subject: The Vertical Overhead Door Is Never Unreal [print this page] An overhead door is not always horizontalAn overhead door is not always horizontal. It may be pictured as such if it were in a ceiling or the floor of a hay loft. Such entrances have been used in the past when they were sometimes referred to as trap doors. In stables they were used to separate hay lofts from the stables below them. In houses access to a concealed attic may be obtained through such means.
In most cases the phrase refers to a feature that is vertical when closed and horizontal when retracted into a position above the head. Usually such doors are used in garages. To a large extent the garage became necessary when cars became indispensable aspects of life and the environment. Garages came to be features in most domestic residences.
The positioning of a garage relative to other parts of a house needs to be considered. At first it was common to have a corrugated iron shed some distance from a home. Architects soon realized how this was impractical because people had to stumble up pathways often in inclement weather. They ere brought closer in, attached to the side of a house and gradually accepted as something of a status symbol, especially if equipped with prestigious fittings.
Heavy doors that swing outwards in pairs have disadvantages. They must be scraped and lifted separately into a closed position before being bolted shut with a sigh. Such difficulties can result in them being left open for longer than they ought when they can be caught by gusts of wind.
One popular alternative is the tilt door. A system of counterweights and cables suspend a panel across and entrance so that it can be tilted up or down into open and closed positions. If nicely balance the door can be easily pulled open of shut but in such a finely balanced system it is easy for a balance to be upset so that the whole heavy structure collapses.
Large sheds or warehouses might be served best by a roll of heavy metal that can be unrolled across a large entrance that can admit heavy vehicles. The metal can be quite thick if the contraption is composed of thin panels linked together. This type of entrance can be made quite secure.
In domestic buildings aesthetics becomes more of a consideration. It is possible to have wooden panels that close into a stack in a way that is similar to the way that a butterfly folds its wings. In this case the wings may be decorative and stacked away as if by magic.
The motor that opens and shuts an overhead door is a really important part of it making it something of a rudimentary robot. It works in conjunction with a remote control gadget or wall switch. If the mechanisms are sufficiently well tuned the opening and shutting can be accomplished silently, which is more effective than when it is accompanied by clanks and groans. Thus, the electric motor needs to be carefully chosen and maintained by a reliable technician.
