Frequently Asked Questions on Garage Doors

Insulated garage doors will obviously give you a warmer garage if they are installed and specified correctly in the first place.
By their very nature insulated doors are always twin walled in construction and therefore also offer higher levels of panel strength whether in steel or aluminium. It is quite often the strength of the door panels which is more important and the insulation is a bonus. Panel strength also equates to higher security against attempted forced entry.
The highest levels of insulation come from the sectional type garage doors and the insulated roller doors generally do not have a specified 'U' value for insulation levels as they have too many areas where draughts and gaps are present. The best way to make sure an insulated roller door at least gives you a good level of insulation is to order the widest guides and a full hood cover to reduce the levels of air entering the garage. Some sectional garage door maufacturers now offer an upgrade on the standard frame mechanism to give even better levels of insulation for garages where it is important, i.e. rooms above, integral garage with rooms to the sides and back or where a lot of people nowadays are using the garage for a workshop, gym, office, playroom or other purpose.
Hormann offer the LPU42 as their insulated sectional door models and is 42mm thick. Carteck have recently introduced a range of stylish insulated side hinged garage doors, all made to measure with high quality hinges, locking and weatherseals and we think these offer excellent value for money for the specification. They are delivered with everything factory fitted including a fixing steel sub frame and for long term stability are head and shoulders above other types of side hinged doors.

Hormann, Carteck, Garador and SWS Sectional Doors are available in Any RAL Colour.
If you require a door in a certain RAL Colour, please ask to see if we can provide the colour you require. Extended lead-times will apply.
Hormann Timber Up and Over Doors in our online shop have the option to choose Any RAL Colour.
The new range of Insulated Side Hinged doors from Carteck also offer almost any RAL colour as options.
SWS Roller garage doors and round the corner doors probably offer the next highest level of colours and many laminate foil coating finishes are available, especially in woodgrain effects.
Up and Over Garage Doors and the Hormann Front Entrance Doors only have a limited range of colours available, any RAL Colour is not available.
Please also be aware that the gloss content of paint finishes does affect the light reflection and therefore the shade of the colour, although this is minimal on certain colours it is more obvious and although you may well have ordered the exact same RAL colour for the door as used on say your windows the colour may look slightly different in varying light conditions.

All the doors and other products on our website that have the option to be ordered as a made to order size will be processed in the normal way when you go through our checkout but we will send you an additional email confirmation to make sure you have understood the sizing and ordering references. Once you confirm this email we will process the order immediately.
This order process has prevented many doors being ordered with a misunderstanding of the order sizes related to the actual opening or overall sizes of some of the doors available. We are always at the end of a phone if you are not sure what to measure and how to order.
The best way is of course to order with both the overall size including a new sub frame and the ordering (opening) size that is the measurement of the frame inside.
There are a couple of exceptions to this system, the Hormann N80 and DF98 range of up and over garage doors which use a different ordering system altogether.

The ordering sizes for all the Seceuroglide insulated roller doors are the 'Overall Width' of the door curtain plus the side guides chosen. For example if you want a door opening size of 2250mm as this is your brickwork width and you are installing behind the piers, you add to this size the guides which are 75mm on a standard door so the 'Overall Width' becomes 2250 + 75 +75 = 2400mm.
The height is ordered from the 'Guide Height' without the endplates and curtain roll included so is the height to the top of the guides. For example you have a lintel height of 2150mm and again you are installing behind the brickwork opening (inside the garage), assuming you have sufficient internal headroom you would order the door as 2150mm 'Order Height' and the standard Seceuroglide door would come with 300mm endplates (with or without the optional hood cover) so your overall height would be 2450mm and that is what would be required internally from the floor to the ceiling as a minimum.
See our DIY installation guide >

The Series A and AA Gliderol single skin steel roller doors are ordered differently to most other roller garage doors in that you follow a simple set of rules which are made easier as this door cannot be installed inbetween a garage opening - you always have to install the guides and support brackets behind a structural opening or framework.
The order size reference is the opening width required plus the guides but not allowing for the fixing lugs at all.
The A series doors (singles) have 50mm added to the opening width and the AA series (doubles) have 100mm added to the opening size.



For example you have a garage brickwork opening of 2300 then you order the door width as 2350mm, simple, but you do have to be aware you require more width for the fixing lugs and the support brackets for the roll itself. The installation dimensions are always larger than the order sizes (width and height) on the Gliderol continuous curtain roller door series.
For the ordering height you simply order the opening height without the curtain roll which varies in diameter depending on the door height itself. Wherever possible and if you are not quite sure then you can order higher than you think and always cut the guides if required on site, these doors do have a great degree of flexibility in installation.
See our DIY ordering guide>

When you measure for either a replacement door or a door for a new garage you may not yet have decided on the type of garage door you want and where it is going to actually fit. If this is the case then you are best to measure everything including inside garage dimensions so you can discuss all possibilities, pros and cons.
If you are replacing an existing up and over garage door and it is on a good solid timber frame that you are leaving in place then you can just measure the internal dimensions of this frame but we still need to know the frame width as some newer doors require so much more width than certain older up and over garage doors do for the operating mechanisms.
A good start is our online survey form. Download this, print it out take the measurements and use it in your discussions .
Obviously we need the width and height of the actual opening itself but all the internal sideroom, headroom and depth is also needed for many door types such as roller and sectional doors. Also check if the opening is square if possible with a good level floor.
See our tips on 'measuring garage doors'

Generally the answer is no, sizes shown do not include the sub frame as most ordering sizes shown for the up and over and sectional doors tend to refer to the inside frame dimensions.
All garage doors need a fixing sub frame and for side hinged and up and over doors the frame is generally shown as an option as you can use either a factory steel frame or a generic timber frame to install the doors to the structural opening.
Roller and sectional garage doors always have a fixing frame/guides included and this is not an option but apart from roller garage doors the sectional door sizes all still refer to the inside frame dimensions.
Roller doors are ordered differently in general and you have to be very careful to make sure you get this right - some order as the inside guide dimensions and some order as the opening size plus the guides. Hormann and Garador are the exception to the general rule as their roller doors are ordered from the opening size unlike most others which are total width with the side guides. Gliderol steel continuous roller doors have a different system again with the order size opening size and overall size for installation being all different measurements.
See our Measuring Garage Doors guide for further information.

If you have an existing steel sub frame then you are most likely to have an up and over type garage door as your existing door and you cannot re-use this sub frame with a new door. This is because the dimensions, spring mechanism, weatherstrips and general fixing points will all be different for any new door.
If you have a timber sub frame already in place that is in good condition then you can certainly re-use it with a new garage door on a like for like size basis.
Make sure you specify the internal dimensions of the timber frame as the ordering size for the up and over door - width first and then height.
Do be aware that a lot of older up and over doors will be on older imperial sizing and you may find if you order a new door the old frame may be slightly larger than it should be but it will still work fine in most cases, it may just give you larger gaps around the edges of the door panel than you expected. You are generally always best to replace the sub frame when renewing a garage door and gear.
To check properly you are best to measure the inside frame dimensions and also the face width of the timber frame as some old timber frames can be undersized and will not carry newer type garage door operating gear which is nearly always a fraction wider than the older gear.
We don't have a table for this as there are so many older garage door types so best measure everything before talking to us if you are intending leaving the frame in place and have any questions. Generally however if you are replacing a door with a timber frame you will be better off with a new door and steel frame instead.
The only rough rule of thumb to apply is that if a timber sub frame is at least 70mm wide all round, or larger, it will take the installation of the operating gear of any new UP and OVER garage door. For roller doors and sectional doors different sizes apply altogether.