The Difference Between Cheap vs Expensive Roller Garage Doors

When it comes to enhancing the security, convenience, and aesthetics of your home, investing in a roller garage door is a significant decision. Roller garage doors provide an array of benefits, including a space-saving design, smooth operation, and improved insulation. However, when selecting a roller garage door, one of the primary considerations is often the price. While it may be tempting to opt for a cheaper option, understanding the differences between cheap and expensive roller garage doors is crucial for making an informed decision.

Why Do Roller Garage Door Prices vary so much?

All roller garage doors may all look the same in a glossy brochure, the only variation seemingly being the colour and very subtle curtain slat finishes, but there are some large differences when it comes to the components used and the quality of the motor and operating mechanism.

We are all aware of cheap parts being sourced from Chinese or Indian manufacturing companies for far less than European companies, however, these savings only apply when the parts are mass produced for products that are sold in the millions. This is not the case with roller garage doors. You should be very careful when considering price as the only factor when buying a roller garage door.

The difference

A cheap roller garage door that uses low-quality components and electric parts will only produce one result, and that is failure. It just depends on how long this takes. We deal with requests every week from people all over the country who have had a roller garage door that has failed. The company they purchased the door from has now ceased trading. Most of the time, the parts required to repair the door are not available in the UK, and it requires a much bigger and more complicated repair to be carried out to conform with CE regulations and to be able to be a serviceable roller door.

Choosing the right roller door

Each company, when quoting, will tell you the roller door they are selling is the best one to buy. But take your time to find out why they think their roller door is the best, and you may get a lot of different replies.

Starting with the basics, any good roller garage door will have a minimum of a 5 year guarantee on the electric motor and good guarantees on the curtain finish, usually a standard of 10 years. The curtain slats most commonly used are normally 77mm deep and around 14mm thick of foam filled insulation. 

Browse our recommended manufacturers by searching our manufacturer directory here. 

Cheaper, thinner, and not so strong roller doors use cheap slats, usually from Chinese manufacturers, and when the slats have any imperfections in manufacturing, the results can be disastrous for a whole door curtain, With each slat not lining up properly, the roller door will look second hand the day it is installed.

The majority of insulated roller doors use a tubular motor, which is an electric motor inserted into a barrel housing that the curtain then wraps around. The best tube motors in the world are manufactured by industry-leading European manufacturers, for example, Somfy (market leaders), whose failure rate is almost nonexistent. Cheaper Chinese motors are becoming more extensively used now, and although many are fine for the first year, the safety devices and electronics that control the motors are even more important and cannot be compromised.

Finding the right garage door specialist near you

When searching for a company to quote for your new roller door, there are a few things to check for first. This includes ensuring they only supply market-leading garage door manufacturers that provide lengthy manufacturer warranties as standard. This also includes checking out their reputation and ensuring they do not compromise on quality. 

We also recommend using one of our local garage door specialists near you in your area.

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