Sectional, roller, up-and-over or side-hinged?

Four ways for a garage door to open, and what each one asks of your garage: headroom, ceiling space, side walls and room on the drive.

Garage doors
4 min read
October 2026

A dark sectional garage door closing, warm light spilling out beneath it — Concept visualisation · a sectional door closing

Every garage door does the same job, and each opens in one of four ways. The way it opens decides what it asks of your garage: space above the opening, space under the ceiling, wall on either side, or room on the drive. Start there and the choice narrows quickly.

At a glance

How the four types compare. Sources are listed at the end of the article.
Type	How it opens	Ceiling	In front	Insulation
Sectional	Panels run up side tracks and park under the ceiling	Used by the tracks	Nothing swings out	40 or 60 mm panels
Roller	A curtain of slats winds onto a shaft above the opening	Left clear	Nothing swings out	Foam-filled slats
Up-and-over	One leaf tilts out at the bottom and slides back	Used by the leaf	Needs room to swing	Optional on some models
Side-hinged	One or two leaves swing outwards on hinges	Left clear	Needs room for the leaves	Optional, 20 to 40 mm

The table draws on our catalogue and the manufacturer’s data^{1, 2, 3, 4}. The details follow.

Sectional

Insulated horizontal panels, hinged together, run up side tracks and park under the ceiling, so nothing swings out over the drive¹. It is the choice for warmth: the panel is 40 mm thick in UniPro and 60 mm in UniTherm and PRIME².

The tracks need headroom and side room, though renovation and low-headroom versions reduce both⁵. UniPro also offers glazing, from a slim strip to a panoramic panel, and an optional wicket door⁵.

Roller

A curtain of slim, foam-filled aluminium profiles winds onto a shaft above the opening, leaving the ceiling and side walls clear¹. That keeps the ceiling free for storage or a lift², and suits garages where ceiling tracks are impossible or unwanted⁶.

Our roller garage doors come motorised as standard, with a curtain lock against lifting from outside, a safety edge that reverses on contact and a brake against the curtain dropping⁶. In the manufacturer’s data, the wider 100 mm profile spans openings up to 5 m⁶.

Up-and-over

A one-piece leaf tilts outwards at the bottom and slides back under the ceiling on spring-balanced arms¹. It is simple and proven, and it needs room to swing²: keep the drive clear in front of the door as it opens.

The steel leaf comes in sixteen infill designs; insulation is optional on some models, and the door can be manual or motorised³. It suits detached and utility garages, and rows of garages in a block³.

Side-hinged

Traditional leaves swing outwards on hinges, singly or as a pair. They can be fitted in the opening or in front of it, even where there is no lintel or side jamb⁴, which makes them useful for older garages.

They open outwards only⁴. In the manufacturer’s data the leaves open to 98° as standard and 140° as an option, with optional insulation from 20 to 40 mm and a wicket door in either leaf⁴. Side-hinged doors are not in the online shop: ask us about them.

Which suits your garage?

Little space above the opening: a roller door, or a sectional door on low-headroom tracks^{6, 5}.
A ceiling you want for storage: a roller door².
A garage under a bedroom, or used as a room: a 60 mm sectional door; UniTherm and PRIME are designed for energy-efficient and passive buildings, in the manufacturer’s words².
An old opening with no lintel or uneven walls: a side-hinged door, or a sectional door on a self-supporting frame^{4, 5}.
A short drive: a sectional or roller door, because nothing swings out¹.
Simplicity: an up-and-over door².

Our guide to measuring for a garage door explains how to take each measurement.

Drives and safety

Sectional doors can be operated by hand, but obstacle detection, photocells and app control belong to the automatic drives². A closing door that meets resistance stops and lifts clear, with photocells as a second line². Sectional doors add panel profiles that cannot trap fingers, and spring-break and cable-break devices that hold the door if a component fails².

Safety

Garage door springs and cables are under high tension. Never adjust, release or replace them yourself. A frayed cable or a broken spring means: stop using the door and call us⁷.

Drives can also join an app with the gate and front door; see Intelligent systems at home.

From the catalogue