Frequently Asked Questions on Garage Doors

There are quite a few factors to consider here if your expectations are very high for insulation but some basic advice is easy to explain for most requirements.
The first thing to remember is to make sure that if you require a specific 'U' value (measurement of insulation) achieving for your garage then you need the 'installed' 'U' value and not the common quoted value of a piece of the panel used, this is very misleading, so beware.
The 3 best mainstream garage door types for insulation in order of performance are:
Sectional Garage Doors
Side Hinged Garage Doors
Roller Garage Doors
There are some good round the corner doors and also sliding doors with excellent insulated panels too but for mainstream garage doors we are looking only at the 3 above as a comparison.
Sectional Garage Door - This type of door can be purchased usually in 20mm or 40-45mm double skinned steel door panel sections with a foam core insulation inbetween. As the sectional door operated in a vertical plane the panels can benefit from rubber weather seals all around the fixing frame adding to the weather protection properties of this door. The only way however to get the full benefit of an insulated sectional door is to install the door BEHIND the structural opening so the door panels overlap the garage piers and lintel effectively giving a 'thermal break' and continuing the insulation offered by the garage walls itself.
Each panel on a good quality sectional door will have a rubber seal embedded in each of the profile joint sections to give the best possible seal between the individual panels and combined with seals on all sides including a large seal on the bottom panel you can achieve the best U value if installed correctly. Additional seals are now also available on Hormann LPU42 doors to increase insulation further by up to 15%. 
Insulated Side Hinged Doors - Side hinged doors have always been capable of offering high levels of insulation, just think about a freezer door, what is is? Hinged of course. Up until recently however no manufacturer had put in the effort of a double skinned, foam filled steel door set with rubber seals on a rebates edge all round. With a bottom edge threshold also with a seal built in you stand a chance here of a pair of large garage doors effectively sealing an opening very well indeed.
These are the Carteck Side Hinged doors and they are all made to order with an aluminium fixing sub frame included and high quality stainless steel furniture.
Of course properly installed GRP and timber side hinged doors can also offer pretty good insulation and you only need to get the right seals to make the doors weather resistant too. Take a look a the Woodrite Timber for a full range of options. Call for advice and prices if you are struggling.
Insulated Roller Garage Doors - The term insulated roller door is used to generically describe most aluminium roller garage doors sold in the UK. As we make no issues in constantly reminding people with roller garage doors that you really do only get what you pay for then you have to remember the same with insulation properties on these doors.
A good quality foam filled aluminium roller door will give good levels of insulation if installed behind the structural opening like the sectional door does. A cheap, poorly constructed double skinned roller door using inferior aluminium slats will not give much insulation and worse still will probably give you all sorts of headaches with rattling and motor problems - enough said, again!!
A roller door by its very nature is difficult to get a proper 'U' value for once installed as technically there is a gap, albeit small, between every slat and there are about 21 slats in the average height door. Install the door behind and add a full hood and you will definitely feel the benefits in the winter months however.
Good sized guides and slats with a thickness of about 20mm is about as good as you will get for a domestic garage door.
Take a look a the Seceuroglide Roller Door for one of the best roller doors in the UK.
The Hormann Rollmatic is also a winner as well as the Gliderol aluminium roller door.
If you are unsure then give us a call on (01926) 463888.

We have several garage doors to fit this category although the choice in all is limited really to only three manufacturers ranges.

Hormann
The Hormann Series 2000 range is considered by most to be the very best in the UK for totally standard size steel up and over doors.
They are all available with or without a steel box section fixing sub frame and are supplied in a high quality powdercoat white finish as standard with a range of colour options and operating gear mechanisms.
Without too much detail the doors are welded in the corners, constructed from box section struts than C channel sections, the locking is steel rods rather than a cable system and all parts are galvanised or zinc plated - and they have the best operating mechanism by far. The operating gear options are fully retractable or canopy (on doors up to 8 feet wide) and both types have their uses but generally you use canopy gear for doors up to 7'6" wide if you only want a manual operated door, and you have retractable gear on garage doors requiring electric operation. For any door over 8 feet wide the retractable gear is only ever used due to the weight of a door panel this size.
There are other reasons for one gear type over the other but if you are unsure then give us a call on (01926) 463888.
The Hormann series 2000 range offers one piece up and over doors at the most competitive prices for any door of this quality.
The range goes from 6'6" wide up to 14'0" wide in various standard heights.

Garador
If you want a bit more choice and maybe purpose made sizes to optimise an opening then look no further than the Garador range of up and over doors. The operating gear is the Hormann gear and the same high quality steel construction is used apart from welded corners.
The range of sizes is larger - right up to 16 feet wide from 6'6" and all the sizes inbetween for large single or small double garage openings. The same steel frame box section options are available with a range of colour options all powder coated.

GDO
For a very wide range of styles and sizes and colours in steel then we have our GDO range of garage doors. THis range covers all the right sizes and also offers 18 standard colours to choose from.
Standard or purpose made and some modern and traditional designs with and wiothout window design options.

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