The most common
means of entry into a home
garage is an
overhead garage door.
Everyone’s familiar with these doors, as they can be seen
opening and closing by remote all day long on any suburban residential
street.
Some older homes did not have garage door
installed at the time
they were built, however, or you may be looking for a door for your new
construction, or for an upgrade.
The two common types of garage doors are
segmented and whole. The segmented doors roll up and have several long,
horizontal joints, so they simply follow the track up onto the ceiling
of the garage.
A non-segmented garage door is one flat
piece that also
follows the track, but it extends slightly out over the driveway during
raising and lowering.
Two different kinds of mechanisms may be
used in the overhead garage door system. A chain belt (like the chain
on a bicycle) is one such mechanism.
The chain drive attaches to the
motor that is mounted on the garage ceiling and draws the door up.
Another version is the screw drive mechanism. This is a very heavy,
very strong screw-like rod that draws up and lowers the door.
Garage doors these days come with a safety
device. Infrared motion sensors attach at the base of the garage door
opening.
If something passes in front of these
sensors while the door
is lowering, they will be triggered to reverse the door. This protects
people, pets, and cars from getting crushed by the door.
Garage doors and their motors and mechanisms
are available for purchase at all major home improvement centers. You
can install them yourself, but it takes a lot of patience and you must
be pretty handy.
The easier option is to have them installed.
The home
improvement center will be able to recommend contractors if you buy
your system there. You can even set up installation through them.
Another option is to call a company
specializing in the sale and installation of overhead garage doors.
This is even easier, as they come to your home with a catalog and
handle everything from start to finish.