Retractable up and over garage door

The retractable garage door is a slightly more sophisticated, up-market and smoother operating up-and-over door option than the canopy alternative.

The retractable garage door moves and transits in a more controlled and functionally reliable way than the more economic canopy door. Unlike the canopy door, the retractable garage door has an inclusive steel frame. This frame has tracks and rollers that support the top corners of the door as its slides back into its fully open, or down into its fully closed, position.

The smooth motion of this type of door is further enhanced by cantilevered lifting arms. These arms perform a similar task (to that above, only on the door's top corners) by lifting and supporting the garage door's bottom corners. By doing this they ensure that the entire door is supported throughout its transition at all four corners during opening and closing.

A superior operating mechanism

Because a retracting garage door is supported at all four corners the door mechanism is smooth, balanced and easy to operate, either manually or by remote control. Unlike the cheaper canopy style up and over door, the retractable garage door can easily be accessorised to motorized operation. This can be done when the door is installed, or as a later upgrade and no overly complex and expensive conversion kit is necessary.

Naturally the retractable garage door is more expensive than the more simplistic canopy door, but this extra cost results in a vastly superior mechanism that is reliable and long lasting.

Furthermore, a retractable up and over garage door will support heavier (i.e. larger area) doors than a canopy style door. This makes it the best up and over option for double garage doors. Part of the reason for this superiority is the twin torsion springs that sit on both sides of the door. These springs can be adjusted and tweaked or substituted with higher loading springs to change to balance of the door's motion.

Pros and cons of a retractable garage door

Retractable up and over doors are an ideal option for remote control motorisation. Existing retractable garage doors can be easily converted and most new installations come with remote control package options at a relatively low cost.

Another big advantage of the retractable garage door over the canopy door is that a retractable garage door retracts its door completely into the garage. In other words no part of the door projects beyond the garage's opening when it is retracted (open) – unlike a canopy door where part of the door does project in front of the opening. This means that the door does not provide an external obstacle, nor does it require a vehicle to be kept a set distance back from the door during opening and closing.

The only real negative to a retracting door is a reduction in the "drive in" width of the opening resulting from the requirement to have the door's lifting arms positioned within the support frame. This has the effect of slightly reducing the door opening's width by a matter of inches.

More information about how retracting up and over doors work plus some of their advantages and disadvantages can be found by going to how an up and over garage door works and our main up and over garage door page.