The first garages where carriage houses. The door where either single or double swing out doors and were made of wood. Swing out doors lasted up through the 1950’s. Most garages of the era were separate from the house and required walking through the elements to get to the garage. If snow blocked the driveway swing out doors couldn’t operated without clearing the driveway. Swing up overhead doors date back to the 1920’s, and electric doors to 1926. But in 1950’s builders began to attach the garages to the houses. In modern suburbia with short driveways and postage stamp lots the swing out door just isn’t practical. Before roll-ups were popular swing up doors were used in the late 50’s through the 1970’s. Usually wooden construction these had a series of springs and metal levers that counter balanced the door for manual opening. The real problem was that these doors were vulnerable to wear at the hinge points. Nobody ever maintained these doors. Hinge pins would fail, and the door would collapse.
Sectional & Roll Up Door
Today we have the roll up door. Or the horizontal rolling door that travels along a wall rather than overhead in garages with low ceilings. Problem is that you lose the use of the wall for storage. On of the advantages of the modern door is the variety of materials used in their construction. No longer constrained to the use of wood, but now the options of metal, mostly steel and aluminum and fiberglass and other synthetic materials. These options are lighter and hold up better that wood, particularly in the southwestern United States, as heat dries and causes the wood to splinter and crack.
Garage Door Window Inserts, Insulation & Other Options
Many doors have windows or made solid or mimic wood or have thing wooden overlays. Plastics tend to go brittle when exposed to the sun and crack and shatter, making maintenance and replacement mandatory about every 10 or 12 years. If you use your garage for a hobby shop or otherwise spend a lot of time there, insulated doors help to keep them cool in the summers and warm in the winters. Generally, a Styrofoam like product is used, with the door sealed with metal skins both on the outside and on the inside.
Automatic Garage Door Openers
Side and top opening doors use rollers to allow articulated panels to operate. With modern door construction it has made openers practical. Much of the appeal of the modern door is the remote operation afforded to the owner. You can open and close the door without leaving your vehicle until it is parked. A convenience for sure but contributes to your security if your single woman living alone.
Garage Can Be Used to Park Car, Storage & More
Nearly 85% of the garages in America are used for something else besides storing an automobile. For instance, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Google and Amazon where all started as home garage operations. Today 80% of the homes have at least a single car garage, but 20% of the new construction have multiple car garages.
Garage Door Repairs, Maintenance & More in Aliante, Anthem, Desert Shores, Eldorado, Enterprise, Green Valley Ranch, Henderson, Inspirada, Mountain’s Edge, North LV, Paradise, Providence, Rhodes Ranch, Seven Hills, Silverado Ranch, Spring Valley, Summerlin, Sunrise Manor, The Lakes, Tuscany Village & Las Vegas Nevada
Modern doors are made safe with sensors that prevent closing when the opening is obstructed. The older doors were known to close on children and adults and being heavy they could kill. But the modern door by design, driven by building codes, are required to have two methods to prevent the door closing on persons and pets. The garage door on most homes face the street, and a nice-looking door adds curb appeal to your home. United Garage Door Service of North Las Vegas can handle all your residential garage door needs. Contact us today!
