What a custom garage door installation involves, from site readiness to handover. A reference from FAB Garage Doors.
Short answer on readiness: the opening should be finished and the floor level final before a door goes in. On a new build that means after the render or cladding around the opening is complete and after the driveway is poured. On a replacement it means clearing enough of the garage to work along both side walls and across the ceiling.
Short answer on power: an automated door needs a power point in the ceiling close to where the motor will sit. That is work for a licensed electrician, and it is the single item most often missing on installation day.
A custom garage door is manufactured to a measured opening. Installation is the moment that measurement gets tested. A door built to the millimetre and fitted into an opening that has moved, been re-rendered, or had its floor level changed since it was measured will still work, but it will not sit as well as it should.
That is why the sequence matters as much as the workmanship. Most installation problems in Sydney are not installer errors. They are sequencing problems: a door fitted before the driveway, a motor with nowhere to plug in, or a garage too full of stored belongings to reach the side walls.
| Stage | What is involved |
|---|---|
| Removal | On a replacement, the existing door, tracks and counterbalance hardware come out first. The opening is then checked against the measurement the new door was built to. |
| Tracks and counterbalance | The vertical and horizontal tracks are fixed, and the spring system that balances the door's weight is installed. This is what makes a heavy door feel light. |
| Panels | The door panels are stacked into the tracks and hinged together, bottom panel first. |
| Balance and adjustment | The spring tension is set so the door holds its position part-open rather than falling or rising on its own. A well-balanced door is quieter and easier on the motor. |
| Motor and testing | Where the door is automated, the motor is mounted and connected, travel limits are set, and the safety reversing function is tested against an obstruction. |
Much of Sydney is built on a slope, and a driveway that falls away from the opening or across it changes how the bottom of the door meets the ground. This is best identified at measure, not discovered on the day.
Brick garages from the mid twentieth century across the inner west, the south and much of the north shore are frequently out of square. The opening is measured at several points for exactly this reason, and the head and jambs may need attention before a new door will sit true.
Narrow frontages in the older suburbs often leave very little side room beside the opening for the vertical track. It can usually be worked with, but it needs to be known before manufacture.
FAB Garage Doors manufactures, supplies and installs across Greater Sydney, including the inner west, eastern suburbs, north shore, northern beaches, the Hills District, the Sutherland Shire, Canterbury-Bankstown, south-west Sydney and the western suburbs, from the Hawkesbury in the north to the Royal National Park in the south.
Download our Greater Sydney service area map (KML), covering the Sydney metropolitan area from the Hawkesbury to the Royal National Park.
Our public reference library, covering Colorbond doors, aluminium batten systems, entry door matching and standard opening dimensions:
FAB Garage Doors
FAB Building Projects Pty Ltd, ABN 34 649 393 162
NSW Fair Trading Builder Licence 367732C
Servicing Greater Sydney, NSW, Australia
Phone: 0425 205 221
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