Garage Door FAQ
Below are factors to keep in mind when purchasing your next garage door. We can help you find the best one for you!
- Maintenance Requirements
- Insulation “R” Values i.e. Polystyrene v. Polyurethane
- Styles Available, for example, Raised Panel, Flush, Ribbed, Elongated Panels…
- Thickness – Thicker is not always better!
- Durability – Will it dent?
- Composition, for instance, Steel, Wood, Vinyl, Aluminum, Composite, Fiberglass
- Available Colors, Finishes and Window Options
- Strength and Gauge of Track, Hardware and Face Steel
- Security and Safety Issues
- Warranties
- Counterbalance Spring Mechanisms, i.e. Extension vs. Torsion
- Construction of Sections
- Available Options, for example, Quiet Glide Rollers, Top Seals, Emergency Disconnect, etc.
At Overhead Door, we firmly believe that the installation of a garage door is not a do-it-yourself job. A garage door is the largest moving object in your home and because of the large number of small parts, its installation is highly technical. Connecting the springs can be particularly dangerous and proper installation is critical to the performance of your door. One of the other services a professional installer can provide is the disposal of your old door, if you are replacing a door.
Professional installers can typically install a door in a few hours and are careful to make sure safety requirements are met. Installations by most homeowners typically span several days and cause much frustration. In addition, incorrect installation can void certain warranties, so we recommend a professional handle the job for you.
A garage door opening is a very large hole in your garage. Insulated doors will help to reduce the amount of outside temperatures that enter your garage, thus keeping it more comfortable for you. This is important for a number of reasons:
- If your garage is attached to your home, any air in the garage can travel through the doorway to your living area.
- If you use your garage as a workshop, your comfort will be a top priority.
- If your garage is below another room in your home, air can travel through the ceiling of the garage into the floor of the room above. An insulated door will keep temperatures in the garage fairly stable to reduce the temperature fluctuation in the room.
- An insulated door is generally quieter and has a more attractive interior than an un-insulated door.
There are two types of springs used on garage doors today…extension and torsion. Most people are more familiar with extension springs. These are the springs that are attached on either side of the door and stretch along the horizontal part of the track when the door is closed. Torsion springs are typically located just above the top section of the door and are mounted to the header. They are wound springs and do not expand or contract when the door is moved.
A torsion spring is a superior spring, primarily because it offers more safety to the homeowner and better balances the door to provide smoother operation. Overhead Garage Door’s single-car doors are equipped with extension springs as part of the standard hardware, torsion springs are available by request. All double-car doors are equipped with torsion springs.
Yes. Your professional garage door installer can install a sectional door for you by installing track and springs to accommodate a sectional door. Depending on the construction of your garage, other modifications might be necessary. We would advise you to ask your installer to evaluate the job prior to installation so that any modifications can be performed before installation.
Yes. Overhead Door makes residential doors in widths beginning at 4′ wide and continuing to 20’*. We can make any width between 4′ and 20′ in two-inch increments. In addition, virtually any height between 3’0″ and 12′ is available in three-inch increments. (*Not all models are available in this range of widths.)
Standard headroom applications require 12″ to 18″ of space between the bottom of the opening header and the unobstructed ceiling. However, Overhead Door specializes in custom-built applications. A variety of special track options are available and make it possible for many unusual garages to be fitted with doors. By using a low-headroom track, it is possible to install a door in an area that has as little as 4 1/2″ of headroom.
Other special track applications include:
- Vertical lift track, for use in situations where the ceiling is extremely high and the garage door has room to lift straight up.
- Follow-the-roofline track, which is used when the ceiling of the garage is pitched at the angle of the roof, making it desirable for the door to follow the same angle, thus providing additional overhead room.
- Hi-lift track, which is used when the ceiling is unusually high, but the door must still retract to a horizontal position.
- Steel doors are low maintenance. (Typically a wood door needs to be painted as frequently as the wood trim on your home due to weathering.)
- Steel doors have longer warranties than wood doors.
- Steel doors can be insulated, making them far more energy efficient than wood.
- We at Overhead Door have steel doors that are pre-painted and most are available in your choice of four colors. (Wood doors are unfinished or primed, both of which need to be finish painted upon installation.)
Overhead Door will properly dispose of your old garage door when we install a new garage door for a small additional fee. Discuss this with the salesperson when you get your estimate for your new door.
We recommend replacing your track when you replace your door because each brand of garage door has been specially designed to work with a specific type of track. In addition, replacing your track is an inexpensive way to ensure that your entire garage door system is as safe as possible. By replacing your track you also ensure that your door warranty will apply, in the event that you have a problem.
If an electric garage door opener has been installed on your door, it may not be necessary to have a lock. Newer electric openers function as the lock, making it improbable that an intruder would be able to lift your door from the outside. If you have an older opener, check to see if your door can be lifted from the outside.
DASMA, the trade association for the garage door industry, discourages homeowners from attaching a lock when an opener has been installed because too frequently, a child or other family member will accidentally lock the door. If someone then tries to open the door using the electric opener, the opener will pull against the lock causing the door to be damaged.
If no opener is installed on your door, you should certainly have a lock installed.
No. When comparing strengths of steel, remember, the lower the gauge number, the thicker (and stronger) the steel is.
Many manufacturers use R-values to show the energy efficiency of their product. This number is arrived at through a calculation that looks at the thickness of the insulation and its chemical properties. Therefore, most of the R-value numbers you se, reflect only the R-value of the section…not of the installed door. A door’s insulating capabilities can be greatly affected by the door’s construction. Polyurethane is a much better and more efficient insulator than polystyrene.
There are several tests you can perform to tell if your door is balanced:
- You should be able to raise your door in 1′ increments and the door should stay in place where you stop it.
- When the door comes down, it lowers in a controlled manner and doesn’t slam.
- When the door goes up, it is at a controlled pace.
- The bottom of the door should align with the bottom of the header when the door is in a raised position.
