Materials and what they suit
Steel is the workhorse: strong, well priced, available in a wide range of finishes, and the standard on most new installations. Its weak point is corrosion at the bottom edge where water sits, which is why the bottom seal and the floor level matter more than people expect.
Aluminium is lighter and does not rust, which makes it a sensible choice on exposed openings and on very wide doubles where weight is a concern. Timber gives the appearance people usually want on a period property, at the cost of real weight, seasonal movement and a maintenance commitment. Glass fibre sits in between — light, stable, and the most forgiving in a coastal or high-moisture position.
Automation, safety and load shedding
A new door should be commissioned with the automation, not have a motor added later as an afterthought. The motor is sized against the finished weight of the door including any glazing or timber, and the travel limits and force settings are set with the door already balanced.
Safety infrared beams across the opening are standard on every installation we do. So is battery backup — in this part of Johannesburg a motor without it means a door you cannot open when the power is out, which is exactly when you want to get a vehicle off the street.
The auto-reverse test is done in front of you: an obstruction placed under the closing door, the door striking it, and the door reversing. If it does not reverse cleanly, it is not finished.
Measuring: headroom, side room and backroom
Three clearances decide whether a door can be fitted at all. Headroom is the distance from the top of the opening to the ceiling or the nearest obstruction. Side room is the space either side of the opening for the vertical tracks — usually around 90mm each side. Backroom is how far the horizontal tracks can run into the garage, which must exceed the door height plus the motor rail.
Obstructions are the usual surprise: a lintel, a lighting rail, a roller-shutter box from a previous door, a geyser, or a beam that crosses exactly where the tracks want to go. All of them have solutions; none of them has a solution that can be chosen from a photograph.