A garage door can either be opened manually or by using a garage door opener. Although of many designs, most garage doors are sectional, upward-acting, and self-storing. Garage doors should be large enough to allow passage of automobiles or trucks.
Garage doors can be made out of many materials, but steel, aluminum, wood, and vinyl (polyethylene) are the most popular materials. Some manufacturers are making energy efficient garage doors by putting foamed-in-place polyurethane insulation in the steel door.
A common material for a new garage door is a roll formed steel sheet to look like a raised panel wooden door. Steel doors are available in non-insulated, insulated, and double skin steel. A design mimicking carriage house doors has become quite popular since about 2002, and many manufacturers clad the exterior of a steel door with composite or vinyl boards to give it an external appearance of wood. Steel carriage doors are becoming the most popular carriage door due to weight of the door, no rotting, and a large amount of designs. A more economical alternative for garage doors is steel stamped construction.
For those houses located in hurricane-prone areas, a wind loaded residential garage doors would provide safety and security. It is especially engineered and designed to withstand the strongest winds.
A typical overhead garage door consists of several panels hinged together that roll along a system of tracks guided by rollers. The weight of the door is balanced by either a torsion spring system or a pair of extension springs. For maintenance and safety, the balance of the door should be checked monthly. One should be able to raise and lower the door without any resistance and it should smoothly roll along the tracks and should remain stationary at any point of travel. Usually a door that does not pass these tests is out of balance and should be adjusted. It is usually recommended that only a trained door technician with the proper instructions or a mechanically experienced person adjust or replace the springs. All moving parts of the door should also be lubricated monthly.
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