A garage door is like a feature wall for the front of the house. It can be a subtle feature or can help your house stand out! If you like the idea of a funky garage doors, you can experiment with different colours, different textures or different styles of garage doors. I love seeing the different approaches that people use, and I like to include really cool technology trends for garage doors on my blog. Who knows what a standard garage door will look like in a few years - but isn't it fun to imagine what the future holds?!
Funky garage doors
Up, Up And Away: Things To Consider When Choosing An Opener For A Tilt-Up Garage Door
Kirk Gomez
Adding an automatic garage door opener to your garage is an easy and often surprisingly inexpensive way to add a touch of luxury and convenience to your home. However, garage door openers must be carefully chosen to ensure that they can handle the specific demands placed on them by your type of garage door.
This is especially important when purchasing an automatic door opener for a tilt-up garage door, as these doors handle in a unique way and can render unsuitable door opener models partially or wholly ineffective. As such, you should ask yourself the following questions when choosing a door opener for your tilt-up garage door:
Is the door opener powerful enough?
Generally speaking, tilt-up garage doors aren't appreciably heavier than other types of garage door. However, because they are lifted vertically without the assistance of extensive track and roller systems, lifting one requires more power than, for example, opening a sectional garage door that runs entirely on tracks.
Consequently, garage door openers used with tilt-up garage doors must have enough power to lift and lower these doors without becoming overstressed, a problem which can cause mechanical problems and shorten the working life of your opener. This usually means opting for a powerful model that draws its power from mains electricity. Some battery-driven and solar-powered models have enough to lift a tilt-up door, but the extra effort required will drain their energy reserves more quickly and may leave you without power when you need it most.
Does the door opener have obstruction detection?
The extra power required to raise and lower a tilt-up garage door can also pose a safety hazard, as a tilt-up door that is currently lowering can be more difficult to stop promptly if an obstruction (or a person) gets in the way. You should therefore opt for a garage door opener with a sensitive obstruction detection system -- these systems automatically and instantly stop the door from lowering if any physical resistance is detected, preventing expensive and potentially dangerous trapping accidents.
Does the door opener have a back-up power supply?
Automatic door openers are particularly favoured by elderly, infirm and disabled people who may be unable to operate a garage door manually. Tilt-up garage doors are particularly difficult for these people to use, and a power failure that affects a garage door opener can render these doors virtually impassable to people unable to manually operate the door.
If this problem applies to you, it's important that your door opener has a backup supply of power in the event of a power cut or malfunction with your main power supply. These backups generally run off of dedicated batteries, and will safely and effective operate your garage door for a limited period until the main power supply can be restored.
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