When the door is closed, light ingress is to be expected – when it’s daylight outside and your lights are off, your garage will not be pitch black. The door seals are reasonably effective at stopping light passage but will not eliminate it. This will be more pronounced generally where seals meet, on seals that are between moving sections and particularly in corners.

Where light can get in, so can a draft. With a well installed door that has seals in good condition, drafts will be minimal, but the door is not sealed completely or even pretends to offer that sort of performance

Under normal weather conditions water ingress should be minimal, but you may experience some ingress, as with light and drafts, where seals meet and in corners. Under extreme conditions, driving rain and high winds, ingress can be expected to increase. Never jet wash a door, not only may it damage the finish, but it can force open seals causing water ingress.

The threshold is also a point where water ingress may occur. Gaps between the bottom seal and the threshold arising from an uneven threshold or (in the case of side hinged garage doors) a poorly fitted threshold will allow water ingress.

If rain runoff can collect and pool at the bottom of a door instead of draining away from the door into a drainage channel, water ingress may occur. Fitting the door onto a stepped rebate behind a drainage channel is often effective in greatly reducing the likelihood of water ingress.

Trend doors are made from colour coated steel that has been tested to EN 10169. The test uses accelerated UV exposure to measure the colour fade and gloss retention over time. There are 4 ratings under EN 10169 - Ruv1 to Ruv4, with 4 being the highest rating for UV stability. Our coated steels are rated at Ruv3.

This means that over the accelerated testing, colour change or fade did not exceed 3% and gloss retention was above 60%. Ruv3 is the same rating you’ll find on many steel roofing systems, so we’re in good company. Notwithstanding the above colours will fade over time. Different coatings will fade at different rates and shade differences may appear between, for example, the frame and door panel, over an extended time period.

Dark colours should be avoided for doors with a sunny aspect. Dark colours will absorb heat from the sun’s rays that can result in differential expansion and bowing of door panels. This can cause binding of the door during operation. The door panels should return to shape when the door cools, however, under prolonged conditions, the deflection may remain.

RAL references for colours are provided as a guide only to the nearest similar RAL colour. Colours will not match to other RAL finishes due to different coating processes, gloss levels, substrates and textures. Similarly, special RAL, BS, wood effects or other colours will not be a precise match.

If you are matching to other finishes such as window frames, always request a sample to ensure the colour selected from a brochure or online is as expected. This is particularly important for wood effects such as rosewood, golden oak, night oak or Winchester.

Sea, estuary or even brackish water...

If you live near the coast in the UK, an estuary or even brackish water, the destructive capabilities of salt and sand can travel significant distances inland. Be realistic about the aspect of where your garage door will be installed. It may be several miles inland but still experience wind-borne salts and sand deposits onto the door, exposure to salt-laden damp air inside and outside the garage. Both are capable of significantly accelerating the deterioration of paint finishes and other surfaces of a garage door.

You are probably already aware of this if you have always lived by the sea and seen other external steel products deteriorate faster than normal.

An important note on side hinged garage doors...

Side hinged doors installed in coastal/high salinity environments must be fitted with a 316 Stainless Steel lever handle upgrade. Doors with standard stainless steel or black handles may experience corrosion of the handle and discolouration of the surrounding door finish. This will be excluded from warranty claims.

Manufacturer’s warranties exclude coastal areas from their warranty using phrases such as: “The guarantee does not apply to doors that are subjected to extreme conditions, e.g. corrosive influences resulting from use in a coastal climate with high salt content.”

If you are told that a warranty does include coastal areas, we strongly recommend that you request written confirmation of both the duration and the conditions of the warranty – it may just be a salesman’s ploy to secure the sale!

If a Teckentrup door fails because of a quality issue relating to workmanship or a faulty part, Teckentrup will still warrant the door in a coastal area, however if coastal conditions cause sound workmanship and materials to fail, this is outside of the design parameters of the door and is not covered by our warranty. So, yes, Teckentrup warranties exclude coastal areas if environmental factors are the cause of failure but, rather than leave it at that, the following provides sensible guidance on how you can choose Teckentrup and help limit the effects of a coastal environment.

To mitigate and reduce the effects of marine influence, a high-frequency cleaning programme is essential. If the door is in an area prone to coastal corrosion from airborne salts and sand, the door should be cleaned monthly or immediately after a weather event.The same applies to caustic substances such as bird droppings. Part opening the door to allow cleaning between sections, rubber seals and along edges is also important, as salt and sand deposited here can also have an abrasive effect in addition to its corrosive qualities – double trouble!

Furthermore, cleaning lifting gear and other metal surfaces inside the garage with a cloth soaked in a light oil, which will help protect your door from corrosion. It must be accepted that salt air is very aggressive and extra care is required.

The paint finishes and protections applied to garage door components are generally effective at delaying corrosion, but all require cleaning, irrespective of location. As a general note, no caustic, abrasive or corrosive chemicals and substances, flood water, water runoff, or runoff from lead, copper or galvanic metal flashing should be allowed to come into contact with the door.