Garage Door Opener Recommendations?



Question:
I am going to install a garage door opener in my garage and looking for some recommendations. I don't have much experience with them; all I know is that they come in three varieties chain drive, screw drive, and belt drive -- progressively quieter and progressively more expensive. I've pretty much decided that I don't want the chain drive: my living room is right above my garage and I am afraid it would be way too noisy. But other than that I am still at lost which kind/brand to choose. One installer that I had talked was raving about Genie and bashing Lift Master, and another one did just the opposite :) Could someone offer their opinion on these two? What about other brands? What features should I especially be looking for? I don't need anything fancy, but something that's reliable and not incredibly expensive. Any good place to look for reference prices? Any good online/offline dealers?

Answer:
If you live near Portland, Oregon I'd recommend *not* using Overhead Door. These guys put garage doors on our new house and did a lousy job, including: - The remotes they left were somehow covered in drywall mud. It couldn't have come from our job, unless they rolled the remotes around in the trash pile for awhile. The dark gray remotes were *white*. I spent an hour cleaning them off. - They unboxed everything and left the boxes wherever they landed, even though the trash pile was 10 feet away. They didn't even try to clean up. - The rails weren't mounted level, but instead had an incline toward the door opening. This causes the doors to roll closed if they are manually opened (like we do now since the opener outlets are not yet live) - The installers didn't use the wires that were already installed behind the walls by the electricians - instead they stapled wires on the surface of the newly painted sheetrock, and they didn't even attempt to make the wires straight. - The window grids were missing - They left a leaky bottle of oil on the wood that was being stored in the garage for the finish carpenters, ruining part of it - Apparently, they left all the manuals in the rain for the duration of the install, because they were thoroughly soaked. How hard could it have been to leave it in the truck or in the house? We're still trying to get them to fix the rails and wiring.





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