Measuring for Roller Garage Doors
Roller Garage Doors manufactured and sold in the UK are split into two distinct categories: Insulated, double skinned aluminium roller doors (with curtains constructed from individual slats), and Non-insulated, single skin, continuous curtain steel roller doors.
When measuring for either of these, the initial dimensions required are the same.
Step 1: Take Your Basic Measurements
- The Aperture: Carefully measure your clear garage aperture, taking width measurements at the top, middle, and bottom. Take height measurements across the opening at various points from the floor to the underside of the lintel. Always use the smallest dimensions.
- Reveals & Returns: Measure the reveal depth and returns inside (the width of the brickwork as you look from the inside out, on either side of the opening). Check your garage opening is square and true; otherwise, you may have to deduct more tolerance for installation.
- Headroom: Measure the headroom available inside (the height above the opening lintel up to the ceiling). Ideally, the back of your piers will line up flat with the back of the lintel so you have a flush internal face to fit to.
Installing BETWEEN or BEHIND the Opening?
The biggest factor for pricing and calculating your ordering dimensions depends entirely on whether you are installing the door BETWEEN or BEHIND the structural opening (or sometimes a mixture of both if one side is a flush house wall).
Installed BEHIND the opening
Installed IN-BETWEEN the opening
Measuring for Insulated Aluminium Roller Doors
This is the most popular type of electric roller garage door in the UK. One reason is that you can install this door inside (face fit internal), in-between (reveal fit), or even outside (face fit external) your garage opening. The side guides and endplates are designed to fit straight to the garage structure.
Width: The design of this type of roller door means the width is the same dimension all the way from bottom to top. The endplates at the top (holding the barrel) sit perfectly in line with the outer edges of the side guides, so there is nothing sticking out to worry about when installing in-between. For most brands, you focus on the Overall Width for ordering as it includes everything.
Crucial Brand Exception: Hormann and Garador
Hormann RollMatic and Garador roller doors are priced and ordered by the Opening Sizes (the daylight opening size exactly in-between the side guides). Please always double check the measuring tab for your chosen brand!
Height: The height is determined by the 'Guide Height' (excluding the roll box and endplate sizes). The overall measurements with the endplates and hood are the most important dimensions if you are fitting strictly underneath your lintel.
Measuring rules apply to these standard brands:
Seceuroglide
Samson
GDO Roll 55 & 77
Gliderol (Aluminium)
Exception: Measuring for Hormann & Garador Roller Doors
As noted above, Hormann and Garador insulated aluminium roller doors are ordered differently. The Ordering Width for these brands is the width strictly IN-BETWEEN the side guides. Make sure you take account of the guides either side and their dimensions when calculating if the door will fit your brickwork.
Note: A full hood cover is a standard feature on Hormann and Garador insulated roller doors, whereas most other doors offer this as an optional extra.
Hormann RollMatic 2
Hormann RollMatic T
Garador GaraRoll
Measuring for Steel Uninsulated Continuous Curtain Roller Doors
Gliderol Series A
Gliderol Series AA
Gliderol Light Industrial
Gliderol Mini Roll
CRITICAL INSTALLATION WARNING
These continuous steel roller doors can ONLY FIT BEHIND a structural opening or sub-frame. The guides cannot be fitted in-between any structural opening because the curtain overlaps the guides.
These steel single-skin roller doors are ordered by the actual overall guide width, but without taking into consideration the extra fixing lug details and dimensions. The ordering width does NOT take into account the overhang on either side for the guide fixing lugs or roller support brackets. Unlike aluminium roller doors, the ordering width is not the overall width for the installation.
Sizing Flexibility: You can order these roller doors wider than the opening width if you have any doubts about your brickwork integrity, or if you want to use a cheaper standard-width door. As long as you can accommodate the curtain, guides, and lugs behind the piers, the actual structural opening isn't that relevant. (e.g., If you have a 7'4" wide opening but have 200mm+ internally either side, you could order a standard 7'6" door. The curtain will simply overlap an extra 25mm either side.)
Example: For a structural garage opening measured as 2400mm wide and 2150mm high, the Ordering Size should be 2450mm width and 2150mm height.
The ordering height is simply the 'guide stop height' (the height between the floor and the underside of the lintel). Note: Every roller garage door will have about 50mm of curtain hanging down when fully open. If you need maximum drive-through height, add 50mm to the ordering height to pull the curtain up higher (providing you have the internal headroom).
Measuring for the Hormann RollMatic OD (Tracked Roller Door)
Hormann OD
The RollMatic OD door is a unique roller-type door, but it uses tracking instead of rolling the curtain into a box. Using the same insulated double-skinned aluminium curtain, this door slides up in vertical tracks but then curves and slides horizontally across your garage ceiling. It is like a combination of a sectional and roller door, with the massive benefit of requiring very minimal headroom.
It is spring-balanced and electrically operated, with the added advantage that the door curtain never rolls over itself, completely eliminating scratching and preserving the paint finish for much longer.
Ordering: As with other Hormann RollMatic products, the daylight opening width in-between the guides is the Order Width, and the guide height (before the door starts to turn inwards across the ceiling) is the Order Height.
Additional Information
