Understanding the terminology associated with garage doors is crucial for homeowners and professionals alike. Whether you’re considering a new installation, cable replacement, performing maintenance, or simply want to understand how your garage door system works, familiarizing yourself with these terms can be incredibly helpful. From basic components like springs and rollers to more complex systems like counterbalances and automatic openers, this guide will cover the essential terms you need to know.
At Value Garage Door and Gate Repair, serving Pasadena and the surrounding areas, we aim to provide you with the knowledge and expertise to make informed decisions about your garage door repair needs. If you need professional assistance, don’t hesitate to contact us at (626) 479-2550 for reliable and efficient garage door services.
A
- Air Infiltration: The leakage or passage of air through a door system, affecting insulation and energy efficiency.
- Anodize: A hard non-corrosive oxide film on the surface of aluminum, enhancing durability and resistance to corrosion.
- Astragal: A compressible or deformable seal provided on the bottom edge of a door to prevent drafts, dirt, and pests from entering.
- Astragal Retainer: A component mounted to the bottom edge of a door that holds an astragal in place securely.
- Automatic Opening Device: A quick opening mechanism recommended for installations requiring rapid automatic door opening without using an electronic operator.
B
- Back Hang: Hanger fabricated from angle iron, attaching the end of the horizontal tracks to roof construction or ceiling for stability.
- Back Jamb: The wood member on the inside surface of the garage, surrounding the door opening, providing structural support.
- Backroom: The horizontal distance measured into a building from the door mounting surface to the first obstruction within the zone required to install or operate the door.
- Bead: A strip of metal, vinyl, or rubber used to secure glass around the periphery of a pane, ensuring a tight seal.
- Bottom Bracket: A structural support located predominantly on the bottom section that holds track rollers and may also provide for the attachment of lifting cables.
- Bottom Weatherseal: An astragal or other weatherstrip attached to the bottom of a door to seal against the floor, preventing drafts and debris from entering.
- Bow: A condition where a garage door bottom rail of wood is not level or straight, often causing the door to appear “smiling” (corners turned up).
- Bracket Mounted: A method of fastening vertical track or jamb using jamb brackets for secure installation.
C
- Cable Drum: Grooved drum fitted on a torsion spring shaft onto which the lifting cable is wound when the door is opened.
- Cable Drum Set Screws: Set screws that attach the drum to the shaft/tube, securing the cable length properly.
- Cable Safety Device: A bottom fixture designed to slow or stop the descent of a door in the event of cable breakage.
- Cable Stop: A swaged fitting at the end of the cable to prevent slippage through the slot of a drum.
- Center Bearing Bracket: A bracket housing a shaft bearing and aligning and supporting the torsion shaft and spring(s) assembly, also serving to anchor the stationary cone(s) to the header.
- Center Hinge: A hinge generally located on the intermediate stiles to allow sections to pivot as the door opens, also used as a graduated edge hinge between the bottom and intermediate section.
- Center Stile: The vertical member of a door section providing structural rigidity and a location for center hinge attachment.
- Clearance: The amount of side room, head room, and back room required to properly install a sectional door.
- Counterbalance System: A system counteracting the weight of a garage door to allow a reduced force to open and close the door.
- Cycle: An action on the door from the fully closed position to the fully open position and back to the fully closed position.
D
- Design Wind Load: Horizontal design load applied to a garage door based on factors such as wind speed, building height, and horizontal door location.
- Door Casing: The framing members that a door opening is finished with providing structural and aesthetic framing.
- Door Frame: The frame into which the door fits; consists of two door jambs and a door header.
- Door Jamb: The upright framing on each side of the door opening, supporting the door frame.
- Door Size: Door dimensions characterized by the width first and height second, crucial for fitting and installation.
- Double Glazing: The use of two thicknesses of glazing within an opening to improve insulating value and/or reduce sound transmission.
- Double Strength Glass: A grade of window glass lighter than plate glass, usually 1/8″ thick, used for durability.
- Double Track Low Headroom: The addition of a second pair of horizontal tracks to reduce the high point of travel of the top section and permit door mounting in areas with minimum headroom facilities.
- DSB: Acronym for Double Strength Grade B Glass.
E
- Electric Operator: An electrically-powered device to control the opening and closing of a door.
- End Stile: Located at each end of a door section, providing for attachment of graduated edge hinges.
- Extension Spring: Provides power or tension by stretching or pulling, usually mounted along the horizontal section of the track extending from the front of the door opening to the back hang.
- Exterior Lock: A keyed lock on the exterior of the door, providing security.
F
- Flush Door: A door comprised of sections unbroken by visible rails and stiles, where the facing of the entire door presents an even surface.
- Front Mounted Low Headroom: Low headroom hardware where springs mount on a torsion shaft above the opening.
- Full View Section: A totally glazed section with various types of glass or clear plastic, formed of aluminum extrusions that marry with steel or aluminum sections above and below.
G
- Galvanizing: Zinc coating to protect against corrosion, enhancing durability.
- Gauge: U.S. Standard established by Congress in 1893, specifying weight per square foot indicated by a numbering system; larger numbers indicate smaller thicknesses and vice versa.
- Glazed: Fitted with panes of glass or clear plastic for visibility and light.
- Graduated Edge Hinge: Hinge placed on the edge of door sections allowing sections to pivot as the door opens and closes, holding track roller and ensuring flush sit of the door against jambs when closed.
- Grille: Insert within a window designed to give the appearance of divided lines, adding to the aesthetic.
H
- Header Seal: Weather-stripping mounted at the opening header to seal the opening between the header and curtain.
- Headroom: The vertical clear space required above the door opening and below the lowest ceiling obstruction, necessary for proper installation and operation of the door and its hardware.
- High Cycle Spring: Counterbalance springs with increased cycle life capability for high usage doors.
- High Lift: Distance from the header to the underside or horizontal track where high lift is required.
- High Lift Track: Track and hardware that causes the door to rise vertically some distance above the top of the door opening before it levels out into a horizontal position.
- Hinge: Hardware item that joins door sections together, allowing sections to pivot independently.
- Horizontal Radius: Section of track that transitions from vertical to horizontal track, welded, bolted, or riveted to the horizontal track and then bolted to the flag angle.
- Horizontal Track: Track used in the horizontal segment of a track assembly.
- Hot Off The Floor: A condition where the door has a tendency to lift off the floor, indicating tension issues.
I
- Inside Hook Up: Connection where the counterbalance cable is on the inside of the track, between the door sections and the vertical track.
- Inside Hook Up Bottom Bracket: Bottom bracket where the cable is routed between the vertical track and the door section.
- Inside Lock: A spring-loaded, sliding deadbolt lock or spring latch operable only from the interior of the door, providing security.
- Insulating Glass: Multi-pane glass assembly containing air space between panes for insulation, enhancing energy efficiency.
- ISLO: Acronym for Inside Looking Out.
L
- Lift Handle: A handle attached to the inside or outside of a door section, to be grasped by hand when a door is to be operated manually.
M
- Meeting Rail: The top horizontal rail or bottom horizontal rail of any section that meets and joins to form a weatherproof seal.
- Mounting Plate: Flat steel or wood member placed on the wall to accommodate spring supports, spring shaft bearings, chain hoists, and mounting plates for operators.
- Mullion Window: Framing member forming a divide between units of a window.
- Muntin: A bar member separating panes of glass within a sash or door.
O
- Opening Height: Distance from floor to the bottom of the header.
- Opening Width: Distance between jambs of the door opening.
- Operator: An electric or air-powered mechanism that opens and closes a door.
- Outside Hook Up: Connection where the counterbalance cable is on the outside of the tracks.
- Outside Hook Up Bottom Bracket: Bottom bracket where the cable is routed outside the tracks.
- Overlay: Decorative ornaments of metal, wood, or hardboard used for outside decoration of garage door sections.
P
- Pan Door: A garage door composed of sheet metal door design sections.
- Perforated Angle: Angled metal with a series of punched holes used to hang garage doors and operators.
- Perimeter Seal: Weatherstrip installed at the perimeter of a garage door, enhancing insulation and protection.
- Pinch Resistant: Term for a door designed to prevent entrapment, crushing, breaking, severing, or dislocating a person’s finger.
R
- Rain Stop: Ledge provided at the point where the bottom rail meets the floor to prevent water from running under the door and allowing for runoff onto the driveway.
- RSLO: Acronym for Right Side Looking Out.
- R-Value: Thermal resistance value; inverse of U-Value, indicating insulation effectiveness.
S
- Shaft Bearing: A bearing used to maintain torsion shaft alignment and reduce friction.
- S-Hook: Hardware device used to connect an extension spring to a pulley, also used with other door-related hardware.
- Sideroom: Horizontal measurement from each side of the door opening outward to the nearest obstruction.
- Solar Glass: A type of tinted glass used for its solar control properties.
- Spring Anchor: Winding cone and stationary cone that secure the spring in place.
- Spring Balance: The amount of turns needed to counterbalance the weight of the garage door upward travel to reduce shock and prevent pull-down rope breakage, made from leaf springs or tension rods.
- Spring Pad: Pad installed on the header above the door to anchor the center bearing bracket, can be mounted in various locations depending on spring size.
- Step/Lift Plate: A part used as a step-down plate and a lift handle for manually operating a sectional door.
- Stile: Vertical reinforcement member of a section, providing structural integrity.
- Stile-and-Rail Garage Door: A sectional garage door featuring sections made up of horizontal rail and vertical stile structural framing members supporting panels.
- Stop Mould: Seals the perimeter of the door against weather and light infiltration, usually nailed to the jamb, outside the door.
- Strut: Support stiffener to reduce deflection of the door sections in a horizontal position, also to increase wind load capability.
T
- Test Wind Load: Specified difference in static air pressure (positive or negative), equal to a specified percentage greater than or equal to 100% of the design load.
- Thermal Break: Separation between the outer and inner surfaces of a door section to reduce thermal transfer.
- Top Fixture: Bracket for positioning the top guide roller on the top section of the door.
- Top Seal: Weather stripping fastened to the top of the door to seal the door along the top of the opening.
- Torsion Shaft: Shaft that transfers torque from springs to load, essential for door balance.
- Torsion Spring: Spring that works by turning on end about a longitudinal axis, developing torque.
- Track Bracket: Fixture connected to a track, designed for the track to be mounted to the jamb.
- Track Roller: Roller assembly for guiding the door sections along the track.
- Trim: Finishing materials such as locks and handles on the door.
U
- U-Bar: See strut.
- U-Value: Thermal transmission coefficient, measuring heat in BTU’s transmitted through one square foot of material in one hour at a temperature difference of 1 degree from one side to the other.
V
- Vertical Post: Vertical reinforcement sometimes installed for high wind events.
- Vertical Track: Portion of the track oriented vertically and adjacent to the jamb, guiding the door.
- Vision Lite: Glazing mounted in a door, allowing visibility and light.
W
- Weatherstrip: Material used at the perimeter of a garage door or between joints to improve performance against air infiltration and thermal transmission.
- Winding Cone: Part fitting into a torsion spring permitting winding and tension adjustment.
- Winding Plug Set Screw: Set screw fasteners locking the winding plug to the torsion shaft.
- Winding Rod: Solid rod fitting into the socket of the winding plug to tension torsion springs.
- Winds on Spring: The number of winding turns on a torsion spring, essential for proper balance.
- Wire Size: Diameter of the wire in a spring, determining its strength.
- Wood Jamb: Upright wood piece forming the side of an opening, providing structural support.
- Wood Jamb Mounted: Refers to mounting vertical track to wood jambs for stability.