Garage Door Replacement with Roller Door

[The Leaper]

We are replacing our up-and-over garage doors, and we have decided that we are going for powered roller doors. We'll probably get a minimum of three quotes. Googling indicates a substantial difference between suppliers as regards materials, family-owned versus franchise businesses, costs of course, etc.

So, ahead of making any decisions, I thought I'd ask PHers for their experiences and advice, with roller doors, and the firms that fit them. Over to you all, and thanks in advance.

R.

[The Leaper]

Rob_125 said:

For reference, had a 2.1 x 4.25 hormann roller T fitted last year for just under £2400. I'd imagine prices have crept since then.

Does job, seals nicely against the slab.

There are a fair few garage door threads already, so it is worth searching the forum.

Ah, I did use the search facility but not much luck. I'll do a more robust trawl.

R.

[The Leaper]

Fer said:

No help here, I am afraid, but watching with interest, as I am in the market for a new garage door, as it's beginning to show it's age.

Fer,

Watch his space!

By tomorrow evening I will have seen two of the potentially three firms we may consider using. I'll report back asap.

R.

[The Leaper]

Thanks for the posts and for links to other threads on this subject, all a good read.

By way of an update, our neighbour is joining in with this, so four single doors being replaced. Neighbour and I decided to get 3 quotes (all received), but actually we are getting a fourth tomorrow morning. We'll then make a decision which, hopefully, will mean that we will use the same company for all 4 doors which does get us a reasonable discount. Lead time seems to be 3-5 weeks.

Further update to follow.

R.

[The Leaper]

A further update:

1. We obtained four quotes etc for the replacement of the garage doors at our houses, four single doors.

2. There were significant huge differences in the quality of the products.

3. There were very significant differences in the cost of supply and installation.

4. The four firms who quoted were also very different:

• one manufactured, supplied and fitted everything; all their employees are fully employed by the firm;
• one was a franchise and sourced from scratch what they considered to be the right doors for us,;
• one was a door installation company who were an agent for doors manufactured by various companies; all their employees are fully employed by the door installation company;
• one was a one-man business that installed the doors which he sourced from an appropriate manufacturer.

One thing that we learned was that the warranties available from the door manufacturers were all very different. The differences were mainly the period of the warranty, what was and was not covered by the warranty, and also what maintenance had to be done and proved to have been done before any remedial work would be done under the warranty. This latter means that an annual service contract is essential if you want to maintain the warranty.

We have decided to proceed with one of the firms. Our decision was based principally on the quality of the doors and their reputation, type of firm, reputation of the firm, price, and contract terms. We hope we have chosen wisely!

R.

[The Leaper]

C n C said:

The Leaper said:

A further update:

1. We obtained four quotes etc for the replacement of the garage doors at our houses, four single doors.

2. There were significant huge differences in the quality of the products.

3. There were very significant differences in the cost of supply and installation.

4. The four firms who quoted were also very different:

• one manufactured, supplied and fitted everything; all their employees are fully employed by the firm;
• one was a franchise and sourced from scratch what they considered to be the right doors for us,;
• one was a door installation company who were an agent for doors manufactured by various companies; all their employees are fully employed by the door installation company;
• one was a one-man business that installed the doors which he sourced from an appropriate manufacturer.

One thing that we learned was that the warranties available from the door manufacturers were all very different. The differences were mainly the period of the warranty, what was and was not covered by the warranty, and also what maintenance had to be done and proved to have been done before any remedial work would be done under the warranty. This latter means that an annual service contract is essential if you want to maintain the warranty.

We have decided to proceed with one of the firms. Our decision was based principally on the quality of the doors and their reputation, type of firm, reputation of the firm, price, and contract terms. We hope we have chosen wisely!

R.

Thanks for the update, which is sort of interesting.

Unfortunately, for those of us considering replacing an old up and over with a new roller or sectional door, your post is of very little help/use.

Any chance of expanding on

2. What were the quality differences, and which (named) products were better quality?

3. What were the actual costs for supply and installation?

4. Who were the 4 firms, what were their prices, and which one did you opt to go with in the end?

... also, did supply and installation include removal and disposal of your old doors, and which part of the country are you in?

Note - as the above information is completely factual, none of it would fall foul of this forum's "name and shame" rules, but the specifics of your experience could prove very helpful to other PHers looking to do the same.

C n C,

I do not propose to do all the research for PHers! My responses to your questions are as follows:

2. IMO, one firm's doors were significantly over engineered. Another firm's door looked very flimsy, and in fact their sample was already coming apart!

3. Total costs quoted, for 4 doors and their installation, ranged between about £10,000 and £4,000. These quotes contain significant discounts because there's four doors being replaced by my neighbour and I.

4. I am not prepared to respond in full to this question because I do not know the purpose of your interest eg customer or supplier. The doors are being supplied by Novoferm.

All quotes include removal and disposal of all items related to the doors that are being replaced. The quotes do not include the required electrical work in the garage to supply power to the motors for the roller doors. I do not know why my location is of any importance but it is between London and the English Channel!

I hope this responds to to your post....sort of.

R.

[The Leaper]

C n C

YHM.

R.

[The Leaper]

As I am the OP, a brief update.

Neighbour and I have agreed the firm and the door manufacturer that we will use for the replacement of the four doors which are identical except the colour. Fitting likely to be in 4-6 weeks time, so mid April is likely. I'll report further once done.

By coincidence, two days ago the mechanism on one of our current up-and-over-garage doors broke up and the large spiring was lying on the garage floor. No damage to anyone or cars thank goodness. The new doors will save repair costs.

R.

[The Leaper]

A further brief update.

Electrician is here today to fit the required power supply sockets ready for when the new roller doors will be fitted. It's two double sockets per garage, fitted to the interior of the side walls near to the where the garage doors will be. All going well.

Neighbour and I expect to hear from the door fitters quite soon that the doors have arrived with them, and then we are anticipating a fitting date round about mid April.

R.

[The Leaper]

The Leaper said:

A further brief update.

Electrician is here today to fit the required power supply sockets ready for when the new roller doors will be fitted. It's two double sockets per garage, fitted to the interior of the side walls near to the where the garage doors will be. All going well.

Neighbour and I expect to hear from the door fitters quite soon that the doors have arrived with them, and then we are anticipating a fitting date round about mid April.

R.

Further update. Doors due to be fitted Friday 21 April, so to the predicted timetable.

R.

[The Leaper]

Final update.

Doors fitted to my own and my neighbour's house today. 4 doors in all. Arrived at 8:00, finished by 3:30. So far, all seems OK. Glad I can get my LR DS in to the garage, but it is tight.

R.

[The Leaper]

Had the new garage doors for a week now.

They came with four transmitters, two for each door. Each transmitter works both doors. Three of the transmitters work OK, the other operates only one door.

The neighbour's four transmitters all work OK but one of the two interior lights in his garage fails to work.

The door fitters are here next Tuesday to sort these minor issues out.

Separately, the last power cut here was probably 15 years ago. We get new powered garage doors and 5 days later we had a power cut Wednesday morning and another Wednesday evening. Both cars in the garage in the morning but one left out once power restored. Garage and cars now sorted so that can get access to the manual winding tool to self wind the doors if we have any further power cuts.

R.

[The Leaper]

Wagonwheel555 said:

We had ours done a few months ago.

Got several quotes, varied from £1000 up to £2750x

Figured it’s a garage door, it goes up and down so we went with Garolla for £1000.

Is it the best door in the world? Nope but it fits fine and it’s goes up and down.

I get what you say. However, we use the garage doors maybe 4-8 times a day at least so we decided that we needed something that we felt would last this rate of usage. When the Garolla rep was here ahead of giving us a quote he was very keen to discuss the mechanism etc, and show us samples. He was rather embarrassed when the sample door mechanism fell apart all over the garage floor!

R.