© 2006 Portman Designer Garage Doors
Architectural garage doors are defined by their size and the material the door is made from. Sizes available are up to 12 metres wide, and up to 3 metres high, materials tend to be ‘exotic’ and unusual. Because of their size, and huge range of finishes
these custom garage doors tend to be specified at the time that the garage is being built. They are called architectural garage doors as in the past they were specified by an architect to incorporate into their overall design ideas for the project, however there is now a trend by home owners who see a garage door spanning 5 metres and above without the clutter of a central support as an opportunity to have their garage designed around the door. The result is that now the garage door is driving the design process forwards instead of being used simply to solve a particular design problem.
There are 3 different types of architectural garage doors, each one having advantages and disadvantages. The three types are:
1. Side Sliding Garage door: this means that the doors ‘hang’ vertical and ‘move’ sideways. The width can be up to 12 metres and the height up to 3 metres. This door does reduce the usable width as the track sits against the garage wall but does not reduce the usable height. Could be made to operate automatically by adding electric garage door openers, even at 12 meters wide
2. Overhead garage door, sometimes called Up and Over: these are the traditional type of garage door, however the width can be up to 5 metres and the height up to 3 metres. This door does not reduce the opening width but does reduce the usable height as the guides for the door are attached to the garage ceiling. As with standard garage door, these could be automated by adding electric garage door openers.
3. Sectional Overhead garage door: this door is similar to a standard overhead garage door but the door itself is made up out of horizontal sections, because of this the height of the door ‘jumps’ up in steps. Easy to automate with electric garage door openers.
In general the ‘disadvantages’ with each type
of these custom garage doors are only operational differences and only need to be considered when space is at a premium. Architectural garage doors tend to be wider and higher than standard garage doors thus making operational differences irreverent. The only consideration we need to be concerned about is when specifying a sectional overhead garage door for a retro-fit as the opening height needs to coincide with the step heights defined by the door manufacturing process i.e. the garage opening height has to be the right size.
Portman Designer Garage Door supply and fit custom garage doors, side sliding, sectional up and over doors
and electric garage door opener