Being In Touch With Your Garage Door

If you recently purchased a new house, or if you are thinking about installing a new garage door, you need to think about which type of garage door opener you want to purchase and install as well. The two primary types of garage door openers are overhead and wall mounted garage door openers. Here is a quick guide that explains how both of these types of garage door mechanisms work and the important differences and similarities between them. 

Wall-Mounted Garage Door Openers

Wall-mounted garage door openers are usually used in garages that either have low ceilings or have very irregular shaped ceilings that would not support a system that was attached to the ceiling. These types of systems are attached to the side of the wall in your garage. Belts as well as a tension road are attached to the walls near the garage door. These belts are used to pull open and shut your garage door. 

Overhead Garage Door Opener

Overhead garage door openers are the type of operating systems you see in most garages. An overhead garage door is powered by a motor that is attached to the ceiling of your garage. Along the edges of your garage door and extending onto the ceiling are tracks for your garage door. 

Some overhead garage door openers use chains to move your garage door. Others use a bar that glides along a track to open and close your garage door. You can even find systems that use rubber belts to open and close your garage door. The key here is that the mechanisms are attached to the ceiling of your garage and not to the wall.

The Big Differences

There are a few major differences between these two systems. To start with, a wall-mounted garage door system takes up valuable space on the side of your garage. You will not be able to use the sides of your garage near the door for storage or other purposes because the garage door opening mechanisms will need to be attached there.

Additionally, wall-mounted systems generally cannot support extremely heavy or large garage doors due to how they are set up. They are designed to support lighter loads. 

The Big Similarities

Although there are some differences in how they operate and how they are set-up, there are also many similarities between overhead and wall-mounted garage door openers. To start with, they can both be opened using remote controls as well as manually opened. 

Both types of garage door openers also use infrared devices to detect if something is in the way of the garage door. Your garage door will go back up when you try to close it if it detects that something is in the way. 

The type of garage door opener you need really depends on how the roof is structured in your garage as well as how large the garage door is. For really large garage doors and for garages with regular ceilings, overhead openers work well. For smaller garage doors and for homes with irregular ceilings, wall-mounted garage door openers are a great alternative.