A garage has one primary function, which is to house your vehicle. Yes, everyone knows that people also stuff their garages with all kinds of garden equipment, kid’s toys and just plain junk, but that is a different story.

The normal way to get into the garage is through overhead garage doors, of which there are three types; up-and-over, sectional and roller. All three types of overhead garage doors have one thing in common and that is the track in which they ride. There are tracks on either side of the door and in some fashion, each of the three designs use them. On either side of the door, there are rollers which engage with the track, allowing the door to be opened and closed with relative ease.

The secret is the spring:

The garage doors themselves are sturdy, often being manufactured from steel or wood. These materials add to the weight of the door, especially if the span of the door is quite wide. It is the weight of the door that makes lifting it vertically, somewhat difficult. To overcome this weight issue, the door manufacturer’s use springs, the springs are torsion or tension, but whatever style used, their objective is to overcome the effects of gravity. When overhead garage doors are closed, tension or torque is introduced into the spring and stored. When the door is opened, this stored energy is used to assist in lifting the weight of the door.

Folding doors:

It is virtually impossible for a domestic garage door to raise vertically, the manufacturers of overhead garage doors are then faced with developing designs which will allow for the door to raise and store in the confines of the garage. Doors referred to as tilt-up are one piece doors that swing out before they rise and store themselves horizontally under the garage roof. Conversely, doors that are referred to as fold up are composed of a number of different panels rather than one solid door. This style of door moves upward in a track which is complete from the garage floor to the garage ceiling. The door itself is made of perhaps five sections, each of which are fitted with rollers and hinged together. The result is the same; they store horizontally in the roof of the garage. These doors rely on large springs which are put into tension when the door closes, and they relax when the door opens.

The final style of overhead garage doors is a rolling shutter arrangement. A series of roll formed slats are assembled in such a way that they roll into a coil around a central spring. When the door is put into the closed position, the spring coils and develops torque which is then used to assist opening the door.

Overhead garage doors are available from Marting Garage Doors. Installation, routine maintenance and repair are available from the company. Get in touch today for the best range of garage door solutions in Hawaii and for a competitive quote for your security needs.