Garage Door Openers – Which One is Right For You?

So you go to your local hardware store and there is a whole wall of garage door openers. The sales associate is helpful and shows you ALL the items. But you just leave confused. I’ll make it easy here and give you the simplest way to figure out which Craftsman garage door opener is best for you.

There are five basic steps to help you get the right door opener installed in your location.

Step One, Measure the height of your door:

Step Two, Select the HP (horsepower):

Step Three, Select the type of garage door opener:

Step Four, Select the type of remotes you need:

Step Five, Professional Installation or Install it yourself:

Step One, Measure the height of your door:

Measure the height of the opening, not the door itself. Most garage door openings are around 7 feet high. If your opening is 8 feet, 9 feet, or 10 feet you will have to buy an extension in addition to the garage door opener itself. If it is around 8 feet buy the 8-foot extension. If it is 9 or 10 feet buy the 10-foot extension.

Step Two, Select the HP:

There are two horsepower ratings for most garage door openers. 1/2 HP and 3/4 HP.

If you have an aluminum, aluminum insulated, or fiberglass door a 1/2 HP is plenty strong to open both a single car (7 to 9 feet wide) or a double car (16 feet wide) door.

If you have a wood door, a door with windows installed in it, a steel door, or one of the new doors that look like they are off an old carriage house I recommend you go with the 3/4 HP door. (If a magnet sticks to your door it is steel.)

Garage Door Openers – Which One is Right For You?

A new single car carriage style door can use a 1/2 HP opener. If you have an extra tall door (9 or 10 feet) or a door that is wider than 16 feet I also recommend you go with the 3/4 HP door. If you have a one-piece door (usually an old door made out of wood) I recommend a 3/4 HP door.

Step Three, Select the type:

There are three basic types of garage door openers. Chain drive, belt drive, and screw drive.

Chain drive garage door openers are what you are used to. They are reliable, noisy, and usually last a long, long time. They come in many different sizes. For example, the hardware store has an economy version, homeowner versions, and heavy-duty versions. These chain drive garage door openers are usually the best value and can be easily sized for your garage door. You can buy extensions for the opener for 8-foot and 10-foot doors.

A Belt drive garage door opener is relatively new on the market. It uses a metal reinforced belt instead of a chain to make the drive much quieter than a chain drive. It’s usually a little faster than a chain drive opener. If your garage is under the living space of your house and it sounds like a herd of elephants in your bedroom when someone uses the garage door the quiet belt drive may be the best choice for you. You can buy an 8-foot extension kit but not a 10-ft.

Screw drive units feature the fewest number of moving parts. They are powerful and quieter than chain drives. I believe Stanley was the first to introduce the screw drive garage door opener 15 years or so ago. Stanley is not making garage door openers anymore but the hardware store and Genie still have these available. I expect the screw drives to be replaced with “torsion spring” technology in a few years. You can buy an 8-foot extension for this type but not a 10-foot.

Step Four, Select the remotes: There are different types of remotes. Single-button – one button, one door. Mini – small remote to hook right on your key chain. Three functions – more buttons to control more doors and even the light in your home. Wireless keypads – attach this to the outside of your garage to open the door securely and safely. Finger Print Wireless Keypad – accepts only the fingerprints you have programmed into it. Great for families with children. Door Monitor – You can use this inside your home to check if the garage door is open or not.

Step Five, Professional Installation or Install It Yourself

I put this choice as a separate step because there is a good amount of work to install a garage door opener. Yes, your father-in-law can probably do it, but do you really want to pay for a case of beer and at least two trips to the hardware store? If you have not installed one yourself before plan on 4 to 6 hours for a new installation and 2 to 4 hours to replace an existing opener. hardware stores offer professional installation at a very reasonable price (in my area $109 and the installers have put in hundreds of openers) so it is worth discussing whether it is a good choice for you to install it yourself.

Garage Door Openers – Which One is Right For You?

Universal garage door remotes are fantastic devices for replacing your existing fob. Why would you want to replace your original remote? Good question! There are a plethora of possible reasons why you might need to purchase a universal device:

1) Broken existing model – yes, this can be annoying, you drop your remote accidentally and then, inadvertently, stand on the remote control with your size twelve shoes. Oops! The device breaks into a few pieces. You try superglue but your fob is trashed. Time to buy a replacement!

2) Faulty fob – so you’ve had your remote for quite a few years now and all was well but one day it started working intermittently. Sometimes it would only open your garage doors after a few hard presses on the button. Then one day it just ceased to work completely. Time for another one to replace it!

3) Lost/Stolen controller – whether you’ve been careless and left your fob laying around for someone to snatch or it’s slipped right out of your pocket when you bent down to tie your shoelaces. Whichever reason is applicable to you – yeah you guessed it, you need a replacement and fast!