The three, defined plainly
- Sectional (panel-lift)
- A door made of horizontal panels hinged together. It rises vertically, then travels back along ceiling tracks, so nothing swings outside the opening. The dominant modern residential type, and what nearly every new double garage on the growth ring wears. Wants roughly 300 to 400 millimetres of headroom above the opening for a standard track.
- Roller
- A curtain of interlocked steel slats that rolls up into a drum above the opening. The most compact of the three, at home in tight-headroom garages, older single garages and nearly every farm shed on our round. Typically needs only around 200 to 250 millimetres of headroom, plus room for the drum itself.
- Tilt (one-piece)
- A single rigid panel that pivots outward and up. The original door of the old grid: most garages built before the nineties around Kurri, Weston and Abermain started life with one. Simple, few moving parts, but the panel swings out past the opening as it moves, so it needs clear space in front.
Side by side, honestly
| Reading | Sectional | Roller | Tilt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headroom needed | Most, roughly 300 to 400 mm | Least, roughly 200 to 250 mm | Moderate |
| Clearance in front | None, travels up and back | None, rolls into its drum | Needs the panel's swing, clear of cars and people |
| Insulation | Best of the three; insulated panels available | Lower unless a double-skin curtain is chosen | Moderate, seal quality decides |
| Noise | Quietest, especially belt-driven | Can rattle without maintenance | Moderate |
| Moving parts | Most: hinges, rollers, panels | Fewer | Fewest |
| Repairability | Spot-repairable panel by panel | Curtain usually repaired or replaced as a unit | Repair market: parts simple, new installs rare |
| At home in | New builds, double garages, rooms used as workshops | Tight headroom, sheds, older singles | The existing pre-1990s installed base |
Which door for which garage, around here
On our round the question usually answers itself:
- A new double on the growth ring wants a sectional. It's what the opening was framed for, it seals best, and an insulated panel earns its keep on a west-facing door in a Hunter summer.
- An old single on the 1902 grid is often happiest keeping its tilt, repaired. When a tilt is genuinely done, the replacement conversation is usually roller versus sectional, and headroom decides it before taste gets a vote.
- A tight-headroom garage or a carport conversion wants a roller. It's the door that fits where the others can't.
- A shed wants a roller almost by definition, sized to what the shed holds now, not what it held when it was built.
The opener, while we're here
Any of the three can be motorised, and the opener carries its own honest notes. Automatic openers sold in Australia are built to a specific electrical safety standard covering things like auto-reverse (AS/NZS 60335.2.95, in its current 2024 edition). Safety beams near the floor are part of that picture: a door that refuses to close is often protecting something, not failing. If an opener needs mains wiring rather than a plug-in connection, that wiring is licensed electrical work in NSW and is done by a licensed electrician. And if you're ever offered a second-hand opener, it's worth a minute on the ACCC's recalls list before it goes anywhere near your door.
The straight call
Don't buy a door type. Buy the door your opening, your headroom and your household actually need, and make whoever sells it to you measure first. Ours is free, and the quote comes itemised before anything is ordered.
Sources
- Standards Australia: AS/NZS 60335.2.95:2024. The electrical safety standard for household garage door drives, including the auto-reverse behaviour described above. Paywalled like most standards; the catalogue page describes its scope.
- ACCC Product Safety: garage door opener recalls. The live recalls register worth checking before installing any second-hand opener.
- NSW Government: electrical work licensing. Why mains wiring on an opener is a licensed electrician's job in this state.