In general, there are two main types of residential garage doors: the common sectional panel style and the one-piece, tilt-up single panel door.
While both styles have their strengths and their struggles, it’s best to know your options fully before making a decision.
Price
If you’ve been doing your research on single panel doors (aka tilt-up, one-piece, or slab doors), you’ve no doubt read that these doors tend to be on the cheaper side.
This may have been true at one point – however, due to their significant reduction in use and appeal to historic renovations, single panel garage doors are hard to find. When you do find them, they can cost as much as any other garage door.
One place they WILL save you money is in maintenance costs. Due to their simplicity, slab doors are easier to keep up and cheaper to repair when needed.
While tilt-up doors tend to be fairly scarce, sectional doors are everywhere. This means there are more places to shop around and many more options to choose from.
There is a large range of price points to work with on these types of doors for a huge variety of materials and styles.
Style
This is generally the main reason, next to perceived affordability, that homeowners show interest in one piece doors. They have an inherent vintage feel and are highly personalizable.
Truly authentic and well suited to historically accurate architecture, these doors are the real deal. Plus, without the intrusion of the section gaps, the solid door acts as a blank canvas, ready to be customized to your exact desires.
It is important for the buyer to remember that although sectional panel doors may not technically be historically authentic, they are sure getting good at making them look that way.
From carriage house to contemporary flush panel, modern sectional garage doors can really be made to mimic any style, and with the added benefit of material choice and significantly better insulation.
Ease of Use
For the most part, both doors are easy to use. Both can be opened automatically and both have a spring system to assist with lift.
The one drawback of an up and over, or single panel garage door is its inclination to sometimes bang into the openers shins as it’s the door swings out and up and over and can be underestimated.
Space
Another highly desirable quality of the single panel door is it’s increased headspace available due to the lack of tracks needed. They sit up high and out of the way, but they do require outward clearance when opened and the springs and levers are located on the interior edges of the door.
Safety
The main safety issue that people worry about with tilt-up doors is their use of extension springs.
These two springs, located on either side of the door itself provide the same balance that the torsion spring in a sectional door does. The problem with these springs comes about when old doors aren’t properly upgraded to current safety standards or maintenance is neglected.
Upgrading the springs is a fairly simple process, requiring only a few parts and a cable to ensure a broken spring does not become a possibly fatal projectile.
Wind Rating
Another notable safety concern with with one piece door is the lack of wind load they can withstand. As they can’t be reinforced, they’re not appropriate for areas that experience strong winds.
If you still have any questions, please give us a call! Our highly experienced professionals at Precision Door Service are here 24/7 to answer any questions you may have. Call today!
