When a Residential Home Might Need a Roller Door

A roller door is a bit different than a standard residential garage door; most garage doors come in just one panel that swings out and then gets pushed up onto a track along the garage ceiling. A roller door is made of many panels and each section hinges as the door opens onto a track. Some are also equipped with a housing unit above the door; the door panels roll up onto each other and then stay inside that housing unit rather than along the garage ceiling. If you're in the market for a new garage door, note when a roller door may be the best option.

When you work in your garage

Having your own garage to make car repairs, paint, weld, and so on can be great, except that you need good ventilation for most of these types of jobs. You may not want to open your garage door all the way in order to get fresh air into the space, especially during inclement weather or if your neighbors are bothered by the noise; with a single panel garage door, you usually cannot open it just partially as this puts undue weight on the springs and chains of the door. Your only options are to open it fully or keep it closed.

However, with a roller door, you can open the door just a few feet or meters at a time. This allows you to get the ventilation you need while still maintaining privacy and giving your neighbors a bit of insulation against that noise.

When your garage is becoming crowded

If your garage is now filled with sporting goods, lawn care equipment, or just cartons of item that can't fit in the house, you might not need to purge or get a self-storage unit just yet. A roller door with a housing unit above the garage door keeps the area of the garage ceiling clear, unlike a single panel door that slides up onto a track along that ceiling.

Having a roller door installed can then allow you to add rafters or shelves on the garage ceiling that work for storage. You can slide those boxes onto those rafters or keep sporting goods up and out of the way. Hooks can also be added to the ceiling for bikes so they won't suffer damage from being tossed in with all those other items in the garage. With a single panel door, you don't have this extra space along the garage ceiling, so a roller door creates lots of room for extra storage.

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