My wooden garage roller door is damaged. It’s old damage caused by local flooding. It’s not going to get any better.
I have two quotes for a replacement. One is aluminium, the other is “aluzinc” which seems to be a dipped steel. The two layers provide protection against corrosion.
The aluzinc is half the price of aluminium.
Is there anything RE the aluzinc of which I should be aware?
would this be galvanised by another name??
IDK. My understanding is that “galvanised” means coated with zinc. Here the coating is an alloy of aluminum, zinc, & silicon.
I’m concerned that the product may be flimsy.
Indeed! You need to check it out! (I see there’s some comment itr on the 4x4 forum)
I was always skeptical of the roller garage doors. Really flimsy!
I learned recently that there are also electroplated coatings which can also be sub standard for the job.
I’ve fitted multiple Aluzinc doors over the years and I am very happy with them. They are relatively light to move and even a double door moves easily with the opener you’d normally use for a single wooden door.
They are not flimsy. Not at all. They are considerably more sturdy than your average Wispeco rolling door, and even those are just fine for single-car widths.
Another edit: I had to cut a hole through one of mine, to fit one of those backup locks for when the power is out (because no easy access otherwise)…
That thing is quite solid!
So do I need to retain the spring mechanism that I have for the wooden door? The spring coils when the door close, so that the uncoiling will help the motor pull the door open.
If that’s the case then I have less maintenance going forward.
I assumed you are looking at a sectional door, not a solid door? Then the entire door runs on a track, and it has a new spring component that is wound up and connected to the door by cable, to balance it out. Then you won’t use the old springs of the tip-up door.
If you are thinking of a solid aluzinc door… then all that I wrote is not applicable. I didn’t even know those existed… 
Edit: Something like this.
Thanks @plonkster . Yes, the sectional door. I have a sectional wooden door right now, but it’s starting to rot. The current door has springs exactly where that diagram shows.
Anyway, I should leave it up to the installer. He’s never let me down - which is why I keep on going back to him.
The new door will come with new hardware, probably
as plonkster said the new door should come with the hardware. If the springs of the current door are as old as the rotting door, new springs will likely be a good idea in any case.
Btw even though you refer to using an installer - if you are thinking about some diy on the existing door - especially removing or tightening the springs - do LOTS of homework. Those springs can do serious damage.
That’s why I use the small company I do. They come every 2 years, tighten the springs, lubricate the tracks, tighten any loose hinges etc.
So the deed is done. The old door has been taken away. It is an old solid meranti door (weighs a lot) and the wood will go to guys who will use it for furniture.
Just about everything except the motor was replaced. New tracks, new timber to support the tracks.
Wooden doors are ok but they must not be hammered by the African sun!
So if they are facing in a southerly direction you’ll be ok.
I also have a tip up double garage meranti door which I need to replace. I have bought a second hand sectional door which had faced the easterly sun and now it needs to be sanded down and cleaned up.
Guy says to me that new “meranti” doors are no longer solid meranti. This is why wood workers want the old doors. Fine by me - better than dumping them in land fill (TBH they would probably get recovered from landfill pretty quickly).
The steel doors are less than half the price of “meranti”.
Even then, it’s organic material. It will be gone in a matter of years. But yes, old wood makes nice things.
They should dump it in vleis. Then 200 years later somebody will retrieve it, declare it “torrified” or “sinker” and charge a fortune for guitars made from it.
This is a thing. You can’t, for EG, fell a redwood in the USA for furniture or instruments. But if you find an old log that sank to the bottom of a river then not only can you use that, but you can call it “sinker redwood” and charge a small fortune because, well, it sunk and the exposure to water does stuff. And anyway, how else are you going to get a new guitar with redwood?
Talking of sinking stuff. When you need steel with an ultra-low background radiation, ie Low background steel, the only place you can get that is from old sunken ships (prior to atomic bomb tests). Also makes it highly valuable.
I went with white from a colour choice of grey, white or sharkie. A side benefit of this is that the garage is now brighter during the day or at night with a light on. I presume because of more reflected light. Meranti is not famous for it’s reflective properties.
