Garage door panel repair

[PandaBear]

Recently my garage door spring snapped and a contractor came to replace the spring. He said the bottom 2 of the 4 sections are broken (due to a previous owner rear in accident, we bought the house with the damage and straighten the panels ourselves). Originally he gave us a quote to replace only the bottom 2 sections but this morning the guy came back and said the model is no longer in production, and we have to replace the whole door.

I'm wondering, if we can just put reinforcement metal bars on the "fold" of the door panel where the crack exists instead of replacing the whole door.

Pics coming up soon.

 

[PandaBear]

 

[UNC151]

I was faced with a similar issue recently; spring was broken and the rollers + cables were worn out. Believe it or not, it was within $100 of the repair estimate to have Home Depot replace the entire door with a new one.

 

[PandaBear]

The problem is, they replace the spring then tell me after inspection that the door needs to be replaced, then only give me part of the credit for the new spring ($120 out of the $200).

 

[rshunter]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
The problem is, they replace the spring then tell me after inspection that the door needs to be replaced, then only give me part of the credit for the new spring ($120 out of the $200).

I'd tell them that since they're in the door business, they should have no problem understanding the instruction to not let one hit them in the...

It's time to find a new garage door service provider. When they saw that more might be necessary than simply replacing a spring, they should have figured out then what it was going to entail. Instead, they chose to hit you for the initial service and then come back to bleed you for more. That's just plain sleazy...

 

[The_Jeff]

If you take the garage door panels apart, take their wheels off, you can rearrange them in any order you want. Windows where you want them etc. You might find two panels that interleave on a bend and can put the dented bits on the ends where they don't have to fold in with others.

Or figure out what brand they are and go to an architectural salvage place.

A noninsulated 7x9 foot door from home depot is only about $200.

 

[Vikas]

I put a long L angle to brace a panel which was bowing at my brother's house. He says it is still holding up fine.

 

[PandaBear]

I tried looking for the brand of the door, and it wasn't printed at all (unless I can't tell, something like Tex Rail or SRF or Mojave Int). It was a door from 1994 when the house was build and the reason it needs to be replaced is that the crack extended far enough to compromise the structural integrity, and as it grow it can crack in half or fold down and land on the cars below.

As I was checking for its manufacturer, I found some minor damage to the upper panel that wasn't there before (minor folding vertically along the crack in the bottom panel. It seems like the whole door really should go for safety. I though about adding 16' long aluminum beams to hold the broken panels' integrity, but seems to be not worth it.

I took rshunter's advice and call their office, the estimator pick up the phone and agree to "split the difference" between us (lowering the price by another $40). I think it seems fair, and agree to replace the whole door for an additional $650 (on top of the $200 I originally paid for the 2 springs), disposal fee included.

Come to think of it, it seems like a pretty good field to go into if I were to go in for a trade. I'm not complaining about the price I got, but if I were to be a tradesman, that seems to be easy to go into compare to HVAC, plumbing, or roofing.

 

[rshunter]

Well, alriiiight...