North America has more sectional garage doors than any other kind. The height of these garage doors is about 18-24 inches or in centimeters, that is 46-61 cm. This type of garage door is more often than not equipped to have an automatic garage door opener. In Europe, it is not the same. Europe has more variety for types of garage doors, such a rolling doors, side-sliding sectional doors, and even single-panel up-and-over doors.

There are other differences between the two countries. One of these differences being that Europe uses the metric system to discover the size for the garage door everywhere, except for in the United Kingdom. This means that in North America a door that is measured as 8 x 7-foot is actually 2.4 x 2.1 meters if you are in Europe. The standard for single garage doors is 7 x 7 feet.

Moving Forward

Here in North America it is very common to have a single panel up-and-over garage door, at least it was for the United States and Canada between the 50s and 60s. If you are not aware, this garage door was created as a single piece that is kept together by a sturdy steel frame. If it is opened, it will have a swing arc that is often said to extend past the garage or stay inside the garage completely. The way to find the extension springs for this garage door is to look at the sides of the door in the mechanism for the garage door’s lift.

In Europe, construction works a little differently for residential than it does in North America. It is more common to have concrete construction than it is wood construction, which is what is more popular in North America. The reason that this garage door is more popular with Europeans is that it is easy to install. Installing this garage door only requires attaching 4 bolts to the frame of the door, which is concrete, and then taking some time to complete some small bit of refinishing. That is all that is needed. There is a downside to this in Europe, however, it is necessary to get a cherry picker to be able to transport the entire system.

This garage door’s vanishing act in North America is not really that surprising and has a rather simple reason. This garage door is not very helpful to have in the winter time. The garage door, when opening, swings partially outward, which means that snow is needed to be cleared before you can open the door. The door can also swing completely inside, which if this happens it will cause a new problem, the amount of space between a vehicle and your garage door shrinks.

Commercial and Residential Collide?

This second type of door, a rolling garage door is actually available and common in North America. However, it is normally only found on commercial garage doors and not used on residential homes. These garage doors are made up of strips that can be PVC, steel, or even aluminum. The name was given to this garage door for a very good reason. It is a garage door that simply rolls up above the garage door header.

Strips for this garage door will often vary in height. They are more often than not about 10 cm, or 4 inches tall. They are a rather simple door, but they need more clearance room. These types of doors are also more plain compared to a sectional door. There are not many design options compared to the dozens of options that sectional garage doors have.

Step Aside!

Finally we have what is known as a side-sliding sectional door. This door, as it’s name implies, opens laterally on one side of your garage. The way this door works is due to the siding that is found along the rail which is installed on one side and is connected to the ground. This door is a higher priced item than the others on this list and is able to be motorized as well. It is not popular for areas that it snows due to the fact it is difficult to operate at that time. The door will need an additional accessory, a heating cable, which will raise the cost of the door.

This was a comparison of the contrasts for residential garage doors in North America and Europe. The only thing that is left to cover is the cost of the doors and how they differ between the two. In Europe there is a large difference in the guarantees that are offered to homeowners, the regulations for safety of the doors, and the cost is higher for labor cost, which all lead up to one thing. The cost of a single sectional garage door will be twice the cost of what the price would come to here in North America.