Side hung garage doors

Following a house extension the new opening for our garage is slightly different from the original so we need a new door.

I fitted an electric roller door a few years back and whilst it was nice enough and an easy diy job, I’ve seen a few houses recently with what looks like UPVC or perhaps steel doors which are side hung. They look pretty smart and I wonder if they’re inherently more secure than a roller? And surely better on thermal efficiency (there’s now a couple of bedrooms above the garage so this is of interest

I could knock on doors but I expect a random bloke asking about the security of your new garage door would cause alarm and distress to the good people of Royston!

so has anyone got any experience of these new fangled doors? Any recommendations of suppliers for diy fitment?

I’m looking at this myself. There are lots of online suppliers for steel side hung security doors, and various recommendations on previous threads here, I think. If you look at https://www.lathamssteeldoors.co.uk/steel-security-doors/ they have some comprehensive videos explaining how to do a DIY fit.

I have had them for 3 years.  Moved into a brand new house with up & over door fitted.  Within a few weeks i had it removed and side hung doors fitted.  I really dont get the benefits of roller doors.  They take ages to open & close, seem to be an issue waiting to happen with electrics etc and they look like security shutters on commercial buildings.

Anyhow my doors are upvc doors made up in exactly the same way a fron door is.  I could even have had them glazed if i so wanted.  I didnt, i had them grey on the outside to match my front door exactly and white on the inside (My garage is plasterboard and skirting boarded white.  The thermal qualities weren’t needed as my daughters bedroom above the room maintains good temp before but now its a room that i use year round as a gym and its shirts off even in the height of winter (It does have the combi boiler in there).  I can come and go as per a front door (No waiting for the door to lift etc)and if i ever needed wider access both doors open more than the up & over ever did.  I also don’t have any internal fittings to worry about.

One thing you havent mentioned is the noise insulation.  I can have music blaring in my gym (Loud enough for my daughter to complain upstairs in her bedroom, but no-one outside can hear a peep.

One of the best things i did when we moved in.  Would do it again in a heartbeat.

I have these on order after looking around… Think they are 40mm foam cored steel panels.  Ally frame and options for windows and extra locks.   You can also have asymmetric door sizes..

https://www.teckentrup.co.uk/garage-doors/side-hinged-garage-doors

I wish we’d gone for side hung ‘barn’ style doors when we replaced the rotten doors soon after moving in. Didn’t give it much thought as we needed the building secured so went for an electric Hormann roller door. Rarely open it as we’ve got a side door too.

Had insulated Teckentrup side hung front garage door in our old house which were good and much more secure and convenient than up and over / roller / sectional.

And on or current house I fitted a Lathams door to the side of the garage – massively secure and well made.

If doing front doors again it is a tough choice but I’d probably just plump for Lathams as they are better value, more secure and quite pro you fitting then yourself with some mega YouTube videos and very comprehensive fitting kits (so you haven’t got a garage door instaler taking a big extra slice for what in my experience was mediocre quality fitting). But equally I’d have no qualms in having the Teckentrup doors again. There were places on eBay doing supply only.

Have a chat to Lathams about the insulation options. My door is very well sealed and heavy – think it is wood fibre inside for security with some insulation.

I a have side hung door setup after a thread on here. Really pleased with it – for my use its so much more convenient than an up & over or electric door. Only negative is they blow around in the wind a bit more than up & overs, so need a fixing method if leaving open. Only cost about £400 from the Garage Door King see here. on ebay. If the search wasn’t so crap and full of ads on here I’d link you to the old thread.

We had some custom made bi-fold steel, insulated doors installed in our extension. 4 leaves, 2 hung from each side. They are amazing especially as you can open 1 leaf like a normal door. This was from a local company in Birmingham. Custom painted as well.

I swapped the up n over for side hinged and very glad I did. One side isn’t needed to open so I have more internal walls and storage space that way. They’re metal walled and insulated inside but in a garage there’s always going to be draughts so not that much benefit.

I went for Ryterna. They took quite a while to arrive but are pretty decent. The l lads fitting said they used to fit Tekentrupp and the Ryterna are better – but we still had some hinges snap. The installation Co swapped them out no issues though. And there is a catch so once they’ve blown open they don’t swing around.

HTH

Other than the additional space needed at the front of the garage I really can’t see a disadvantage with “barn” doors, especially if you’re not actually parking a car in the garage. being able to open just one of the doors is a much better option, even if it’s just to reduce the visbility of the contents from any passers-by (or nosey neighbours). I had them fitted to our old house and would do the same with this one as soon as the current door decides to jack it in.

We’ve got Cartek side hung doors which are effectively Tekentrup rebranded. Ally frame, insulated doors, multipoint locking etc.

Very happy with them and saves a chuck of internal space too.