Hi, i was hoping for some help regarding a diy electric garage door

We have a canopy style garage door which is the entrance to our back yard. The yard is large enough to park two cars however we normally leave them out on the front street as we're both too lazy to open and close the garage door every evening after work. However my other half managed to snap one of the small steel ropes which are on both sides of the door (she obviously much stronger than me ). Anyway, rather than looking into repairing the existing garage door i though it could be an opportunity to look into a motorised one.

My questions are :

- how difficult is it to fit an electric garage door.
- suggestions on where to purchase
- rough idea of how much a basic motorise door costs (including any fittings)
- whats the easiest/cheapest style door to fit?

Also, our current garage door has a large metal girder running, horizontally, across the top of door. I assume this would need to come down for an electronic one to go in place?

On 2006-09-19 18:59:09 +0100, preecy said:


Hi, i was hoping for some help regarding a diy electric garage door

We have a canopy style garage door which is the entrance to our back
yard. The yard is large enough to park two cars however we normally
leave them out on the front street as we're both too lazy to open and
close the garage door every evening after work. However my other half
managed to snap one of the small steel ropes which are on both sides of
the door (she obviously much stronger than me ). Anyway, rather than
looking into repairing the existing garage door i though it could be an
opportunity to look into a motorised one.

My questions are :

- how difficult is it to fit an electric garage door. - suggestions on
where to purchase
- rough idea of how much a basic motorise door costs (including any
fittings)
- whats the easiest/cheapest style door to fit?

Also, our current garage door has a large metal girder running,
horizontally, across the top of door. I assume this would need to come
down for an electronic one to go in place?

You can get garage door openers that can be fitted to an existing door
quite effectively.

I had two of them until recently when the doors were replaced. They
are widely available. B&Q and Screwfix sell them for example.
Screwfix stock codes 95986 and 29522.

They will lift a reasonable weight, but the intent is that the door
should be reasonably well balanced rather than relying on that.

You can get bits for repair like cables and springs

http://www.amourelle.co.uk/ is a good source. It would be a good
plan to do that before fitting a motor.

Total time for the whole exercise - half a day.

On the other hand, if you want to make a replacement, there are a wide
range of products available.

In the mass market there are Garador, Henderson, Cardale and a few
others. Expect to pay £1-2k for one of these depending on size, design
and materials. There are loads of online places offering these.


I would avoid the really low end because they entail a real compromise
on material quality and probably won't last well.

In the mid to good quality market, Hoermann is probably the leader,
especially if you like the idea of a sectional door and it suits the
property. These are a good quality German product and I am not sure
of exact prices, but would suspect around £3-4k depending on style and
size.
http://www.hormann.co.uk/uk/en/

At the upper end you can go for substantial products and custom
designs. Silvelox is a good example here, but you could expect to pay
somewhat more...
http://www.silvelox.com/ENG/home_eng.htm

In all cases, fitting is not difficult but could be dangerous if you
are not careful. Even the cheaper doors have considerable weight and
there is plenty of potential for crushed fingers and other bits,
although once fitted, nowadays they are safer than older doors.
Certainly it's a two person job.

When looking at motors, make sure to go for something that at least
detects resistance to closing. Ideally there should be a light beam
near floor level and one on the door as well.

preecy wrote:

- whats the easiest/cheapest style door to fit?

Around here there are basically three types of electrically opening
garage doors.

1. Tilt door - in one piece that protrudes out the front while opening,
so you can't have the car too close. Has levers and springs that poke
backwards while opening. Usually has gaps all around the door that let
the weather in. Cheap and simple. Quiet while closing. Can have almost
any design, e.g. panels and windows in it. Good if there is limited
headroom. Burglars can poke a hooked wire through the gap at the top to
open the door unless well designed. Causes severe injury to people who
undo the bolts holding the springs.

2. Roller door. Limited to a horizontal corrugated design, that still
looks OK, but cannot have panelled design. Seals well. Can be noisy
when opening and closing. Very safe.

3. Sectional door. Has around 4 hinged sections held by a track on each
side. Can have panels and windows. Fairly quiet. Seals well against
weather. Needs lots of room above the door for the track and the chain
that closes it. If not enough room use a roller door. While closing, it
has gaps that can squeeze the fingers of children or stupid people.

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2006-09-19 18:59:09 +0100, preecy said:

Hi, i was hoping for some help regarding a diy electric garage door

In the mid to good quality market, Hoermann is probably the leader,
especially if you like the idea of a sectional door and it suits the
property. These are a good quality German product and I am not sure
of exact prices, but would suspect around £3-4k depending on style and
size.
http://www.hormann.co.uk/uk/en/

I'd second the recommendation for Hormann. I fitted one of these to
replace a broken Cardale up-and-over. The Hormann is completely
weathertight, insulated, quiet and looks very attractive (I think) with
the Georgian style panels. My model isn't electrified, though it is
designed specifically with that in mind (I had to modify it to make it
manual). Installation was an easy DIY job. I bought mine off ebay for
350 (7x7 EPU40 double steel skin, 20mm insulation, pre-coated white).
I've seen the motor/remote units listed there regularly as well.

If you want to buy from a more regular source, there's this lot (no
personal experience):
http://www.diygaragedoors.co.uk/sectionaldoors.htm
You didn't say what size your door is, but the pricing is in the
600-1200 range, much lower than Andy indicated. A motor adds a couple
of hundred on top.

-Antony

thanks all for your feed back, its much appreciated

As its a small garage door i was hoping i could pick up a motorised roller or sectional garage door for around the £500 mark. However judging from your feed back and googling the net i think £1000 is a more realistic figure.

Unfortunatly I think it's a case of having the exsisting door repaired for the time being as my other half has pretty much spent any savings we had on a trip to marituis. Any how thanks for links ill keep them for when my bank balance eventually comes out of the red

"preecy" wrote in message
news

thanks all for your feed back, its much appreciated

As its a small garage door i was hoping i could pick up a motorised
roller or sectional garage door for around the £500 mark. However
judging from your feed back and googling the net i think £1000 is a
more realistic figure.

Unfortunatly I think it's a case of having the exsisting door repaired
for the time being as my other half has pretty much spent any savings
we had on a trip to marituis. Any how thanks for links ill keep them
for when my bank balance eventually comes out of the red

http://www.garage-door-automation.co.uk/


Adam

"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
.uk...

"preecy" wrote in message
news

thanks all for your feed back, its much appreciated

As its a small garage door i was hoping i could pick up a motorised
roller or sectional garage door for around the £500 mark. However
judging from your feed back and googling the net i think £1000 is a
more realistic figure.

Unfortunatly I think it's a case of having the exsisting door repaired
for the time being as my other half has pretty much spent any savings
we had on a trip to marituis. Any how thanks for links ill keep them
for when my bank balance eventually comes out of the red

http://www.garage-door-automation.co.uk/


Adam

Ensure the door is really well balanced and lubricated before contemplating
ELECTRIC (not electronic) operation.