Garage Door Opener

[Yzzim]

My parents have never, ever owned a garage door opener in their life so I've decided to get them one for Christmas this year.

I've got a couple questions about them and was hoping you could help out.

Which brand is the best? There's many out there. Probably going to either Menards or Home Depot...maybe both to compre.

How much horsepower do I need? They have a single car garage door which is pretty light. It's not isulated, it's made of a vinyl type material so I'm assuming I don't need anything too powerful.

Is there different lengths I have to worry about? Do I need to measure anything? My parents built a new garage about 8 years ago and there's electrical outlets right next to where the garage door is going to go...so that helps.

I'm pretty much going into this blind...help is appreciated!!

Oh, price is under $100. Don't need any fancy remote touchpad (to mount on the garage) or anything, just one simple garage door remote (to put in their car) will work just fine.

 

[Yzzim]

Here's a Chain Glide door opener for $130...which I could do...

Here's a Screw Drive door opener for $150...which stinks...but what's better?

 

[eelw]

1/3 HP should be fine. Screw drive openers are more quiet. So unless you have a room about the garage, you will have no problems going with a chain based opener.

it will take an afternoon to install one the 1st time. Just follow the instructions and should not be a problem.

 

[Yzzim]

Originally posted by: eelw
1/3 HP should be fine. Screw drive openers are more quiet. So unless you have a room about the garage, you will have no problems going with a chain based opener.

it will take an afternoon to install one the 1st time. Just follow the instructions and should not be a problem.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[T2T III]

OK, after going through a few openers for myself and installing several for clients, I do have some opinions to offer. Right now, the best bargain for garage door openers is the Chamberlain screw-drive opener which is a 1/2 HP opener, includes 2 remotes and 1 external keypad opener. Chamberlain makes the openers for Sears which gets sold under the Craftsman name. However, Costco currently has the described Chamberlain opener for only $149.99 through early January 2005. At that time, the price goes back up another $10 or so.

I personally have that model of Chamberlain installed at my house. It gets lots of use and never skips a beat. I've installed Genie screw-drive openers before, too. However, let me state that the Chamberlain is a far, far better engineered opener.