Canopy Up And Over
When open, the type of up and over garage door gear that is most popular, called canopy protrudes from the frame forming a ‘canopy’ when opening. There is a torsion spring above the panel of the garage door to enhance lifting of the door via conical drums and steel cables attached to the ends of the spring. The canopy mechanism cannot be used safely on doors with a width of more than 2438 mm (8 feet) because they are too heavy. Retractable gear is usually used to operate heavier garage doors.
Canopy doors can be installed easily and quickly and when open, they support the full drive through width unlike doors using a retractable mechanism. You can make this type of door remote control but a canopy bow arm convertor (motor) and other additional equipment is required and therefore it is expensive to convert.
Retractable Up And Over
This garage door type has become popular because it is reliable and it can be easily converted to remote control. In the lifting operation of the door panel, cables are not used but instead, lifting arms fitted with tension springs and mounted on the side are used in opening the door panel. When opening, the door panel is supported at each corner using rollers. One-piece doors that are over 2438mm wide (8 feet) use a standard retractable gear because larger springs and arms can support door panels that are extremely heavy unlike a canopy gear. Retractable gear can also be used on smaller width doors.
Because lifting arms are in the subframe, when opening the door, the drive through width reduces. Most manufacturers offer an option of a retractable gear that has raised pivot points to support the large drive through width on doors with a small width.
Retractable Plus Up And Over
It is similar to the retractable gear but the position of the lifting arms is higher on the frame and door panel to allow full drive though width on most cars with wing mirrors. This gear is not useful if you have a van or a 4×4 because the position of the wing mirrors is higher than in a car.
It is available only on a few standard door sizes and it is mostly used for smaller doors with a 2134 mm (7 feet) width and below.
Sectional Garage Door
It is a popular door type in the U.S. and U.K. market. It offers large size ranges, no swing out, insulated options, enhanced security and smooth opening properties.
The advantage of this door type over up and over doors is that when closing or opening, it does not swing out because the door is split into panels that operate in vertical tracks to follow the roofline of the garage. Each panel has two rollers that give a positive and rigid movement and makes it possible to use large widths in double skinned door panels with 20 or 40 or 45 mm thick options. This garage door mechanism can go higher than other door types and can be converted easily to remote control operation.
Roller Shutter Door
The mechanism is easy to accommodate. Horizontal slats made from aluminum or steel roll down and up on a barrel. During operation, the mechanism does not swing out and is fixed behind the structural opening to maximize height and width when open. The main variations are in the design of the slats in the ‘curtain’ of the door. There are various slats but the most common slat used for garage doors is a foam filled, double skinned aluminum slat. When the door is open, the roll’s size is determined by the depth and thickness of the slat. The headroom you require in the garage is given by the size of the roll.
A roller shutter made from galvanized steel ‘curtain’ offers good value for money but it has a larger roll. These garage doors can be remote control or manual operation.
Many roller garage doors are motorized because of the motor’s relative price compared to locking, springing and other elements used in manual doors. The price difference in insignificant when you include all safety elements.
You can find several colored finishes. It is the most compact garage door solution.
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