Here is an essential guide to understanding the different garage door opener types. There’s more than one different kind of garage door, and to go with them there’s more than one different kind of garage door opener. If you’ve never had to pick one out before, you might find that this quick and simple guide to picking the right opener is useful in helping you to make the decision – which needn’t be at all complicated, though it’s something you’ll want to be sure to get right.
Manual Garage Door Openers
These are by far the cheapest form of garage door opener, and they’re the kind you’ll find on older garage doors that have been in use since before the sixties. (The electric opener was actually invented in the twenties, but wasn’t in ubiquitously common use till some decades later.) You won’t find them in many places any more, and they’re unlikely to be installed in new places. Garage doors opened in this way will usually be padlocked or have some other kind of locking mechanism to keep the things inside them safe.
Electric Garage Door Openers
Almost all garage doors now have electronic opening mechanisms, usually operated by a key pad that allows you to tap in a code to unlock the door and open it up – though the older versions just have a button to press, usually secured from intruders by being installed inside a locked box that you’ll need a key to open and shut. These have been around for a long time, and they’re now installed on basically all garage doors as a bare minimum. The doors open automatically without you needing to pull them, and they generally run on tracks or roll up into the garage ceiling.
Remote-Controlled Garage Door Openers
One increasingly popular subset of electric garage door opener is the remote control system – which means that, if you keep the remote in your car, you don’t even have to get out to park inside the garage. You’ll find that most of them have some kind of security feature, like a PIN to type into the remote or something of that nature. These are getting more and more secure as time passes, and they’re definitely a convenient alternative to a more traditional sort of way to open your garage door. They’re especially useful for anyone who has mobility problems, as you don’t need to get out of the car and then in it again before you can park. They can be costly and tricky to duplicate, however, meaning that you might end up not having as many remotes as you’d like to have – this is something to consider before choosing this kind of opener.
More Sophisticated Innovations in Garage Door Openers
As time passes, various innovations in door openers are made. One of the most interesting of these currently being developed is the fingerprint scanner – which means that everything is far more secure than it might otherwise be, and also that as many people as you like can be added to the database of prints that the door will recognize and unlock for. Then there are remote control systems more sophisticated than those mostly in use, as well as preliminary facial recognition systems and other things that should help garage door opening technology continue to develop in a way that is more secure and more convenient for drivers and others who live in a home with a garage.
All Four Seasons Garage Doors
We are the premier garage door vendor in Nashville. Based in Nashville, TN, we have been proudly serving residents of Music City since 1999. We offer a wide range of quality brands garage doors and openers, offer reliable and affordable service, 24/7 emergency service, free estimates, and more! For more information, call us today at (615) 274-8419!