How to Choose the Best Sectional Garage Door for Your Home

Sectional garage doors have become the most popular garage door choice for Australian homes.

With the choice of a large list of styles, colours and materials, however, it can be hard to know which one to choose for your home.

Here, you’ll find our short guide on how to choose the best sectional garage door and why they are a great choice for your home.

Sectional garage doors, come with a long list of benefits. Here are a few of the most popular reasons why people choose this style of door:

• The large panels of a sectional garage door can be insulated. This adds energy efficiency, temperature control, soundproofing and extra weatherproofing to your garage and home.
  Sectional doors require little driveway space, with no swing-out space needed, meaning you can park your car right up next to the door and still operate it.
  Sectional garage doors are highly durable, often made from materials like Colorbond steel, which is perfect for our tough Australian weather conditions.
  Modern sectional doors come standard with electric openers and automatic reverse safety features.
  Steel-Line sectional doors come standard with a heavy-duty bottom rail for added strength and weatherproofing.
  Sectional doors can easily have acrylic windows added to introduce extra natural light to your garage.
  As a popular, customisable and highly aesthetic feature, a sectional door can add plenty of value and curbside appeal to your home.
  

Ready to order a new sectional garage door? The first and most important step is to ensure you have the correct measurements and sizes, so the door fits your garage perfectly.

This is so crucial, in fact, that we offer a free measure and quote to all our customers, to make sure you get the right fit for your house.

After you’ve got the size worked out, you’ll need to choose the style and design you want to go with.

The list of options for sectional garage doors is extensive and includes designs like our glacier, slimline, flatline, ranch and heritage range. Materials people often choose include:

• DecoWood garage doors
  Colourbond garage doors
  UniCote LUX garage doors
  Savanah garage doors (made from BlueScope Steel)
  Matt finish garage doors (made from BlueScope steel)
  

Questions to ask yourself to help you narrow in on a design and material include:

• What style, colour or material would match the profile of your house best?
  Do you need added insulation?
  Will the door face any extreme weather conditions? For example, the tropical climate of North Queensland is vastly different to Melbourne.
  

To make it even easier, try our online garage door design tool where you can browse through each range and see what each colour and style will look like.

Sectional garage doors aren’t the cheapest on the list, but that’s because of their added benefits and nicer aesthetics.  For example, a metal roller door has a lot less moving parts and can be operated manually, whereas a sectional door involves tracks, cables and automatic openers that add to the cost.

Your budget may limit what extra features you can add to your door too, making it important to weigh up the cost of your sectional door with the functional and safety features you want to add.  Optional door additions can include:

• Photo electric beams – a feature that stops the door from hitting people or objects (whereas standard options will auto reverse only once it’s hit something).
  Windows for light or style.
  Handle options.
  Insulation.
  Wireless pad.
  A variation in door seals (eg. there is a difference between our standard weatherproof seal and the nylon brush seal).
  A variation in door openers (see more in the next section…)
  

There is a list to choose from when it comes to picking a sectional garage door opener. Different openers will have different features, such as weight ratings, power and transmitter reach.

As a standard, all door openers come with:

• Soft start and soft stop function (making it quiet during operation).
  Auto reverse system for safety.
  Auto sensing force (that monitors the door’s operation to make sure the right amount of energy is being used, for added energy efficiency).
  Courtesy light.
  Wireless wall button.
  Manual release.
  Remote handsets.
  

Garage door openers in our Steel-Line range include:

• SD800 Sectional Door Opener (the standard and reliable choice for residential sectional doors)
  SD1200 Sectional Door Opener (a more powerful option for heavier doors up to 18.5m2 or for cyclone prone regions)
  Marantec Comfort 380 Sectional Door Opener (a heavy-duty door opener for cyclone regions and bigger doors up to 20m2)
  Marantec Comfort 280 Sectional Door Opener (an alternative option for mid-sized doors up to 200kg)
  Marantec Comfort 270 Sectional Door Opener (another smaller door opener alternative for doors up to 165kg)
  

If you’re not sure which garage door opener is best for you, talk to a professional garage door installer and let them help you select what will work best for your home.

The best way to make sure you are selecting a good quality garage door that will suit your home is to work with a professional, industry-leading garage door team like us.

At Steel-Line, we know exactly how important the choice of garage door is for your home, and have spent over 40 years installing and servicing both residential and commercial garage doors all over Australia. We install over 70,000 doors for Australian homeowners every year and pride ourselves on our dedicated customer service. Working with us, you’ll be dealing directly with your garage door manufacturer, based in Australia, who understands Australian homes and garages.

If you’re ready to take the next step and start planning your sectional garage door, contact us for a free measure and quote, or chat with our friendly garage door experts to answer any and all of your garage door questions.

For Garage Door inspiration, view our online gallery or follow us on Instagram.