New Colour and Timber Effect Finishes Now Available for GaraRoll

• Cream (RAL 9001)
• Light Ivory (RAL 1015)
• Rosewood Decopaint
• Golden Oak Decopaint

The cream and Light Ivory colour finishes will add some warmth to a property’s colour palette, providing some differentiation from white PVC windows and doors. Whilst the deco paint options will complement existing timber architectural features, such as window frames and exterior cladding in lighter and darker variations. The deco paint option also provides a more cost effective option when compared to the foil coated timber effect finish.
Click here to view the new GaraRoll colour ranges.

FRIDAY, 20 MARCH 2015

Operator Hand Transmitters take on a Stylish New Matt Black Look

Since their launch back in 2013, Garador Series 3 GaraMatic operators have set the standard, with sleek, modern hand transmitter designs and bi-directional ultra-secure functionality. We have now decided to take these modern hand transmitter designs and further push the boundaries of style with a change to textured matt black rather than the existing gloss finish. The new matt black finish will help to hide any small marks or scratches which are inevitable over time.

These new hand transmitters will ship with GaraMatic 9, GaraMatic 10 and GaraMatic 20 operators from late March 2015. The GaraMatic 10 and 20 operator units will come with 1 x five button hand transmitter and 1 x two button hand transmitter in matt black. Whilst the GaraMatic 9 operator unit, will come with 2 x two button hand transmitters in matt black.

If you were a fan of the old high gloss finish hand transmitters, fear not! These will still be available as accessories in a choice of 7 colours on the Garador spares shop. Click here to visit the spares shop. 

Famous (and very successful) companies that started in a garage!

ups. One of the world’s most successful companies even started in their garage… Apple computers. Apple are one of the most famous one’s in my mind, but there are a host of others too. Check out the list below. 

1. Hewlett Packard (1939). In California, they’ve got a habit of starting new businesses in their garages! Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, both Stanford University engineering graduates, founded Hewlett Packard in Bill’s garage in Palo Alto in 1939. One of their first products was a precision audio oscillator, later followed by semi-conductor instruments and calculators.
2. Lotus Cars (1984). So no British companies mentioned yet, I hear you say. Well a very famous sports car manufacturer, Lotus, was started in 1984 by Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman when he started to build early Lotus racing models in his parents’ North London garage. Undoubtedly one of the more traditional uses of a garage, storing and fixing cars. Lotus went on to become one of the World’s most renowned British manufacturers of sports and racing cars.
3. Apple (1976). Back to California… once the world’s most valuable technology company, valued at $700 billion in 2012, all started in the garage of Steve Jobs’ childhood home in Los Altos California. Apparently, according to an interview with Steve Wozniak alot of the testing of early Apple computer models took place in the garage...
4. Google (1998). Two more Stanford University graduates started a very famous company… Google. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, weren’t billionaires overnight… they had to start in a garage like so many other tech start-ups before them. They setup in Susan Wojcicki's (who later went on to become Google’s first marketing manager) garage in Menlo Park, April 1998.

Lot’s of tech companies started in their garages in California over the last 50 years and a car company, Lotus, based here in the UK. These are obviously the most famous companies… Perhaps you’re thinking of starting your own company here in

Pedalling from Garador to Paris!

Two of Garador’s keenest cyclists, Steve Cottle and Geoff Babiy have just taken part in a charity cycle ride from Garador’s offices in Yeovil all the way to Paris and back again. They left all the high tech machinery behind at Garador’s modern Yeovil manufacturing facilityfor a life on the open road… for a few days at least!

All this was done to raise money for the local Yeovil Rotary Charity Fundraisers through their ‘Get Pedalling Programme’ which supports the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Cyclists Fighting Cancer.

Going on your Summer Holidays? Check out these security tips…

Summer is finally here – the suns out, the weather is warm and at some point most families will be going away on their summer holidays to the Devon or Cornish coastlines, or abroad to places like France and Spain. We all travel hundreds of miles leaving our homes and garages unattended and whilst many think a break in will never happen to us, it’s always good to be prepared and ensure there are no easy points of entry to your home. So what are the most common points of entry? Let’s have a look…

 

Front Doors

Often, if it is a good neighbourhood, homeowners are inclined to leave their doors unlocked and even if the front door is locked, if there is a weak locking mechanism then unwanted intruders can still gain access to the property easily.

The Garador range of FrontGuard front doors have break in resistant RC2 security equipment, not to mention 5 point security locking. With 2 conical swing bolts, 2 security bolts and 1 additional lock bolt which insert into the frame’s lock plates, for even greater locking security, so the door can pulled tightly shut. FrontGuard doors also have 3 additional security bolts on the side hinges making it practically impossible to force the door open.

 

Garage Doors

Garage doors are often overlooked by their owners for their importance in preventing entry by burglars to their home. Despite accounting for as much as one-fifth of some homes, garage doors are sometimes viewed as an overpriced asset rather than a potential security risk and a lucrative entry point for an opportunistic burglar. A weak locking system, structurally poor chassis design and easily penetrable panel system are all perfect for burglars to take advantage of, which is why all Garador garage doors are equipped with specialist security features. Heck, we even introduced a specialist range of Secured by Design accredited Up & Over garage doors to deter those criminals even more.

Secured by Design (SBD), is an accreditation scheme owned by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) that promotes the use of security standards for a wide range of applications and products. Garador’s Guardian range is one of those product ranges. The Carlton, Horizon and Salisbury doors have been engineered to offer even greater security, with a reinforcing plate added to the lock body to prevent attacks against the locking mechanism and an anti-snap cylinder with sacrificial front to prevent entry. SBD doors also have 8 braces on the back of the door for extra strength and rigidity, rather than the standard 2 on other Up & Over doors.

 

Windows

A Beginner’s Guide to Steel Garage Door Frames…

When people come to buy a new Up & Over garage door, they are sometimes offered a steel frame. More often than not, they say ‘we never had a steel frame on the old door, and that one was fine… it lasted for years’. That may well be true, the steel frame isn’t essential, but it sure does make life a lot easier.

Straight onto the brickwork

It makes the door quicker and easier to fit and the steel frame can go straight onto the brickwork. Rather than fitting a timber frame to the brickwork, then fitting your garage door to the timber frame. Furthermore, a steel frame is there for the long run. Whilst a timber frame may warp or rot over time, the steel frame will last.

Cost savings

But how does that help me? I hear you say, well… most homeowners will have an existing timber frame to fit the garage door onto, but if the timber frame is on its way out (i.e. it’s a bit spongy or even slightly rotten) then the cost of replacing the timber frame is likely to exceed that of a steel frame. Especially when you factor in costs such as the cost of the wood to build a new timber frame and the cost of labour for a builder to construct it, it just doesn’t make sense.

A more accurate fit

Steel frames for Up & Over doors are an ancillary benefit, but they do offer a more accurate way of fitting the garage door too, so the door functions at maximum efficiency. The frame itself is constructed from high grade galvanised steel, to prevent rusting. With a precision design, it’s also engineered to fit the door size that you have ordered exactly… so your fitter can more accurately fit the door and there is no need for PVC cladding to fill-in unsightly gaps which are sometimes found around a timber sub-frame.

A colour to match

For those who like to have a coloured frame that matches, the steel frame comes factory painted and the exact same colour of paint can be used so there is no risk of getting a colour that isn’t quite right.

Any Up & Over gear type

A steel frame can be fitted to an Up & Over garage door with any type of gear, including:

• Canopy gear
• Retractable gear
• Retractable Plus gear

So here’s a quick summary… to put it simply, a steel frame for a Garador Up & Over garage door means:

• A faster and more accurate way to fit the door
• There is no need to paint the frame, as it is supplied pre-painted.
• The colour of the steel frame will match the colour of your garage door!
• There is no need for PVC cladding to fill in unsightly gaps around a timber frame.
• A steel frame will stand the test of time, unlike a timber frame which may warp or rot overtime.

Ordering a steel frame with an Up & Over garage door could be a great choice for y