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Secure wide garage door recommendations
se7ensport - 12/5/14 at 05:49 PM

Possibly the wrong section...

My garage door opening is 4240mm x 2120mm (just under 14x7ft) with double bi-folding wooden doors with multiple shoot bolts on the inside and a big old padlock on the outside. While more secure than a standard up and over garage door that can just be folded open it isn't the most convenient.

I've been looking to replace with a roller electric door (just been quoted £1175 fitted for the 55mm insulated type with a pair of fobs), but not convinced that they are very secure in comparison to the existing wooden ones as it appears it is only the motor that holds it in place...

Any recommendations out there that might put up a bit more fight without breaking the bank?


Canada EH! - 12/5/14 at 06:15 PM

Belt drive or chain drive on the door lift?

The ones sold here in Canada prevent the door from being forced open by triggering the door closing circuit pushing against the force being applied to open it.

The doors also have safety features which prevent the door from closing if something is in its path or it strikes an object on closing.


se7ensport - 12/5/14 at 06:35 PM

Is chain preferable over belt?

For the quotes I have had neither have specified.


craig - 12/5/14 at 07:04 PM

I paid around £700 for one in a similar size 2 years ago although i did fit it myself. Its drive motor is situated inside the top roller so no external chains etc. Its a very robust heavy duty metal door.
They have a shop on ebay and a website and are called autoroll.


tegwin - 12/5/14 at 07:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by craig
I paid around £700 for one in a similar size 2 years ago although i did fit it myself. Its drive motor is situated inside the top roller so no external chains etc. Its a very robust heavy duty metal door.
They have a shop on ebay and a website and are called autoroll.


I have an autoroll and it is not that secure...

The metal is thin enough that if you forced the centre of the door inwards it would bend and pull out of the tracks either side thus allowing you to get inside...not very subtle but theft rarely is...

I guess the insulated chunky ones are a bit more resillient


craig - 12/5/14 at 07:52 PM

mine is a bit more substantial than that, i specified commercial quality when i had the quote.


Irony - 12/5/14 at 07:58 PM

I don't think many consumer garage doors are that secure. Mine has a key fob that inside is maybe 8 switches. Each switch is up or down. I think that's 8 x 8 combinations, so 64. The fobs can be bought from eBay. I reckon I could sit in my car on the road and try every combination. The fob works from 200 yards away, how long until you have every combination in the street?

At some point I will attach a metal plate to the garage door with a loop and shackle it to the floor.


DanP - 12/5/14 at 08:31 PM

I have two Securoglide Excels, they are meant to be very hard to break into, they have locking mechanisms to stop them being forced up.


redturner - 12/5/14 at 08:50 PM

You should realize that locks are to keep honest people out. The lock hasn't been designed that will keep a crook out, might slow them down a bit and thats all...


se7ensport - 12/5/14 at 10:17 PM

quote:
Originally posted by redturner
You should realize that locks are to keep honest people out. The lock hasn't been designed that will keep a crook out, might slow them down a bit and thats all...


Slow down so that the alarm goes nuts before they are in, or act as a deterrent that they don't bother having a crack at it; my garage is overlooked by three neighbours so the harder someone has to work and the noisier they are about it the better.


Thanks for the input all, its added a few items to the list of questions I'll put to potential suppliers tomorrow.


Alex


GreigM - 13/5/14 at 04:28 AM

I have a cardale thermaglide door - initially brilliant but have a significant design flaw in the "knuckles" which hang the door and the company don't want to know - costs hundreds to replace them every 18 months or so....so stay well clear.

From the security point of view the sheer weight of the door stops it being rolled up - there is no way you could do it by hand and would need lots of tools and hydraulic jacks to even contemplate getting it up (ooer missus)


se7ensport - 13/5/14 at 08:40 PM

Loads of progress today.

Spoken to anther three companies and have found a local one that offers a grade between normal garage and commercial as they manufacture all types in house (http://www.avongaragedoorsltd.co.uk/page/rolling_garage_doors):

The slats are the larger 77mm deep version, foam filled, but available in steel including a galvanised finish that I like as they look tougher or plasti-coat.

The motor lowers the blanket and then forces it to the ground causing the slats to lock together, this then causes a cam to raise on the shaft preventing the door being lifted up, in addition the steel version will weigh 110kg, nearly double the alloy version making it an even harder task to lift + the motor acts as a further brake.

It has an "antifall back" safety brake incase of a motor component failure (basically an inertia mechanism like a seatbelt).

Motor fits within the tube, so no belt or chain to worry about.

The knuckles appear to be 50% larger than other version and are stepped so that the blanket rolls up smoothly rather than a creating their own ridge as they are when wrapped around a normal cylinder (think snail shell).

The remote uses a rolling encrypted code.

I had a crack at their sample alloy door and got one of the bigger lads there to shoulder barge the hell out of it to see flex, got a look at the work shop and given a couple of sample sections from the steel version to take home and abuse. I'm sold, will come in at about £2k but worth the extra now I know a bit more about the various types.

[Edited on 13/5/14 by se7ensport]


craig - 14/5/14 at 11:19 AM

Sounds very similar to mine and I paid half that, maybe worth looking at a few others just to check they are not all using the same supplier. Can email you some pics if it helps.


se7ensport - 14/5/14 at 05:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by craig
Sounds very similar to mine and I paid half that, maybe worth looking at a few others just to check they are not all using the same supplier. Can email you some pics if it helps.


If you can give me the name or number of the company it would be appreciated.


craig - 14/5/14 at 06:06 PM

http://www.auto-roll.com/
Photos should be on their way to you. They have an ebay shop too with some good deals on it.