Every car owner is not alien to the desire to keep his «swallow» safe and sound. Therefore, the gate in the garage must be reliable. However, long gone are the days when conventional swing gates were the only alternative. Today, there are many options for convenient garage automatic gates with remote opening, which adds comfort to the user to their main function.

Types of automatic garage doors

Basically, all electric gates differ in the way they open. According to this parameter, the following varieties can be distinguished:

1. Automatic retractable (sliding) garage doors. In this case, the door leaf is fixed on a cantilever beam, which runs on rollers on a support. And depending on the type of installation of the beam, there are gates with an open profile, when the beam is located below, and also telescopic, when the gate structure retracts into itself, saving a lot of space along the garage wall. There are also sectional sliding gates that move along the inner wall of the garage perpendicular to the entrance.

For such gates, a different canvas is used, forged sliding gates will cost you the most. Of the positive characteristics of this type of gate, one can name reliability and a long period of trouble-free operation, the ability to choose the desired color of the leaf, modernity, and convenience.

2. Automatic lifting garage doors. There are several options in this category of gates. These are lifting-turning, sectional and lifting-guillotine.

Up-and-over doors consist of a single leaf that moves along guides. When the gate is open, the canvas is under the ceiling of the garage. This saves space, besides, such gates are easy to install and use. They are relatively inexpensive, provide good thermal insulation, they can be closed manually if necessary. The disadvantage of this design is that they are not suitable for low garages.

Sectional lifting gates in the West are the most common type of gate. In this case, the canvas consists of separate sections fastened with loops. When opening the garage, the gate is under the ceiling of the garage, opening section by section. The advantage over lift-and-turn gates is that you can put the car close to the gate and start opening it — when lifting, they absolutely do not require free space in front of the garage.

Lifting guillotines need space above the opening outside the garage, which is not always possible. Otherwise, they are ideal, especially in terms of tightness and thermal insulation.

3. Automatic swing garage doors. They can rightfully be considered classics. These traditional gates are most familiar to us. They can open inward or outward. Gate leaves can be forged, from sandwich panels, as well as from one-two-layer corrugated fabric.

The advantages of such gates are in the simplicity of their design and reliability, relative cheapness and high resistance to burglary. Equipped with an automatic drive, they are not inferior to other types of gates in terms of comfort of use. The only significant disadvantage is that there should be a lot of free space in front of them to open.

4. Automatic rolling garage doors. Such gates consist of many small sections up to 10 cm wide. When opened, the canvas is wound on a shaft located in the box. The box can be placed inside or outside the garage. This type of gate is easy to use, it is widely used not only for garages, but also in shops, restaurants and other establishments.

The main advantages of this type of automatic gate are compactness, easy installation, and low cost.