Sectional doors are made up of 4 or 5 separate horizontally hinged panels.  They can fit to the rear surface of your garage brickwork, which means that you can drive through the entire width of your brickwork opening, and if you are building your garage from scratch, you could incorporate brick work features like an arched top.  They can also be fitted in between your brickwork opening, should you require an extra inch or two space inside your garage, or the opening is the entire width of your garage.

The door rises vertically upwards and then backwards into the ceiling space, meaning you can park cars right upto both sides of the door. 

Sectional doors offer good protection against the elements as they seal all around the door, the panels themselves come in various degrees of insulation, particularly important if your garage is integral to your home. Doors with or without insulation are available. 

Simple to automate at the time of fitting, or later, with either the traditional centre hung opener or the newer side hung models.

    Retractable

Around two thirds of the door leaf swings out as you open them, and then they slide completely into the ceiling of your garage. This means you have to leave about 1m in front of the door clear of obstruction. Tracks are fitted to the side walls of your garage at the top, which the door slides into.

A frame, generally 3" wide will be needed inside your brickwork opening, so you will lose some of your drive through width.  Although draught strips can be mounted to the bottom edge of the door, the sides can't be draught  proofed, something to bear in mind if you use your garage for something other than parking a car in, or its integral to your home.

This type of door is simple to automate, with either the traditional centre hung opener, or some manufacturers have a new type of opener which is attached to the back of the door.

    Canopy

The door leaf again swings out as it opens (but not as much as the retractable), then slides up into the ceiling of your garage, leaving one third of the door protruding outside the garage, which might be an advantage if you store tall items at the back of your garage.  Again, you have to leave almost a metre clear of obstruction in front of your door to allow it room to open.

No tracks need to be fitted in your garage, but the 3" frame around your brickwork opening is still needed, and its draught proofing abilities are the same as the retractable.

The main disadvantage is that this type of door is difficult to absolutely impossible on some models to fit an automatic opener.

Roller doors consist of a single curtain of interlocking slats that roll up onto a spindle fitted just inside the ceiling space of your garage, meaning you have access to the ceiling space in your garage even when the door is open.  They can fit to the rear surface of your garage brickwork, which means that you can drive through the entire width of your brickwork opening, and if you are building your garage from scratch, you could incorporate brick work features like an arched top.  They can also be fitted in between your brickwork opening, should you require an extra inch or two space inside your garage, or the opening is the entire width of your garage. They offer good protection against the element as they seal around the edges.

The slats of the curtain are also available in varying degrees of insulation, this door is only available in steel of aluminium finish, but does come in a wealth of colours.

The door can be automated using a special roller motor.