New Garage Door Installation in Mission Hills, CA

In the six block groups that approximate the Mission Hills neighborhood, inside the Uptown planning area, 41.3% of homes date from 1939 or before, which puts the estimated median at 1953 (American Community Survey 2020 to 2024). Sixty-one percent are detached houses. In a garage that old, the opening, the space above it and the side walls may not line up with an off-the-shelf door and track kit. The Mission Hills area page lists the checks to make on a prewar garage before any work.

Openings that are not 16x7 or 8x7

When the opening is an odd width or height, the door is made to the measured size instead of cutting the framing to suit a stock door. The order goes in only after the measurement has been checked a second time, because a door built to size cannot be exchanged for another.

Little room above the door

Standard track needs clear space above the header for the torsion spring and the curve of the track. Where a prewar garage has less, a low-headroom track kit or a rear-mounted spring lets the door open fully. The same limit affects the opener: a wall-mounted unit beside the door frees the ceiling when a rail opener will not fit.

Framing that has moved

After eighty years or more, jambs may lean and the header may have dropped slightly. Tracks are shimmed and set plumb to the new door rather than to the old framing, and wood that will not hold a fastener is repaired before hanging.

The City of San Diego's permit handout requires permits in historic districts and does not name garage doors, so if your home is inside a designated district, confirm with the Development Services Department before choosing a door. Homes here sit roughly one to two miles from salt water, close enough that corrosion-resistant fasteners and coated springs are a sensible upgrade on any new door.

• Measure the opening width and height at several points, since older openings are not always square.
• Measure from the top of the opening to the lowest thing on the ceiling.
• Note where the nearest outlet is, and photograph the opener label if there is an opener.
• Find out whether the house lies in a historic district.

Do not remove trim, loosen spring hardware or try to straighten a bent track on the old door. Call when the old door binds in a frame that has shifted, when sections or wood panels have split, or when the opener can no longer lift it.

Price follows the size, whether the door is built to a custom measurement, the material, a low-headroom track kit and any opener change. Read our garage door style guide for looks and windows, and the main garage door installation page for standard sizes and insulation.

Nearby, Old Town has a very different housing mix: see new doors in Old Town. Call (619) 666-6054 to book a Mission Hills measure.