Functional and easy to use, the overhead / sectional garage door has been the most prevalent type of garage door in the last few decades in the U.S. Composed of several panels that slide inside tracks via rollers, the door when it is actuated, is housed under the ceiling of the garage thus freeing up a maximum of storage space. This type of door has several advantages: excellent performance in thermal insulation, optimal use of the garage by saving space, good security, and a nice aesthetic appearance.

How to choose your garage door?

While taking into account your budget, you must be attentive to quality, safety, the comfort of use, and aesthetics.

Ideally, the garage door would match the architecture of your home and the rest of your exterior joinery, but also operate several times a day, it must be reliable and robust.

Here are some essential criteria to take into account to help you in your choice.

1) The choice of materials and the type of panels

There is a wide range of materials on the market, such as steel, wood, and aluminum, to name a few. The door must first be in harmony with all the exterior joinery of your home. The insulation performance and safety will also condition your choice.

Most doors are made of steel panels insulated with polyurethane foam. Be careful that there are non-insulated sectional doors on the market which are not advisable when your garage door is integrated into your home. The thickness and insulation of the panel is a very important criterion.

As for the design of these sandwich panels, know that there are many models that can match the style of your home.

There are also sectional wooden doors. However, it must be taken into account that the wood requires maintenance.

2) The color

Our Clopay garage doors can be painted in any of the Sherwin-Williams color schemes.

3) The motorization

For your comfort and safety, do not hesitate to choose a garage door with an integrated motor / electric opener. This will allow you to close or open your door remotely with remote control, and even from far away using your cell phone.

The openers vary according to the type of garage door and they do not have the same speed, nor the same sound. You can read about the different types of openers here.

4) Security

Check if your garage door has an anti-lift lock for burglary protection. An electric opener should do the job of locking a door even if it doesn’t have a lock on. However, to ensure the safety of your home, a lock would give ease of mind.

5) The budget

Before you find out about what the market has to offer, you should first determine your budget according to your requirements and needs, knowing that prices vary depending on the material and the model.

In summary, the installation of a garage door is an important investment that requires a good reflection on certain criteria, so do not hesitate to inquire with the approved suppliers.

Summer Garage Door Maintenance

Garage doors today are built to last 15 to 20 years. If you want to maximize the use of your door, you will need to give it a periodic summer garage door maintenance, to ensure that you catch any problems early. And with the summer months, comes summer maintenance for your home. There are important summer maintenance tasks to be done. The heat and humidity of the summer can make a garage extremely uncomfortable and this could be dangerous if combustible supplies are stored in a garage. Here are some of the ways we would help in maintaining your garage doors during the summer.

Check the Hardware for wear and tear: during summer, it is important to check for signs of broken or bent hinges, wear or tear, rusty rollers, rusty springs and other hardware that needs to be tightened well. You need to check for all the lifting cables that are not operating properly and fix them. Regardless of the number of years you have been using your garage door, it should open and close smoothly. If yours doesn’t, the springs may need some adjustment or greasing. We would check the brackets at the bottom, the pulley and cable system to change the ball bearings of the pulleys that might have worn out with constant usage.
Clean and lubricate the hardware: it is advisable to inspect all the parts of the door every weekend during the summer months. The hardware of the door should be free from debris or build-up caused by lack of proper lubrication. If you find out that there is dirt in this area, use an old toothbrush or paint brush to remove the dirt build-up and lubricate the door if necessary. All the other parts of the door should be well lubricated always in order to prevent a noisy door when it is been opened or closed. It is advisable to use a grease based lubricant such as a lithium or silicon spray.
Test the Garage door balance: if your garage door is not properly balanced, the garage door opener will have to work harder, this won’t make the door last as long as required. You can check your garage door balance by disconnecting the door opener by pulling the release handle (which is usually a red cord), manually move the door about halfway up. If it doesn’t stay put, the counterweight system is improperly balanced. We can help in repairing this particular problem.
Remove rust: if you can see any visual signs of rusting on any part of your unit, then it is time to do some work. After using sandpaper to remove the rust, a coat of exterior latex is added to prevent further rusting
Painting: it is the idea to wash and paint your garage door during summer months. Steel and aluminum door can be washed easily with household detergent. Steel doors should be painted with 100 percent acrylic latex exterior paint, no oil based paint. Make sure you clean the door first so that it is free of dirt or oil.

Proper summer time maintenance can help keep your items away from extreme temperature changes and also extend the life of your garage door.

Garage Door Sensors and Sunlight

Is the Sun Interfering With Your Garage Door Sensor?

Did you get home, park your car in the garage, hit the wall button to shut it, and halfway through it stopped, and reversed back up? You have checked that nothing is blocking the sensors’ beam and made sure all wires are connected properly, and still, the same thing happens over and over again?

It May Be Caused by Sunlight

Sunlight can interfere with the sensors’ beam and cause them to act as if an object blocks them. Many years ago, sensors weren’t common. Nowadays, for safety reasons, most garage doors have them. The sensors only work when the door is in the process of closing. If something prevents the sensors from pointing directly at each other, and hence, break the beam, the photocell will reverse the door from closing to opening. If this problem keeps reoccurring, and the door won’t shut, simply press and hold the wall button continually until the door is fully closed. As soon as the door passes the sensors’ line, the sunlight won’t interfere with the beam anymore and the door will remain shut.

Another thing you can do to overcome this problem permanently is to set a cylinder shaped object around each of the sensors’ eyes, which will block the sunlight and prevent it from interfering with them.

Remember, the lens on each sensor must be kept clean and free of any obstructions at all times. Know that if you have more than one door adjacent to each other, the sensors may affect the smooth operation of the doors by providing a false signal.

Once in awhile, make sure that the sensors work properly. You can do it by sliding an object between them while closing the door. If the door keeps closing while the object is present, do not hesitate and call a professional garage door technician to fix this problem. Unfortunately, every year there are fatal incidents caused by malfunctioning sensors. Don’t overlook them!

How to Choose a Garage Door?