08 May 2017

What you need to know before you buy your garage door for your self-build project

When choosing a garage door for your self-build project, there are several options and things to consider. To help you decide on what style is right for you, Mark Lester, training manager at the UK’s leading garage door manufacturer Hörmann, has your questions answered.

What are the steps you would advise every self-builder takes when planning to buy a garage door?

Although it’s often one of the last decisions to be made on a self-build project, the choice of garage door is not necessarily an easy one. With so many styles and designs available, it can be hard to pick the right option for your home, especially as it’s a finishing touch that can have a huge impact on kerb appeal.

It might seem like a relatively minor aspect of your self-build, but the humble garage door should be considered as early on in the project as possible. You need to think about how the door will fit in with the overall style of your build, whether the garage is integral or detached, whether you require a manual or automated door and what you intend to use the space for. After all, if you’re planning to keep thousands of pounds worth of prized possessions in there, the door needs to be fairly robust and break-in resistant.

You also need to think about how its opening mechanism will fit within the space available. If you have your heart set on a specific design, it’s worth checking with your architect early on that your garage is a suitable size and shape.

When it comes to types of garage doors, which is the most popular style in the UK?

Due to the ease of installation, the variety of styles and lower cost, up and over garage doors are still the most popular type of garage doors in the UK. As this door is installed on most garages nationwide, individuals tend to still buy like for like, rather than looking at what else is on the market. When compared to some other types of garage doors, up and over doors may be less secure, have lower levels of thermal efficiency and can be difficult to automate.

In the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of people buying sectional and roller garage doors. Both these two styles of garage door offer higher levels of thermal efficiency and security, and are much easier to automate.

Both roller and sectional garage doors are designed to open vertically, which means that you can make full use of the space inside and in front of the garage. Hörmann’s range of RollMatic garage doors have not only been designed to fit to any type of opening, but also feature a variety of innovative details to provide you with security and comfort. For fitting situations with little lintel space and/or sideroom, Hörmann’s RollMatic garage doors can be fitted to the exterior of a garage opening.

For integral garages in particular, the door may need to be well insulated. Sectional doors are usually the best for this, and the better designs come with seals around all four sides of the door. Hörmann’s range of sectional garage doors have been designed to offer a style to suit you and your home. As they fit inside the garage, they can be used with any shape of opening and can offer more clear passage width when compared to an up and over door. As well as this, sectional garage doors are optimally sealed to help improve thermal efficiency and weather resistant.

Hormann’s standard LPU 42 can achieve u-values of 1.4 W/(m².K), but the latest development in its Sectional range, the LPU 67 Thermo, has been designed using 67mm thick polyurethane foam filled panels and double-lip seals. This offers 50% better thermal insulation with u-values as low as 0.91 W/(m².K). This range of garage doors also come with Hörmann's proven finger trap protection to help eliminate potential trap zones both internally and externally.

How can people keep their garage secure?

Whether it’s in the form of a prized motor, family bikes or DIY equipment, when it comes to keeping your possessions safe, securing your garage door properly should be at the forefront of your decision process. Good quality doors will offer multi-point locking, but for added peace of mind, choose a design with police approved Secured by Design accreditation. These doors have been put through their paces by experts to prove that they can withstand common methods of forced entry.

With a huge selection of garage doors on the market, it is important to be able to differentiate between the various options. A high-quality product, carefully selected, will only add to a property’s appeal for years to come.

www.hormann.co.uk      01530 51688

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