If you are looking to purchase a new garage door or are thinking of replacing your existing one, you are literally spoiled with choices. You can select steel, wooden, or plastic doors. Among them, wooden doors are the best ones as they are beautiful, elegant and heavy. However, wooden types can be costly since they require complex openers. Also, they usually have shorter warranties when compared to steel.
Steel garage doors also function very well and are quite affordable too. They are available in single, double & triple layer versions. If you have unattached and unheated garages go for the single layer door which consist only a single sheet of steel. You can also opt to buy doors made of steel which have wooden overlays. This will give the steel doors a wood like look with an R-value and make them lighter.
Another thing to take into account when selecting garage doors is the type of weather where you live. In case you live in a cold place, go for an insulated door. Don’t opt for cheap doors with low R-value as they will lose much heat. Double Garage Door Lock Bar Kit and triple layer types generally have two steel sheets sheltered around a foam nucleus. Choose a door with a center foamed in polyurethane in preference to polystyrene. Also, select garage doors which have an R value in the range 8-11.
If you’re buying a steel garage gate, ensure that it have a 24 gauge steel paneling made on polyester and primer top coats. Also beat the warranty period in mind. It should be ideally ten years or more. Also, you can go for a roller type door if you have very limited space.
Nearly all garage door openers have chains with electric motors. These motors are controlled by computer to move the door up together with the jack shaft & screw. These chain drive units are very popular. Another more High End Garage Door Opener silent alternative are belt drives. Their prices are also almost alike to chain drives. Screw driver units seem more rugged compared to chain drive openers. Nevertheless, they open more slowly and are costlier.
If you have very less space in your garage jackshaft drive openers will be a good option as they can put whole of the opening mechanism off to a side. Also, recently mechanisms operated by computer are also there that hoist the opener over the door. This saves room in your garage. In this case belts and chains are not needed as here a direct drive electric motor raises the door. An infrared sensor also comes with every single door opener. It helps to prevent accidents involving garage doors.