Garage Door Installation Cape Town

The door types, and who each one suits

• Sectional doors lift up and fold back into the ceiling on horizontal tracks. They seal well, they insulate better than most, and they are the usual choice for an automated house. They need ceiling headroom.
• Roll-up doors roll into a compact bundle above the opening. They are strong, they suit a low-roof garage, and they are the standard for many Cape Town roll-up installations. They take side room at the top.
• Tip-up doors pivot outward as they open. They are simple and inexpensive, but they need clearance in front of the opening and they are the hardest to automate well.
• Side-hinged doors swing open like double doors. They suit certain heritage and face-brick houses where a roller door would look wrong, and they need driveway space to swing.
• Aluminium doors are light and rust-resistant, which suits coastal air, but they dent and they flex in strong wind.
• Timber doors look best on older Cape houses but need real maintenance in the sun and salt. Steel doors take the wind well and need less care.

Measuring and specifying correctly

• The clear opening is measured, not the old door. Brickwork, a sloped driveway and an uneven floor all change the door that fits.
• Headroom and side room decide the type. Measure the space above the opening to the ceiling, and the space beside the opening, before choosing anything.
• The spring system is matched to the door's weight and its number of cycles, never copied from the old door.
• Drainage matters. If the driveway slopes into the garage, a weather seal and a small upstand stop water running in under the door.
• Wind loading is real on the coast. A wide door facing the south-easter needs bracing and a rated panel, not a light domestic unit.
• If the property is in a complex, the design and colour were probably approved by a body corporate. Check before ordering.

What happens on installation day

• The old door is removed and the opening is checked for square before anything new is fixed into it.
• Tracks, brackets and the spring system are fixed and aligned. This is the part that decides how the door runs for years.
• The door is hung, balanced and adjusted, then run by hand before any motor is connected.
• The motor, safety beams and remotes are fitted and commissioned, with the auto-reverse tested.
• The site is cleared and the old door is removed. Agree in advance who takes it away.
• You are shown the manual release, the wall button and how to reset the opener after a power failure.

Older homes and hidden problems

• A lintel that is cracked or a brick course that has moved can make the opening 10-20mm out of square, which a sectional door will not forgive.
• Wiring that was never installed to the garage means a new circuit before automation can be considered.
• A driveway that has been resurfaced over the years can leave the new door's bottom seal sitting above the ground, or dragging on it.
• Where an old timber door was wider than its frame, the new door sizes have to come from the actual brick opening.
• It is worth asking the contractor to photograph the opening before quoting, so the quote is based on the real thing.

What drives the cost of a new door

• Door type and material: a light steel roll-up is a different purchase from a braced aluminium sectional.
• Size. A double door is not simply twice the price of a single.
• The spring system and the rated cycle life chosen for the door.
• Whether a motor, safety beams and battery backup are included in the same job.
• Whether the opening needs brickwork, a lintel repair or a new weather seal.
• Delivery to your suburb and whether an old door has to be removed.
• The plan publishes no installation price. Ask for a written quote that names the door, the springs, the motor and the labour separately, so you can compare like with like.

Choosing a door for a Cape Town house

• Match the door to the opening you have, not the one you wish you had. Headroom and side room set the type before taste does.
• Think about wind. A wide door facing an exposed direction needs bracing and a rated panel.
• Think about the salt if you are within a few kilometres of the sea, and choose finishes and hardware that tolerate it.
• Agree the spring's cycle rating while you are buying the door. It is much cheaper to specify a high-cycle spring at installation than to replace one later.
• Ask what the door carries as a warranty, and what maintenance it needs to keep that warranty valid.
• If the property is in a complex or a heritage area, get the approval before the door is ordered.

Where this work is passed on

Contractors who cover these areas take garage door installation work:

• Garage doors in the Northern Suburbs
• Garage doors in the Southern Suburbs
• Garage doors in the Table Bay
• Garage doors in the Helderberg

Garage Door Installation by suburb

The same work, with the local detail for each area:

• Garage Door Installation in Durbanville
• Garage Door Installation in Somerset West
• Garage Door Installation in Brackenfell