A typical suburban house has a double garage accessed from the front of the lot. The garage door is often the largest element in the front façade. However, it typically provides very little visual interest. While a prominent garage door detracts from a streetscape, an unadulterated row of them is deadly. The standard sized double garage door is 4.8 metres wide by 2.1 metres tall. For a typical new single storey house, the garage opening takes up nearly half the width of the front façade.
As designers and developers of residential estates, how do we stop garage doors dominating the front of the house and dominating the street? This bulletin examines different types of garage doors, the issues, and how design standards can be used to make garages better for houses and streetscapes.
Types of garage doors
Garage doors come in six broad types, each with pros and cons. Every type can be operated manually or by remote control.
Roller door
A roller door is made of multiple thin horizontal sections that roll around an overhead drum. Roller doors are the lowest cost garage door. These doors are very secure and are suitable for areas with cyclones. The roller door drum is located above the opening, so a roller door will typically take up otherwise unused space when not in use.
Sectional door
A sectional door is made of a number of horizontal panels hinged together. It retracts on rails below the ceiling of the garage. Sectional doors are very secure, reliable and durable. They are the most common type of garage doors used in new houses. Each section can be customised to include different colours and openings, such as windows and pedestrian doors.
Projecting tilt panel door
A projecting tilt panel door is one solid panel. On opening it lifts up and projects from the front wall of the garage. These doors can be customised with cladding to suit the façade, windows, and pedestrian doors. Tilt panel doors are not suitable in areas with strong winds as the high-tension springs may be damaged.
Retracting tilt panel door
A retracting tilt panel door is like a projecting one, but on opening fully retracts into the garage ceiling space.
Slide to the side door
A slide to the side door has vertical sections that retract against one of the garage’s side walls when fully open. These doors free up roof space for storage and lighting. They are expensive and uncommon in Australia.
Source: Evenglide side sliding section door.
Side hinged door
A side hinged door swings open on side hinges, like a typical house door. This door doesn't use space inside the garage, so the walls and ceiling are available for storage and lighting. These doors are quick to open and walk though, so double as pedestrian access.
Source: Access garage doors, Steel side hinged garage doors.
Extras
Pedestrian door
A pedestrian door can be fitted to most types of garage door. These doors are commonly used in commercial premises. They are also useful in garage doors on rear-loaded residential lots.
Source: Abi garage doors, Sectional doors with pedestrian access.
Windows
Each door type can include windows, except roller doors. Windows can be vertical or horizontal, and in many different arrangements.
Comparative prices
Roller doors are the cheapest type. Sectional doors are about 50 % more expensive. A plain panel lift door is about twice the cost of a roller door. If customised to incorporate the house façade’s cladding materials, the cost increases. A fully customised door can cost up to ten times the price of an off-the-shelf model. (See this web page by hipages for more information about the costs of garage doors by type and size.)
Issues
An estate’s design code might seek to address the following issues.
Undue prominence
The garage door is almost always a different material to the balance of the façade, and sometimes a different colour. This often leads to the garage door becoming more prominent than it deserves, detracting from the desired focus of the façade.
Multiple doors
The more garage doors, the more prominent they are within the façade. Large garages using three or four doors can be especially prominent.
Large blank areas
A garage door is typically a large blank wall. As such, it contrasts with the greater detail on the balance of the façade.
Out of character elements
Windows and coffered panels are usually out of character with the rest of the façade. Some estates prohibit certain types and profiles of door on facades facing the public realm.
Horizontal lines
Roller doors and sectional garage doors have long horizontal lines. These contrast with the typical vertical emphasis of most front façades.
Some examples
Attention where you want it
In the example shown on the right, the porch provides a focal point. The garage is well set back and is in the same colour as other parts of the façade. The garage becomes a minor element in the composition of the façade. Setting the garage behind the balance of the front façade also reduces the prominence of the garage opening.
A horizontal theme
The horizontal emphasis of most garage doors, especially the many horizontal lines, can often be out of character with the balance of the façade. However, using horizonal lines elsewhere on the façade can decrease the prominence of the ones on the garage door. This can be achieved by using brickwork, weatherboards, or horizontally proportioned windows. The example at right makes a theme of horizontal lines, by using brickwork and weatherboards above and beside the garage door.
Matching colours
If the colour used on the garage door is not found on the balance of the façade, it will distract from it and unduly increase its prominence.
Using the same or a similar colour on the garage door as used on other elements of the façade creates a harmonious composition, where the visual emphasis can be on the more visually interesting parts of the façade.
Horizontal windows
Windows in a garage door typically look out of character. However, they can work well. In this example, the horizontal emphasis of the garage windows matches the horizontal emphasis of the other windows on the front façade.
Tandem parking on narrow lots
The narrower the lot, the more a double garage door will dominate the front facade. A garage opening only a single car wide achieves an aesthetically better façade. The garage can still park more than one car. Cars can be parked in tandem, that is, one behind the other, if the garage is made long enough.
Source: Tandem Garage- Types, benefits and drawbacks. The Elephant Journal.
Design standards
Limiting the area or width of the garage opening reduces its prominence.
“The garage opening must be no more than 6 m wide.” (Somers & Hervey, Rasmussen, Queensland)
“On houses of two or more storeys on lots narrower than 12.5 metres, the garage opening must not exceed 25% of the area of the front façade of the dwelling.”(The Maples, Greenvale, Victoria)
Standards can prohibit those doors that are most likely to be out of character.
“Roller doors, garage doors with windows, and garage doors that feature coffered or rectangular relief patterns are prohibited” (Bankside, Rowville, Victoria)
Setting the garage behind the front wall of the house decreases its prominence.
“The garage must be set back from the front wall of the house at least 1 m.” (Menangle Park, NSW)
Setting a third space further back will reduce its prominence.
“Where the house incorporates a triple garage or anything larger, the opening to the third garage space must be set back a further 1 metre.” (The Maples, Greenvale, Victoria)
