Fibreglass doors are fabricated using moulded fibreglass to create the garage door panels.
Fibreglass doors can be used in areas close to the sea, as the fibreglass will not be weathered by the salty sea air, the sun however can fade fibreglass after many years and it is important to remember that fibreglass doors have a galvanised steel frame riveted around the door.
Fibreglass Garage Doors are available in the following styles:
(see each section for further customisation options)
Fibreglass Sectional Overhead Garage Doors
Sectional Door – Sizes
Standard sizes of garage door openings for fibreglass sectional overhead doors:
| Door Type | Measurements |
|---|---|
| Single fibreglass sectional door | 2400mm (w) x 2180mm (h) |
| Double fibreglass sectional door | 4800mm (w) x 2180mm (h) |
It is important to note that these are the standard opening sizes for your garage door opening, as a maximum of 100mm still will be added to these sizes to get the standard panel size of the garage door itself. All sectional overhead doors need to overlap with a minimum of 30mm to a maximum of 100mm, on the inside side walls of the garage. The door should also overlap with 30mm at the top of the garage.
Sectional Door – Colour Options
Fibreglass doors can have a wood grain or smooth finish and come in 1 standard colour;
- White
- Other colours are available at an extra charge
Sectional Door – Design Options
The fibreglass sectional overhead doors are available in either a horizontal slatted or cardinal (block) panels. It is however, important to note that if you opt for the blocks and your door is not a standard size, you should consult your installer as to whether the blocks will be cut off, either on the sides or at the top of door, in which case, you should probably have a horizontal slatted door installed.
Sectional Door – Requirements / Specifications
Sectional overhead doors should be installed if your garage is on the boundary or if there is limited space in your driveway in front of the garage, this is because sectional overhead doors slide directly up and over into the ceiling of the garage, in five sections, leaving the full opening of the garage available, as opposed to tipping up and out of your garage, as in the case of a tip up door.
Sectional overhead garage doors require 450mm head room, from the bottom of the lintel to the bottom of the ceiling or rafters, for installation.
This amount of head room must follow through 3m back into the garage. It is possible to install a sectional door with a minimum of 250mm head room, however this will require a flip over panel to be installed.
Flip over panel simply means, that when the door is in the closed position, the top panel will still be in a slanted open position, which the motor will then push closed onto the lintel. Therefore, if a flip over panel is installed, a motor is essential to the door closing fully.
For a sectional overhead door to be installed properly the garage needs to have a minimum of 100mm wall nip space on either side of the garage, ideally 150mm nip space is needed.
Single sectional overhead garage doors either get installed with tension or torsion spring mechanisms, but more often than not, single sectionals are installed with tension springs. Double sectional doors should always use a torsion spring mechanism.
- Tension spring mechanisms have a spring on either side of each track.
- Torsion spring mechanisms have either one or two springs, depending on the weight of the garage door, mounted onto a torsion pole above the door.
Both these mechanisms neutralise the weight of the garage door, making it easy to manually move the door up and down.
Fibreglass sectional overhead garage doors have a rubber seal inserted onto the bottom of the garage doors which the door to get a complete seal on the bottom floor, preventing far more dust etc, from entering the garage.
Side seals are also available to be installed on the outside of your garage door, on either side. These are used to completely seal the door from the outside elements, as the rubber seals are placed up right up against the door. A sectional garage door should sit 10mm away from the garage walls, in order to prevent the door scratching on the walls or getting caught on the wall, preventing the door from sliding smoothing up and down.
Sectional Door – Maintenance
- Sectional overhead garage doors need to have the tracks, hardware, cables and springs regularly sprayed with silicone spray or Q20
- Greasing the doors’ hardware is not recommended as the grease forms a grinding paste with dust and sand particles, which encourages rust and decay.
- These doors are very light-weight that will help prolong the life of the doors hardware and the fibre panels require no maintenance.
Fibreglass Tip Up Garage Doors
Tip Up Door – Sizes
Standard sizes of garage door openings for fibreglass tip up doors:
| Door Type | Measurements |
|---|---|
| Single fibreglass tip up door | 2500mm (w) x 2180mm (h) |
| Double fibreglass tip up door | 4800mm (w) x 2180mm (h) |
Tip Up Door – Colour Options
Fibreglass doors have a wood grain or smooth finish and come in 1 standard colour;
- White
- Other colours are available at an extra charge
Tip Up Door – Requirements / Specifications
Fibreglass tip up doors are available in either a horizontal slatted or cardinal block (block) panels. It is however, important to note that if you opt for blocks, and your door is not a standard size, you should consult your installer as to whether the blocks will be cut off, either on the sides or at the top of door, in which case, you should probably have a horizontal slatted door installed.
Fibreglass tip up doors have a visible galvanised steel strip on the edges of the tip up garage door.
Horizontal slatted fibreglass doors are more expensive than raised and fielded garage doors.
Tip up doors should be installed only if your garage is not on the boundary or if there is enough space in your driveway in front of the garage, this is because a tip up door tips up and out of your garage, which means that a car or anything for that matter, cannot be parked directly in front of the garage doors.
Tip up garage doors need 200mm head room, from the bottom of the lintel to the bottom of the ceiling or rafters in the garage, for installation. When the fibreglass tip up door is in the open position the garage will lose +/- 100mm from its height.
Single tip up garage doors are installed with a hinge and tension spring mechanism on either side of the garage door. Each hinge contains ball point bearings. Double tip up doors should always have two springs attached to each hinge, in order to neutralise the weight of the double door.
Both these mechanisms neutralise the weight of the garage door, making it easy to manually move the door up and down.
For a tip up garage door to be installed properly, the garage needs to have 80mm wall nip space on either side, this is where the styles of the tip up door are installed. If this is not available, the style will become more visible.
Tip up garage doors require two styles for installation. A style is a tall cubed piece of timber, usually 69mm x 45mm wide, for single doors, 69mm x 69mm wide for double doors, spanning higher than the garage door opening height. Each style is installed on either side of the garage opening, on the inside of the wall.
The hinges and springs are then mounted onto the styles and the door attached to the hardware. The door should be +/- 30mm smaller than the opening size of the garage, to ensure that the door will clear the opening, when tipping up and open.
The styles also ensure that the door does not rub up against the garage walls, but rather can rub up against the wood of the styles, preventing any scratching and damage to the door.
A tip up garage door must have a minimum of 20mm overlap on the inside of the garage, at the top.
Tip Up Door – Maintenance
- These doors are very light-weight that will help prolong the life of the doors hardware and the fibre panels require no maintenance.
- All tip up garage doors have springs and hinges that should be regularly sprayed with silicone spray or Q20 in order to help maintain a longer lifespan of the tip up door hardware, as well as preventing rust erosion and sticking hinges.
- Greasing the doors’ hardware is not recommended as the grease forms a grinding paste with dust and sand particles, which encourages rust and decay.
For a quote on a Fibreglass Garage Door, contact LHV Garage Doors & Gates today!