Cardale Ups Its Game

Since Cardale Garage Doors bought out Henderson in early 2009 and they are both now part of the BRP group, they have been busy designing a hybrid of the best of the two manufacturer’s door designs.

The changes that have now been implemented since consolidating to one factory in Bowburn offer a significant improvement to the security and ease of installation of these steel garage doors.

Cardale’s product development team have taken the best from both brands and borrowed some ideas from the likes of Hormann and Garador by introducing a chassis based construction of the doors.  This superior method of making garage doors gives a stronger and stiffer door for improved reliability and security.  The chassis system gives a ‘no-rivet’ construction for a neater overall appearance of the door panel.

The security has been improved with steel telescopic locking rods to replace the previous flimsy cables.  The locking latches are spring loaded for a ‘fit and forget’ secured door.  To improve your garage’s security even more you can upgrade to the 4 point locking option instead of the standard 2 point system.

Cardale garage doors have addressed the defects in it’s previous door design and made real improvements to it’s range which it now shares with the popular Henderson brand.

Maintaining your Garage Door

If your garage door opener is broken, you’ve immediately got several different problems looming on your horizon — the cost of the garage parts being one of the least of your concerns. If it’s stuck open, you’re looking at a home security issue that could lead to burglary or home invasion, an insulation and water leak that could damage any belongings you have stored in your garage, and of course, your car is in danger of being stolen! If it’s closed, then your car is in even more danger out in the open — and of course you have the inconvenience of being unable to access the contents of your garage from the outside.

But that assumes that the door is totally broken, and we addressed whole-door repair a few days ago. There are lots of / other small ways that garage parts can go wrong, and each requires its own little bit of maintenance.

The door goes up and down by itself.
Most likely, this is simply an issue of you sharing a bit of garage door opener bandwidth with a nearby neighbor. Follow the given instructions on how to change your system’s frequency, and this problem should vanish.

The door only closes halfway, then reopens.
This is frequently the result of a dirty or cracked lens on your garage door opener’s photocell safety system. The lenses are one of those garage parts that few people think to maintain properly. These systems are present to keep the garage door from closing on a car or a child — it is supposed to detect an obstruction and retract the door. If there is a problem with the lens, you might need to clean it with a dry clean cloth — or if it’s physically damaged, you may need to replace it.

Pressing the button on your garage opener does nothing.
One of the most common complaints about any garage door opener is that the garage simply stops opening when you push the button. This is one of the simplest garage parts to fix: a vast majority of the time, you simply need new batteries. If that doesn’t work, you simply need a new remote or to reprogram it.

The garage door opener doesn’t automatically stop if the opening is obstructed.
This is a particularly dangerous occurrence — doubly so if your door is also opening and closing unexpectedly due to a bandwidth overlap — as it can cause injury or death in children. If you notice this occurring, immediately contact your garage parts supplier and find it what it will take to get, at the minimum, a new safety mechanism put in.

Dozens of other people’s remotes work on your garage door opener.
This is a kind of a repeat from above, but it’s worth noting because it happens so regularly with cheaper models. Even if no one in your road is using the factory settings on their garage door openers, if you never change the bandwidth, that means anyone who has a factory-generic setting on their opener can use it to open your garage door. So make sure you change it!

By keeping these simple DIY repair tasks up-to-date and double-checking your garage parts at least once a year, you will ensure that your garage door opener remains a valuable asset to your home and family.

What’s the Most Secure Garage Door Type?

Who else doesn’t really care about their garage door? Why not? You should, just because it might look a bit aged and it’s not that easy to open anymore. Your garage door protects all the household products that you store in a garage or the thing that protects your second largest purchase, your much-needed car.

If your garage is integral to your house, your garage door is often the last line of defence that stands between burglars having the opportunity to work unnoticed in gaining access to your home. So maybe you should pay some attention to that old garage door, maybe you should take your garage door security seriously.

Unfortunately, no matter how many extra locks you fit to your existing door, it may not increase the security enough as some older door types are made from low gauge steel and are so flimsy that an intruder could peel the door open like a tin of beans.  Older locking latches can easily be released from the outside with a screwdriver in a matter of seconds.

Even a solid door is only as good as the frame it is fitted to, so if this has started to rot or rust then these can be forced relatively easily.

So what are your options? What’s the easiest way to secure your garage door?

In all honesty, a new garage door is the only complete solution and although basic up and over garage door design has improved over the years, sectional garage doors and roller garage doors are increasingly popular because of their superior security benefits.

How to Choose a Garage Door with the Right Level of Security for You

Sectional and Roller Garage Doors offer the best security currently available for domestic garages. Hormann, Carteck & Novoferm Sectional doors come with TUV approval which is a stringent German product testing house.

Seceuroglide roller doors are available with the Excel upgrade which gives you the UK Police & Insurance ‘Secured by Design’ approval.

If there isn’t the headroom for a sectional or roller door then a good quality up and over door is the next best choice. Garador & Hormann offer the best security when it comes to these as they have rigid locking bars rather than flimsy cables. They also offer the option of upgrading from 2 to 4 point locking on doors up to 3048mm wide.

If you are going for an up and over door, it is definitely a good idea to have it with a factory steel frame as these give a tighter seal between the door and the frame than a timber frame. This will reduce the risk of the door being levered open.

With any of the above options it’s a good idea to fit the frame behind the brickwork opening, this will not only give you a better drive through width but will increase the security as there are no gaps to lever the frame off the brickwork.