Do you find opening and closing your heavy metal up and over garage door a struggle? Are you always fed up of getting soaked to the skin when you are trying to find the keys and unlock the garage door on a dark rainy night?
Well if either of these scenarios seems very familiar then maybe it is time that you thought about buying an automated garage door opening kit. And if you think they are beyond your budget you can actually buy kits from around £ 150 to £ 200 depending on the size and type of door that you need to open. You will need to be careful to buy the right kit for your type of garage door as different kits fit different door types.
They are fairly easy to fit yourself and any you buy should come with complete fitting instructions, however if you have to adjust the springs in your door then you may wish to have the kit professionally fitted as adjusting the torsion of the springs can be very dangerous and has resulted in fatal accidents, so if in doubt get the kit professionally fitted.
They have a fully enclosed electric motor fitted to the garage roof that is operated by a remote control you keep in your car, and the system is fully automated so that you just press the remote once to fully retract or open the door. The electric motor opens or closes the door using a chain or belt drive mechanism, which is linked to a door via a metal track also fitted to the garage roof.
The chain links to a fixing on your door, just note that the way it fits to and operates the garage door will vary depending on whether it is a canopy door, retracting door, double swing doors or a roller shutter door, but automated door kits are available to fit all of these types of door.
Options to be fitted to automated garage door kits are items such as internal lights, and flash to open options, whereby the door opens when you flash your lights at it.
The last thing to remember is that sadly in the United Kingdom the law has changed with regards to fitting electrical items and whilst you can fit an automated garage door kit yourself, you will need a suitably qualified electrician (Qualified to part "P") to connect the electrics, sign them off and give you a certificate.
