Let's talk garage doors!

Personally i have always loved the look of the 1930s semis with double wooden doors with windows at the top .Something much more appealing to me about two side opening doors than up and over .

I went for a roller door, cost me ~£1200 for a single garage, but doesn't take up much space inside, looks good, is probably more secure and very convenient (wireless operation).

I've got 2 aluminium 20mm insulated roller doors on mine you might see them in the background on my van thread. They are remote opening and alarmed. I paid £2700 for the 2 and they are both just over 3m wide. You'd probably get a single for £1000 ish

I have a 4 section up & over - 4.3 metres wide - 2.15 metres high - it was already fitted to the garage when we purchased the property



For its size it's moves freely by hand and is double skin insulated and I can maintain a reasonably draught free workshop when its closed (critical for someone who undertakes quite a bit of paintwork in his workshop) only downside is that it reduces the ceiling height by 300mm when open - so if I have anything large in the workshop like the Range Rover or a van it gets somewhat tight for headspace

I would avoid anything that is only locked from the outside from a security point of view if you value what is inside the garage - I would much rather trapse through the side door to secure the side bolts on the inside of the main door than compromise the security of what is within the workshop

We put roller doors on ours a few years ago. Was relitivly expensive but the fact you didn't need to shell out for a frame aswell helped with that. It also makes the opening wider by 4 odd inches which is more useful than you might think also no headroom issues. They arnt insulated but really they don't need to be unless your heating the place.

Hotwire, perhaps the easiest way for a suitable result is to contact the planning department directly (as it's a conservation area) and find out what your not allowed to have. That will narrow down your options and then you can fine tune your priorities, do you want security, sound/heat insulation or ease of use, etc.

It's a sweetshop's worth of options out there (I have the similar problem as currently going through the planning process but for two garages with different uses) and sometimes someone neutral (planning department) focusing your mind can pay dividends. Good luck and remember it'll be three times what you want to spend and twice as much as you budgeted!!!!

Seems spendy? Found a five metres sectional insulated kit for £800 including opener. They’re an easy install.

Ah, I missed the “roller” bit - thanks, my mistake.

Nice to come home to as well of course...

When i built my garage a couple of years ago i was looking at all the options.

I decided on an insulated roller door for the following reasons:

Electric
Didn't take up ceiling space
Sealed along the bottom so prevented droughts and mice.


The sealing all round and insulating were key factors to me and it was a close choice between a roller or a sectional. No toher door can really do this especially traditional up and over doors or two half swing doors. In the end the ceiling space impacted the overall garage height so i went for a roller from Hormann.

Hormann wasn't cheap at all but there were some advantages i could see over others. Be very careful with roller doors as alot of cheap ones being sold are actually shop shutters and rattle and don't have safety cutouts.

The Hormann:

comes in a range of colours
Is sealed inbetween the slats
Has built in rubber seal at the bottom
Furry seals in the guide rails and in the hood
The safety cutout works on motor resistance and doesn't rely on a pressure strip added on usually with an ugly bungee cord (optical sensors are illegal)
10 year guarantee
Efficient motor
Built in light
The remotes are programmable to also work gates etc.
The door can build itself using clever packaging and an installation program.
I did it myself over a fun weekend.