Build Your Dream Garage!!

Architect's Corner

As you probably already know, we offer a wide variety from standard, to semi custom, to go wild and crazy custom for both commercial and residential doors. We can help you express your vision, maintain your budget and get drawings of products.

With all the options available and the changes in manufacturing and technology it can be hard to keep up. From experience we know that you can save a lot of time, if we come into your office and walk you through changes in door offerings and help you to find the information that you need. Almost without fail we find that when we are in talking with one Architect others will stop by to ask us questions.

LEED Certification and EcoBuilt™ doors

Whether you are concerned about LEED certification or if you are just concerned about energy efficiency we have the products and materials you need. From high R value, low air infiltration and the use of recycled material we offer you a wide range of energy efficient products. To find out more click here.

DoorView Visualization Software

Also try our new visualization software called DoorView™ With this software it is easy for you to insert a variety of doors right in your prints. It is great way to help the homeowner make faster decisions and see the end result.

Place doors right in your prints using our DoorView™ program.
Call us to get started.

New A.I.A. accredited classes - Lunch and Learn

Give us a call at 651-683-0307 to set up a presentation. We offer A.I.A. accredited training classes which are eligible for C.E.U. credits or just a question and answer session, we are here to help you with your projects.

Topics Include:

• A.I.A. C.E.U. Training Credits
• Design specifications.
• Product applications
• Etc……

Architect Drawings

Architect’s Corner, a resource for commercial and residential architects, contains comprehensive technical and resource materials to support your project, including drawings for installing garage and overhead doors. Simply select the specific residential or commercial application or product that suits your construction or remodeling project, and you’re just clicks away from downloading specifications to your desktop.

Clicking on these categories will take you to the Overhead Door National site by opening a new window. To get back to this site click the tab on the top of your menu bar or close out the national site’s window.

To get started select a category.

Click hear to down load drawings
http://www.overheaddoor.com/ArchitectsCorner/Pages/view-all-drawings.aspx

Click here to download specifications
http://www.overheaddoor.com/ArchitectsCorner/Pages/view-all-specs.aspx

Down load architectural design manual
http://www.overheaddoor.com/ArchitectsCorner/Pages/architect-design-manual-order-form.aspx

Down load viewer for drawings link http://www.edrawingsviewer.com/pages/products/eDrawingsViewerpage.html

Importance of Garage Safety

Over the past 20 years, the garage has evolved to fit the ever-changing lifestyles of homeowners, and so too have the means of accessing it. Thousands of professional dealers make their living servicing and installing garage door opener units as the automatic opener, once considered a personal luxury, has become a necessity due to the convenience, security and safety it provides. 

However, like many of today’s home appliances and devices, big strides have been made in technology and safety, as well as the way openers are manufactured and installed. Each and every enhancement to these residential units provides installing and merchandising dealers an opportunity to create another touch point with their current and potential customer base.

Here are a few ideas to help you drum up residential replacement business by educating homeowners on how to ensure their garage door openers are as safe as possible, up to speed on the latest options and ready for any season.

Two Decades Is Too Long!

It has been 20 years since all automatic openers manufactured for the United States were mandated to include non-contact safety reversing devices, commonly referred to as photoelectric eyes. Yet there are still thousands of older residential openers still being used today without this safety component. While many of us often adhere to the idea that, “if it ain’t broke, why fix it” for many of our household devices, when it comes to the largest and heaviest access point in the home—the garage door—it’s important for dealers to alert their customers to the technological, safety and security enhancements over the last 20 years and the advantages of replacement.

While replacing a perfectly good working opener could be a barrier for many homeowners, dealers are encouraged to highlight the 20-year anniversary of the pre-1993 mandate and offer to perform a safety check on their next service call. Any opener hitting its 20th birthday is most likely not equipped with photo eyes and, therefore, still relying on the impact-reversing system. This is an opportunity for dealers to help their customers understand the importance of updating their garage door openers to those with photo eyes. Consider performing a version of this test during your next service call.

Maintenance. Show your customers how to keep the garage door properly maintained and functioning safely by ensuring all moving parts of the door are clean and lubricated including the steel rollers.

Balance. Show them how to check the door’s balance. First, start with the door closed and pull the opener release mechanism so you can maneuver the door by hand. If the door is balanced (properly spring-loaded and running freely on its tracks), they should be able to lift the door smoothly without much effort and it should stay open about three or four feet above the floor.

Photo eyes. This visual demonstration will help clarify how photo eyes perform and why they’re important. Roll a sports ball such as a basketball or soccer ball across the threshold of the door as it’s closing. Inform your customers that once the invisible laser beam between the two photo-eye sensors is broken by an obstruction (in this case, the ball crossing the invisible beam), the door reverses automatically, preventing contact with the object and avoiding any potential injury.

The 6-inch rule. If customers do have an updated opener (after 1993) with photos eyes, they should not be installed higher than 6 inches above the garage floor. If the eyes are installed higher, a person or pet could get under the beam and not be detected.

Sensitive technology. Show your customers how to test the door’s sensitivity by placing a 2-inch thick piece of wood in the path of the door before closing it. If the garage door doesn’t automatically reverse and retract back to the open position, then the opener needs to be adjusted. Inform your customers of the benefits of testing this sensitivity every month.

Dan Nixa Professional Door Dealer

Genius Garages

How do you turn a parking nightmare into a work of art? Well, for this historic homeowner in San Francisco the nightmare was a reality. 

Garages can be a place to store your prize possession, but it also can be a work of art. We've seen some pretty awesome celebrity garages, like Jay Leno or Jerry Sienfeld but this garage is very clever. 

For people living in the historic Row Houses of San Francisco their parking is limited to street or alley parking. Many of the older Row Houses didn't even have garages back when they were built. 

Here's what the designers decided to do, "turn the scattered storage spaces on the first floor of a classic Victorian into a multi-paneled entrance to a brand new garage." 

Can you believe the optical illusion? The best part is, they still kept the historic Victorian Design, only making it more practical by building this genius design.

"There was no structural concern – engineers had determined a seismic retrofit could clear out existing columns and make room for cars – but the planning commission presented an aesthetic problem that had to be addressed."

“Beausoleil carefully measured the elements of the existing facade and drew them up, then determined how the bay window sides could be split apart from the rest of the building with almost invisible seams. They envisioned a steel framework that would be secured to the back of the walls before they were cut away from the structure allowing the fabric of the building to remain virtually intact, studs, siding, windows all moving in concert.”

Is this the future of design? Practical and historic? 

(Source: http://dornob.com/secret-new-garage-door-spliced-from-historic-bay-windows/)