Garage door questions, answered properly

For 2026, a working range: a single steel sectional door runs roughly R6 500 – R11 000 supplied and fitted; a double steel sectional R11 000 – R18 000. Aluminium starts around R18 000 and hardwood can run past R60 000 on a large custom double.

The opening size, the condition of the lintel, whether an old door must come out and whether you are automating it all move the number. We measure and give you one written price. Full breakdown on our price guide.

Expect roughly R1 200 – R2 800 for a torsion spring replacement on a standard residential door, depending on the size of the spring and whether it is a single or a double door. If one spring on a two-spring door has gone, replace both: they have done identical work and the second one is not far behind.

A quality residential motor supplied and fitted generally lands between R4 500 and R9 500. The spread comes down to the pulling power the door needs, the brand, whether you want battery backup for load shedding (you do), and how many remotes and keypads you want programmed.

Yes, and we tell you what it is before we drive out, not after we have arrived. Where the job goes ahead, that fee is carried into the quoted price rather than stacked on top of it.

In order of likelihood: a broken torsion or extension spring, a snapped cable, a failed motor gearbox, a door that has jumped its track, or something as simple as a dead remote battery or the motor being in manual-release mode. If the door suddenly feels enormously heavy, stop using it — that is a spring, and forcing the motor to lift an unsprung door will destroy the motor as well.

Usually the safety system doing its job. Either the photo-eye sensors are misaligned or something is breaking the beam, or the motor's force and travel limits are set wrong so it thinks it has hit an obstruction. Both are quick fixes. Do not "solve" it by disabling the sensor.

Dry or collapsed rollers, a track knocked out of alignment, loose hardware, or a chain that has stretched. A grinding, screeching door is a door telling you it is wearing itself out. A service usually silences it.

Stop using it immediately. That is almost always a cable that has snapped on one side, and every further cycle twists the door further out of true and risks bending panels that are far more expensive than the cable. Phone us for an emergency callout.

Almost any sound, well-balanced door can be. Sectional and tip-up doors take a rail-driven operator; roller doors take a tube motor or a side-mounted unit. What cannot sensibly be automated is a door that is rusted, warped or badly out of balance — put a motor on that and you have simply bought an expensive way to break it faster.

We most often fit Centurion (D5 Evo, RoboSlide), ET Systems and Digi, because parts and support are genuinely available here. The right motor depends on the weight of the door and how many times a day it cycles. See garage door motors.

Only if the motor has a battery backup, and most decent units either include one or accept one. A charged backup battery will typically give you several open-and-close cycles through an outage, which is all anybody actually needs. Without it, you are pulling the emergency release cord and lifting the door by hand in the dark.

Yes. Smart operators like the Centurion SDO4/SDO5 range pair with an app, so you can open the door for a delivery from the office and see whether you actually closed it this morning. We set it up and pair it before we leave.

Once a year for a typical household. Every six months if the door cycles more than about ten times a day, or if it lives on a dusty road. A service is cheap; the panel a collapsed roller eventually tears is not. See servicing and maintenance.

Please do not. A torsion spring under tension stores enough energy to break bones, and the winding bars are not optional equipment — they are the only thing between you and a spring unwinding at speed. This is genuinely one of the few jobs in a house that regularly puts people in hospital.

A decent steel door will give you fifteen to twenty years. Springs are rated in cycles rather than years — typically ten to fifteen thousand — which is roughly seven to ten years for an average household and far less for a busy one. Rollers and cables sit somewhere in between.

A straight swap is a half-day for a single door and most of a day for a double. Add automation and it becomes a full day. New openings, new lintels or brickwork that has to be made good will take longer, and we will tell you that when we measure rather than when we arrive.