Tuesday, September 29, 2020

How to Fit a Sectional Garage Door

 This guide gives information on how to fit a UK Specification Sectional Garage Door and give you some useful information to consider before making a purchase.

Things to consider:

Will the door be fitted between the opening or behind the opening?

Do you want to automate the door?

Do you want the door to have insulation?

These are the main concerns then you have the colour of the door and frame, window options and so on, the list of options is usually quite long so it's a good idea to thoroughly read the brochure before deciding.

Between or Behind

In the main sectional garage doors are designed to be fitted behind the opening as this allows full drive through height and width to be obtained. However it is not always possible to fit your new sectional door fully behind the opening. This could be that you do not have enough headroom or room behind the piers or in some cases you may not have piers on both sides of the opening.

Headroom

Do you have enough room behind the lintel and back into the garage to ensure the tracks and gearing can be fitted correctly? A rule of thumb to help you decide this would be to consider you are trying to push a box the total height and width of the garage door all the way in to the garage. If there is something in the way like lights or the ceiling slopes down then you may need to reconsider the type of door you want to fit, or make the necessary adjustments before the door is fitted such as moving lights out the way or raising / moving roof joists if possible etc.

Side room

Often gas and electric meters can be fitted on the wall of the garage and you may need to check they are not going to be in the way also. If they are in the way you could get your gas or electric supplier to move them. Providing they don't have to move them too far this is usually free or they may charge a fee. Call them to see what their policy is on this.

Measuring

Measure you opening from brick to brick at the bottom, middle and top of the opening and write these measurements down. Now measure the floor to lintel measurements at the left, middle and right of the opening and note them down. Do they match? If not put a 4 to 6 foot spirit level on the sides and lintel and floor to see where the opening is out of square. If the floor is out by more than 2cm then you may have a gap when the door is closed. Consider having the floor levelled before fitting the door. If the piers are not level you may need to order a slightly smaller door if it's being fitted between the opening to ensure you can get the door fitted squarely. Then contact your Sectional Garage Door Supplier to have then order your door for you.

Removing your old door

BE VERY CAREFUL when removing garage door springs or cutting cables on canopy doors - if in doubt seek professional help!

If you have an existing canopy garage door to remove then you either need to un-tension the over-head spring or cut the cables. If your door is in fairly good condition you may want to sell it on eBay or in the local free ads paper then you can buy new cones and cable before selling the door or carefully un-tension the spring to ensure the cables are still serviceable before selling the door.

Once the spring is done you need to remove the fixings holding the old door in place then lift the door out of the way and remove the frame if it is no longer being used. Now you can install the new garage door.

Fitting the new sectional door

It is important to read and understand the fitting instructions before beginning to install your new door, get any questions answered before starting as this will save you time in the long run.

Once you are familiar with the fitting requirements or your particular sectional garage door you can begin.

1. Assemble the frame of the door and clamp it into position ensuring it is square and level in the opening using packers as needed.

2. Using a suitable masonry drill such as an SDS drill or similar, drill the required fixing holes and insert the supplied plugs. When done you can fix with the supplied fixings / washers using a cordless drill with a socked attachment or a socket set.

3. Once the fixings of the frame are complete, recheck to ensure the frame is still level and square then move on to fitting the tracks. Follow the instructions for fitting the tracks which will involve connecting them to the tracks on the frame ensuring the joins are smooth then hanging the tracks from the ceiling joists or side walls. Ensure the tracks are square by measuring the diagonals of the tracks before securing.

4. Fit the springs, depending on the gear configuration of sectional door you have bought you may be fitting a spring on the back of the tracks, springs down the sides of the frame or overhead springs on the frame. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for this and be very careful when handling garage door springs.

5. Once the springs / cables are in place then you will need to insert the rubber strip into the channel on the bottom door panel. A good tip here is to spray the channels with WD40 or similar to ensure the rubber slides in correctly. Once this is in you are ready to place the panel into position.

6. Place the panel into position and clamp it to the frame to prevent it falling whilst you attach the brackets and wheels. Once you have fitted all of the brackets and wheels you will be able to attach the spring cables if the door has this type of gear.

7. Continue to fitting the rest of the panels ensuring the BRACKETS AND WHEELS are on correctly otherwise the door will not open properly!

8. Once you have all of the panels in place you will need to tension the springs, Care should be taken and you should WEAR STRONG GLOVES in case you have a problem with the tensioning. Sectional garage door springs are extremely powerful when tensioned and they can cause some SERIOUS DAMAGE to your hands if you are not careful.

9. Oil your tracks and moving parts and fit the locking handle if the door is a manually operated door.

10. If the door is to be operated by a garage door opener then fit this as per the instructions ensuring the boom is level and centrally mounted to the door.

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