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' 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.

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