Garage Doors to Choose From

Garage doors come in several different forms and the home owner just needs to choose the most appropriate one or the one that appeals to him. There are also some that are recommended for their durability and others for being great with small spaces.
"Up and over" garage doors operate by swinging open towards the incoming vehicle and then are slid overhead unto the ceiling of the car port. These are usually solid panels of wood, metal or some other material. The panels are held up by tracks on which they roll on. The tracks extend from the frame of the entrance up to the part of the ceiling on which they rest when the carport is open. These can be operated manually or with a remote control. The remote control can originate from the incoming vehicle or be stationed inside. The ones inside can be considered the master control. The advantage of this kind is the fact that they are solid and may be tougher than others. Of course this fact also depends on the material that they are made of. The glaring disadvantage is that these garage doors swing forward before they pull up. This means that there has to be sufficient space for the swing to occur. This can be difficult if the vehicle about to enter is close to them. Another thing to bear in mind is the need for the tracks to be constantly clean for the panels to work well. 
Swing hung types are very similar to the up and over ones except for the fact that the ways they are deposited are different. These also need sufficient space in front for them to allow entrance to the vehicle. Both types of entryways cannot be very wide, mainly because it takes a lot to bear the entire panel and the tracks may not be up to this.
Garage doors that use the roller method are very efficient and space friendly. Their basic concept is to roll the sectioned panels around a sturdy drum located at the top of the entrance. This type usually comes with small horizontal sections that may be as wide as the entire frame. Some are divided while others span the entire entrance. The basic sections may be no smaller than an inch and no bigger than two to three inches, depending on the size of the drum they wrap around on. Because they go straight up and roll around the drum, they are great for smaller garages because unlike the up and over that needs sufficient space to swing outward they do not need big space in front. This advantage is complemented by the fact that they can be wider than the traditional width because the drums can carry greater weight, as long as the machine used to roll them is big enough to bear the weight. 
Sectional garage doors are similar to rollers in the fact that they do not need front space for swinging open. These are larger sections of about five to ten inches panels that may be rectangular or square in shape. They are held together by hinges but they do not wrap around a drum; instead they run on tracks similar to the up and over types.