Garage door noise - panel vs roller door choice ?

[Justin]

Hi All,

We'll be building soon, and the plans have a garage integrated with the house. A bedroom is right above the garage.

I've noticed that a couple of established houses I've been to have had panel-style garage doors. When they've opened or closed them (using a powered automatic door mechanism), they've been really noisy. At one place, the door was so noisy that it used to wake us up in the mornings.

I figure that panel garage doors are more noisy than roller doors because that stay as one segmented section that slides back along the ceiling - thus lots of vibration in the door and track assemblies. Roller doors, on the other hand, have less track, and their very design seems to be noise cancelling because they roll up on themselves.

I'd love to hear anybody else's experience on this, as the standard inclusion for our place is a panel door. With Miss 5y.o's bedroom planned above the garage I want to make sure that she's not going to be disrupted every time the door opens and closes. I prefer the look of panelled garage doors rather than roller doors, but will go with roller if it's going to be a lot more peaceful during the comings and goings......

Cheers,


Justin.

[Kev Y.]

Justin, go with the roller door... My partner has just moved into a 3 year old home with a panel garage door and when she goes to work in the mornings, the door opening reverberates through the whole house..

[silentC]

Roller doors are available up to 5.5m but Panelift can go up to 6.6, so the size of your opening might govern your choice.

We've got a 6 metre Panelift and it doesn't make that much noise, but then it's only 9 months old.

[mixin]

This will be an interesting thread.

I too have the same noise concerns - in our current place the neighbour across the road has a tilt-a-door that whirrs away loud enough to wake us, while one side has roller doors that must have really cheap openers that whine & grind their way up with the door.

The place we have purchased has the garage underneath, with ratty old tilt-a-doors on it. So I'm a little worried, considering I want to use the garage on a nightly basis.
I want to replace the doors, but there is no room for a roller door roll.

There is just enough headroom for a B&D sectioned panel-lift door, which I do like the appearance of, and the security benefits of no lock or handle on the front.

Our only other option with conventional doors is tilt-a-doors again (of which I'm not a fan - must have been too many hits to the head as a kid).

However B&D have this 'flex a door' (http://www.bnd.com.au/shop/?fuseaction=info&id=18&i=1&ct_id=20) thing that reminds me of a roll top desk.

Anyone seen one installed, and is it queiter than a sectioned panel lift?

[johnc]

We have had a panel lift for a few years and it can be noisy enough to wake the dead. Noise is kept down by constantly ensuring some lubrication in the joints but without doubt roller doors are quiter and less subject to wear and strain. Next time I would consider using a roller door this time head room ruled out a roller mechanism.

John

[Gumby]

I agree with the others. My panel door is pretty noisy and no amount of spraying the rollers seems to help. It just makes noise as each panel pulls on the next one and the rollers move along the track. The roller door on the other end of the garage is as quiet as a mouse.

[Clinton1]

I have never come across an older panel door that doesn't have problems caused by flex, as well as noise.
Rollers seem to be quieter and stay 'servicable' longer.

[LegacyGT]

sorry to hijack...

i will be acquiring a 9m x 5m garage/shed and was wondering about side opening garage doors.

what options do i have?

[Gumby]

sorry to hijack...

i will be acquiring a 9m x 5m garage/shed and was wondering about side opening garage doors.

what options do i have?

Sliding would be fairly normal for a side door.

[Barry_White]

I spent several years installing both tilt-a-doors, panel lift doors and roller doors and I don't believe there is a lot of difference in the noise that they make.

There are a few factors that effect the noise. The brand of the door, the size of the door and how good an installation is done. So it can be in the lap of the gods.

Some doors are cr*p and no matter how good the installation you wont cure the noise problem. Best of luck.

[silentC]

The brand of the door
That's a good point to keep in mind too. People buy cheap doors and wonder why they have problems.

[gsouth]

it depends a lot on he quality of the components.
We have a panel door - and yes there's quite a bit of vibration when it opens. Our bedroom is immediately above it and it certainly wouldnt wake me up if I was sleeping.

The guy across the road had a panel lift installed and it would wake the dead. My father in law had a roller door installed and again, it could wake the dead.

The difference with these installations all appears to be the quality and noise the motor makes - ours seems MUCH quieter than the other 2.

Geoff

[masoth]

I've had a tilt panel door for a few years and a mate, who has a remote control, can knock on my back door before I know he's arrived. Closing can end wiith a 'bang' with these doors, but after using self-adhesive rubber anti-draught stuff I never hear it, and my neighbour often comments about the quiet operation.:2tsup:

soth

[Howdya do that]

I have a panel lift door, Noisy bastard:((

Interesting to hear that some of you lubricate them:?

Mine has a sticker 10 times bigger than this that says "DO NOT LUBRICATE"

[masoth]

Hdt - advice it to NOT lube. It collects dust, etc and eventually will totally clag-up the motioin of the door. Once or twice a year brush or wash out the tracks.

soth

[Spelunx]

We built a new house five year ago, and installed a B & D panel lift door, so I guess it was a half-way option, in that it didn't tilt up as one, but it wasn't a roller door, as such.

The biggest issue for me was not the noise, as it was OK, but more the vibration. It was tolerable, but if I was in the study, I clearly new when my wife was home, as I could feel/hear the vibration through the doors and walls.

Not sure is this was because of the type of door or the brand, but I believe B & D are OK. It certainly gave us no trouble, other than replacing batteries, in the 5 or so years we owned the house.

[Ausyuppy]

The last house I built in Cairns had a panel lift and it was reasonably quiet. Mind you the one my parents have installed would definately wake the dead. I have found the motor units driving the doors play a big part.

In Sydney we had an electric roller door, again the unit was bloody noisy. Mind you the other units which had the same door and opener were quiet.

Since being back in Cairns I have installed some Merlin openers onto the roller doors here and they are quiet as a mouse. Mind you the ceiling has just been replaced in the garage and now the doors are noisier as they werent reinstalled by professionals.

One thing I did notice when researching which door openers to buy, particularly electric units for roller doors, 240v units are the way to go. They do not strain as hard as the 24v units. Why the step the voltage down is beyond me when they can save the heart ache and use 240v motors.

Cheers
Steve

[Barry_White]

The last house I built in Cairns had a panel lift and it was reasonably quiet. Mind you the one my parents have installed would definitely wake the dead. I have found the motor units driving the doors play a big part.

In Sydney we had an electric roller door, again the unit was bloody noisy. Mind you the other units which had the same door and opener were quiet.

Since being back in Cairns I have installed some Merlin openers onto the roller doors here and they are quiet as a mouse. Mind you the ceiling has just been replaced in the garage and now the doors are noisier as they werent reinstalled by professionals.

One thing I did notice when researching which door openers to buy, particularly electric units for roller doors, 240v units are the way to go. They do not strain as hard as the 24v units. Why the step the voltage down is beyond me when they can save the heart ache and use 240v motors.

Cheers
Steve

Steve

I would hazard a guess that the installation of doors with 240 volt motors may be a bit of a concern for companies with installers having to set limit switches etc. and the installers not being qualified electricians.

[Ausyuppy]

Barry,
No its 100% safe, but then again Im an electronics technician, so not too scared of the green stuff. However you couldnt get a zap from setting the limit switches unless you break something. The user guide has been laid out so most home handymen can set them up.

The units I have here are Merlin units. They hang off the roller door itself. Best unit I have come across. The good thing about being 240v is that the motors do not strain when moving the door.

Cheers
Steve

[Barry_White]

Steve

Having put up 100's of roller doors and control units I have found if the door is installed correctly no unit will strain to lift the door.

Installing roller doors isn't a job any handyman should be doing although I know they do it but I have had to go and fix many a door installed by a so called handyman and not only that I've had to fix doors that builders have put up and they didn't even have operators on them.

The one brand of door that I haven't installed is a Merlin. All other doors I have installed were 24volt

[Justin]

Just a little note to say thanks guys, there's heaps more responses and info in this thread than I'd hoped to get. Keep em coming !

Cheers,


Justin.