My FIRST (!) Roll Up Garage Door Soon - Recommendations?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ok, I'm 57 and incredibly I am about to buy my FIRST roll up garage door. All my prior house had tilt ups.

This is in an 80 year old detached garage that is uninsulated - so I have no need of bells & whistles, but I DO have a 100lb dog (See Sooner the Wonder Dog at left!) so I don't want a flimsy, thin gauge POS. What are your recommendations?

Anything from Home Cheapo or Lowes worth considering? Mesa Garage Doors? I've read bad things about Clopay doors here.

Opinions appreciated, pictures too, of course!

 

[rquackenbush]

How about a picture of your garage!?

 

[PsRumors]

Mine came from a local scrap yard. They are 10w x 9t and weigh a good 150+ lbs. The previous owner that built the place paid $250 each for them I believe. They are stout doors but wish he had put in conventional doors now that I am trying to insulate the place.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I suppose I use the wrong term. I MEANT a sectional door not a true "roll" up.

The garage is a conventional, old double car garage. In my case only 18'x20' but that's what passed for a double back then. Conventional 16' door needed.

 

[gatchel]

Wayne Dalton or Raynor. If you are concerned about strength you can get "hurricane rated" that have reinforcements and thicker metal. Call a local rep and get a price. My wayne dalton 16 foot door ran about $1700 installed. It is insulated. R-10 ish I think.

 

[rburke65]

Clopay makes a nice looking door and up to r-17 on their 2" doors.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Seems like a read some bad stuff about Clopay doors here. Wayne Dalton? Were/are those available through Lowes?

 

[Falcon67]

Clopay can come from HD, Wayne Dalton comes from Lowes. The Lowes W-D spare parts look exactly like the parts from my Clopay door. I bought an extra door latch from Lowes and it was a duplicate of the Clopay provided unit. My 16' Clopay looks fine to me. It's a bit of work to put one up, but not a huge deal. I had to drill out the rivets on the lower brackets and replace with 1/4" stove bolts to get the right wall spacing. They would have sent the parts but I didn't want to wait. All the parts looked decent - it all went together like the manual described.

If you buy from HD, wait for a "special order door and window" sale - all 16' garage doors are special order in all stores from what I understand. My 16' delivered was right at $490. I just bought $28 worth of 1/2 foam insulation to trick it out LOL.

 

[tdkkart]

Definitely check with your local door retailer rather than the big box stores. Garage doors are one of those things you can often get delivered and installed by the door company for the same or less money than you can buy the door yourself.
I went with OverHead Door, www.overheaddoor.com who has a local distributor, got a better door than I could have got from Menards or Home Depot, installed for a price that was very close to the big box price.

 

[slip knot]

I agree with TDK here. I got some rollup doors installed at the plant for way less than I would have installed them myself.
My shop has 125mph wind rated doors that ran $600 each and were @$100 more than regular doors ,instalation was the same cost so why not upgrade.

 

[swharris]

Why not roll ups? Stronger and no overhead light blocking or clearance issues. I'll be putting them in my shop/garage.

 

[calven]

Would definitely recommend a premium door and NOT something in home depot / lowes...

CHI and Clopay doors are the way to go. Get yourself a steel backed "sandwich" type door. It won't rattle in the wind and will save you on energy costs if you plan on heating / cooling the garage in the future. Even if you dont want it insulated these types of doors will last much longer.

The main thing is to make sure you get a "commercial grade" hardware package (hinges, struts, torsion springs et). Get 14-gauge hinges, NOT the cheap 18 gauge ones you get at HD & Lowes. Also make sure the door you get is 26 gauge or better (preferably 25). With a good size dog this will hold up better. You might also want to ask for "high cycle torsion springs". Instead of 10k cycles that last 7-10 years you can get 15-20k cycles that last 15 years or more. Lastly, get the white nylon rollers w/bearings (not the black ones) they also last longer.

Home depot and lowes wont be able to help you with these topics but any specialty garage door shop should be able to. I believe CLOPAY even makes a "gold package" with upgraded hardware.

Must haves:
14 gauge hinges
Double Steel Door
At least one strut on top section
Operator Bracket on top section
Nylon 7 ball bearing rollers
26 gauge door or better
tongue and groove joints (not shiplap)



You will spend a few hundred more now but you won't be sorry later...

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Calven,

This is JUST the kind of specifics I was looking for.

I picked up a brochure from Costco this morning. It gives a lot of specifics on the aethetic look of their doors, and not much of any on the technical aspects of them.

Would definitely recommend a premium door and NOT something in home depot / lowes...

CHI and Clopay doors are the way to go. Get yourself a steel backed "sandwich" type door. It won't rattle in the wind and will save you on energy costs if you plan on heating / cooling the garage in the future. Even if you dont want it insulated these types of doors will last much longer.

The main thing is to make sure you get a "commercial grade" hardware package (hinges, struts, torsion springs et). Get 14-gauge hinges, NOT the cheap 18 gauge ones you get at HD & Lowes. Also make sure the door you get is 26 gauge or better (preferably 25). With a good size dog this will hold up better. You might also want to ask for "high cycle torsion springs". Instead of 10k cycles that last 7-10 years you can get 15-20k cycles that last 15 years or more. Lastly, get the white nylon rollers w/bearings (not the black ones) they also last longer.

Home depot and lowes wont be able to help you with these topics but any specialty garage door shop should be able to. I believe CLOPAY even makes a "gold package" with upgraded hardware.

Must haves:
14 gauge hinges
Double Steel Door
At least one strut on top section
Operator Bracket on top section
Nylon 7 ball bearing rollers
26 gauge door or better
tongue and groove joints (not shiplap)



You will spend a few hundred more now but you won't be sorry later...

 

[TurnipTruck]

Buy from a local door company if you want the right stuff.


In my experience, if you order $4K worth of Clopay doors through Depot or Lowes, they'll send one wrong set of springs and bash or crinkle at least 3 panels that take 10 weeks to be replaced. And now the door guy is real reluctant to help me out.

 

[calven]

A 16w x 7t 2283 (steel back) with r-value: 9 installed will run you about $1100.00 installed tax included.

A 18w x 7t 2283 (steel back) with r-value: 9 installed will run you about $1250 installed tax included.

Both of these prices factor in a commercial grade hardware package. Upgraded hinges, rollers, springsetc. If you plan on installing the door yourself you can subtract labor of $150 - $200. Keep in mind this price is in the Midwest and prices in larger cities will push to the $1500 range installed.

Good luck and post some pictures whatever you decide!

 

[Trey T]

Got a replacement Wayne Dalton (16' wide w/ kit for complete build) for my home 6 months ago from Lowe's for about $350shipped to my door. Not sure if that's cheap for a door or not but local shops here wants about 500-700 installed.

Installed the door and track in couple of hours w/ some helping hands with lifting. Couple of hours next weekend to installed the spring final adjustment. Saved $150bucks but I don't think it's worth the saving.