Roller doors in Albany
A roller door is a metal curtain that rolls up and sits like a rolled-up carpet directly above the opening, B&D says, which leaves the garage ceiling clear. Steel-Line balances its roller doors with helical springs and says they can be run by a motor or opened by hand.
They are built for a lot of use. B&D tests its Roll-A-Doors for 20,000 to 30,000 up-and-down cycles, and says that at five opens and closes a day one will last more than 15 years.
The drum needs room above the opening. Steel-Line's 2026 brochure gives 430mm to 510mm of headroom for its A and AA series doors, and calls those figures a guide only, so have the opening measured before you choose.
Garage door repair in Albany
For a repair, say what the door does: it rolls up unevenly, it won't stay open, it catches on the way down, or the motor starts and then stops.
Steel-Line counts a roller door that fails to stay up, rolls up loosely, strains the motor, is hard to open or slams shut as out of balance, and says the tension has to be set by a professional. Its warning is blunt: do not attempt to tension a roller door yourself, at risk of serious injury or death.
If a new opener needs a power point, that is electrical work. In Western Australia it goes to a licensed electrical contractor, and Building and Energy's advice is that homeowners never try their own electrical work.
Building near the bush in Albany
The City of Albany says its bushfire prone area declaration is there to protect life and property in a bushfire, by making sure new buildings are built to a standard that lowers the risk of ignition.
The City says a building assessed as BAL-Low has no specific construction requirements under AS 3959 at this time. Anything rated higher must meet its construction requirements, which start with keeping embers out.
On a garage door, embers mean gaps. Gliderol says its fit-to-door top seals for roller doors nest inside the door as it opens and close gaps of up to 50mm as standard, and that a home's BAL decides whether flame retardant seals may be required.
Around Albany
May 2018
On 24 and 25 May 2018 a cold front drove winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour across the south-west of the state. More than 150 fires were reported, many of them escaped burns from private property, and parts of Albany were threatened. The AIDR Knowledge Hub records one house lost and another damaged.
Who sets the BAL
The City of Albany says a BAL assessment is generally carried out by an accredited Level 1 BAL Assessor or a Bushfire Planning Practitioner.
Builder registration
For a garage, carport or shed, WA builder registration applies only from $50,000, where the work needs a building permit and is in the prescribed area. Ask the door business whether your job needs a permit.
Close to salt water
Steel-Line's warranty excludes installations within 800 metres of the sea, so if the house is that close, read the warranty for the door you are offered.
Worth having to hand
- Roller, sectional or tilt, and the brand if there is a sticker
- What the door does wrong, and since when
- Your home's BAL rating, if it has one
- Whether there is a power point where the motor would go
What we would do
If your roller door has started drifting down from fully open, stop relying on the opener to hold it and book a tension check. Merlin's MR855EVO manual says an opener must not be left to make up for a door that is out of balance.