Tilt or roller door?

[KenSilver]

I've been looking through my "Unique Garages" book, and noticed that the majority of garage doors in this US based book are tilt-a-doors. There are only a few roller doors, and a couple of horizontal sliding doors - like Jay Leno's hangar garage.

I would have thought the roller doors would be more popular because they take up less driveway real estate when opening and closing, and there are no space-wasting rails going across the ceiling.

So why are the tilties more prevalent, anyone know? Cost? Reliability?

I've got a tilt door, and find it's a real problem on our short driveway for the Daimler... it needs to be parked back a way so the door doesn't make teethmarks on the bonnet, but then being a long car the back juts out on to the pavement. I'm considering changing it (door, not car!)

Ken Silver
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1999 Mercedes SLK, 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara, 1993 Mercedes SL500, 1991 Daimler (Vanden Plas). Finish detailing, then start all over again...

[Mr Concours]

My guess is its easier/cheaper to have a automatic tilt.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, I'd guess it's a cost issue too. They're not cheap and they're a lot tougher to install. There's also the fitment issue- you need your building to be pretty "square"/"plumb" and the doors have to be mounted just right. I got roller doors on my "new" garage (the one I detail in) and I just love 'em, but they don't fit *quite* right and so the paint on the outside gets scuffed as they go up/down. No biggie, but it does make me about my builder.

[KenSilver]

Originally posted by Accumulator
...There's also the fitment issue- you need your building to be pretty "square"/"plumb" and the doors have to be mounted just right....

That's interesting. I had problems with my 8 yr-old tiltadoor in the same way... the mounts had dropped over the years and the door wasn't closing properly. Made me think that I wouldn't have this problem with a roller door.

Ken Silver
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1999 Mercedes SLK, 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara, 1993 Mercedes SL500, 1991 Daimler (Vanden Plas). Finish detailing, then start all over again...

[Accumulator]

Well, you'll have *different* problems I somehow think that the roller might work better after all if things aren't quite square. But I guess we really oughta see what a builder would say about it. You know what happens when laymen start making assumptions

[rnbradford]

While most of the doors in the "Unique Garages" book are tilt-a-doors, I believe that most garage doors in the US (at least put up in the last 50 years or so) are the roller type. Those in the book are, after all, unique.

[TnM6i]

Yes, the vast majority of existing and newly installed US garage doors are the multi-section roller-type doors. This is especially true of subdivision and "spec" housing. Even on the very expensive custom homes, the same style of door is commonly used, just made from higher grade materials like solid wood.

[NeonLights]

I installed and serviced residential and commercial garage doors for three years, about a decade ago. I never serviced or installed a one piece tilting garage door, but I replaced a couple with sectional overhead doors. All residential doors I installed were sectional, and most commercial as well, but some commercial doors were rolling steel doors. From what I've seen, most of the one piece tilting garage doors are a thing of the past. Inconvenient and somewhat dangerous when a spring breaks.

The solid wood panel sectional doors on higher end houses are more expensive and look nice, but I'll take an insulated steel door anyday. An insulated steel door like the 16' x 11' door I have on my shop can have an R (insulation) value of up to about 13 or 15 vs most wood doors that only have R values of 1-3.

-Keith

[Accumulator]

Re: "Roller" doors, are we all talking about the same thing? The steel roller doors on my (new) garage are *very* different from the sectional doors on my "old" garage (the original one built onto the house). I've hardly ever seen the steel roller doors on a residential garage and mine had to be custom odered from an out-of-state manufacturer (Cornell Ironworks). They literally "roll up" like an old-fashioned window blind. No tracks along the ceiling (so they work well with cathedral ceilings).

Even with insulation, they get awfully warm in the summer! But I still really like them. Their mechanism even *looks* cool, in an industrial, machine-age sort of way. Somewhat noisy, though.

And regarding wooden sectional doors, they are sorta heavy to lift when you need to do it manually (power outages, etc.), maybe too heavy for wives and kids to do. But they sure do look nice....

[KenSilver]

Originally posted by Accumulator
Re: "Roller" doors, are we all talking about the same thing?

Yes, I meant sectional rather than pure roller doors.

Ken Silver
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1999 Mercedes SLK, 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara, 1993 Mercedes SL500, 1991 Daimler (Vanden Plas). Finish detailing, then start all over again...

[Accumulator]

Originally posted by KenSilver
Yes, I meant sectional rather than pure roller doors.

OK, thanks for clarifying. Sorry, I'm no garage-door expert

[DaGonz]

Here in New England, sectional and roller doors prevail. Ever see a four to six foot high snow drift against your garage doors?