheard of in spaces with limited headroom.
• The garage doors of this relic of the past open and close with a swivelling motion thanks to a movable frame on either sides of the door's aperture.
• Most commonly constructed from wood, these doors can come in galvanised steel for a more industrial look.
• These traditional garage doors have been seeing a resurgence in popularity as of late, particularly in situations where there are impediments or low ceilings.
• Garage doors that open on the side can be installed into pre-existing steel frames or purchased separately.
• In addition, they are automatable with the use of conversion arms.
• The sides hinged garage door, commonly known as a swing-out garage door, is another common type of garage door.
• When open, they resemble massive barn doors.
• Side hinge garage doors feature hinges on the sides rather than between the panels (as the name suggests).
• The doors can now be opened by swinging open instead of lifting or sliding.
• Hinge direction can be altered to open either inside or outwards from the house.
• When most people think of a garage door, whether automatic or manual, it's a Roller Garage Door that comes to mind.
• Our Roller Garage Door is indeed an excellent choice for both commercial and residential settings due to its durability and convenience.
• A Roller Garage Door is typically installed in a garage or to replace an existing fence (rather than a fence gate).The steel curtain of a roller garage door swings vertically upward and rolls around a drum, providing stability and strength thanks to the door's ribbed design.
• This reminds me of the metaphor where the garage door "rolls up like a carpet" and rests above the garage opening.
• Installed as either a manually operated or electronically operated garage door, this is a simple way to boost the safety of your house or business.
• Tilt-up canopy garage doors, like side-hinged varieties, are constructed entirely of one piece.
• Unlike sectional garage doors that move to one side or overhead, tilt-up doors only have a single panel.
• Instead, they tilt up into your garage when opened.
• Tilt-up garage doors might be either one of two distinct varieties:The most common type of tilt-up garage door is the canopy design.
• A rotating hinge mechanism raises the door, allowing it to slide back level to the ceiling of your garage.
• Whenever the door is open, a small portion of it will protrude beyond the exterior wall of your house.
• Similar in function to a canopy door frame, a tilt-up retractable door keeps the garage enclosed and out of sight when open.
• A tilt-up extendable garage takes up more room than an adjustable canopy garage door since the door pivots on its own hinges and is not attached to the frame.
• While modular garage doors have won the hearts of homeowners everywhere, some people still prefer the convenience of tilt-up doors.
• Tilt-up doors are typically more expensive and more harder to operate than sectional garage doors, so keep that in mind as you weigh your options.
• Tilt-up retractable doors are similar to canopies in that they may be raised and retracted into the roof of a garage.
• Yet, as they are not attached to the house's frame, they do not jut out in front.
• More room is needed for this setup compared to standard canopy garage doors.
• Some homeowners may prefer this model despite its higher price and more complicated operation.
• When it comes the width, garage doors can be either single or double.
• Single-car doors allow for one vehicle to pass across, while double-car doors allow for two cars to pass through.
• The standard width for a single garage door is 8 feet, while the standard width for a double door is 16 feet, though these dimensions are not set in stone.
• Thus, before you go out and buy a garage door, make sure that measure the opening.
• Choosing between a prefabricated door and a door made specifically for your garage is equally important.
• Garage doors sold in home improvement stores tend to be generic, one-size-fits-all affairs.
• There are no customization options for the door's appearance or dimensions.
• Your garage door can be built to your exact specifications, including size, colour, window inserts, and hardware.
• Make your ideal garage door a reality by following these steps.
• You are aware that the standard height for a single door is 8 feet and the standard height for a double door is 16 feet, but that these measurements are not always reliable.
• It can be difficult to find a standard garage door that will work with a non-standard opening.