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How many of you residents of Portland, Maine opened your garage doors today with a button? How many wish you could open yours with a button, or that you even had one? Odds are, the “have-nots” are in smaller number than those that have a garage with an automatic door opener. I hope you appreciate them because they haven’t always been around. Garages definitely make life a bit easier, and just in case you have taken them for granted, let’s take a look back about 100 years to see where they came from.

In the days previous to the garage door in Maine, or before gas powered automobiles for that matter, people got around in horse-drawn carriages. They were parked-with the horses inside as well-in a little shelter called a “carriage house,” which is basically a small barn. As the wealthy population of the U.S. began to purchase the newly produced automobile in the late 1890′s, they were parked in those same carriage houses. When the smell of livestock began to become a part of the cars, their owners found their little carriage houses to be problematic in terms of making the ride comfortable.

Eventually local entrepreneurs found a way to make money off of the lack of automobile parking facilities as they began renting out spaces in small, public parking garages. These garages were appealing because they offered a clean, maintained place for a shiny car, far away from dirty animals. This method would have worked, in Maine as well as anywhere else, had the car not become so popular. Before anyone knew it, the supply of parking garage spaces couldn’t meet the demand. So, people reverted back to their carriage houses, which opened the door for the garage door evolution.

At first, barn doors were the only thing available, so that’s what people had hanging from strap hinges on their carriage houses. Then people got tired of having to shovel all the snow that Maine produces in the winter, so the sliding and folding doors were invented. This sliding door was nice but the garage had to be twice as wide as the car needed to allow space for the door from side to side. When a door that was divided into several small panels allowing it to fold was made, the need for an enlarged garage was no more. To make life easier still, the doors were made to slide up parallel to the ceiling, which got the door out of the way even further. Garage doors had almost reached their pinnacle.

The only thing left to do after allowing garage doors to open up parallel to the garage ceiling was to automate them. Getting out of the car during a snowstorm in Maine is not as convenient as staying inside and pushing a button. As we’ve learned, in American society especially, if something can get easier, it will and does. Automating the garage door brought a couple of problems, though. Anybody with kids knows that a button that moves a giant door is an irresistible temptation, and is seen as a toy. After several tragic injuries and deaths of children, garage door manufacturers were required to build pressure and motion sensors into the door. When these sensors picked up an unusual obstruction, the door is sent back where it came from. Now, injuries due to garage doors are few and far between. What will be next in this evolution?

Learn more about Maine garage doors. Stop by the Portland Glass site where you can find out all about a goodMaine garage door and what it can do for you.

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