Garage Door Panel Replacement and Repair in San Diego

• A dent or crease, often in the bottom or second section after a car or a bumper touched the door.
• A section bowed inward or outward, so the door binds or the rollers sit at an angle in the track.
• Cracked steel around a hinge or around the top fixture, where the door takes the most stress.
• Splits or soft, rotted wood along the bottom of a wood door.
• Rust spreading from a chip in the paint at the bottom section, where water sits against the seal.
• A hinge or fixture that has torn loose from the section it was screwed into.

Vehicle contact is a frequent cause, from a car that pulls in too far to one that backs out before the door is fully up. An opener with its force set too high will also bend a section by pushing on a door that has stopped against something. Wide doors without reinforcing struts flex every cycle until the top section cracks. On wood doors, water and sun break down the finish, and the bottom section rots first because it stays damp.

1. Inspect the whole door, not only the dent: tracks, hinges, rollers, cables and the sections next to the damage.
2. Decide whether the section is structurally sound. A shallow dent in a sound section can often be reinforced with a strut; a crease across the section or a crack usually means replacement.
3. Identify the door's maker, model, width, design and color so a replacement section matches.
4. Take the spring tension off the door before removing a section, since the bottom section carries the cable brackets.
5. Fit the new section with its hinges, rollers and any strut, then rebalance the door and test it with the opener.

A single section can only be replaced when the same section is still made for your door. That depends on the manufacturer and the model, and the label is usually on the inside edge of a section or on the end stile. Even with the right part, a new section may look brighter than sun-faded neighbors on an older door, and painting the whole door is sometimes the way to make it match. When a model is no longer produced, the choice is between a close substitute and a new door.

A strut is a steel channel bolted across the inside of a section to stiffen it. Wide double doors usually carry one on the top section, where the opener arm pulls, and often on others. Adding a strut to a section with a shallow dent can stop it flexing and keep the rollers square in the track. A strut does not hide a dent from the outside, so it is a structural fix rather than a cosmetic one.

One damaged section on a sound door is a good candidate for panel replacement. A new door starts to make more sense when two or more sections are damaged, when the model is discontinued, when the door is old enough that the remaining sections are worn too, or when you want better insulation. The new garage door installation page covers sizes, materials and what a full replacement involves.

If a vehicle or a storm caused the damage, check your homeowners policy before the repair and keep clear photos of the door, the tracks and the inside face of the damaged section.

• A bent section can push rollers out of the track. If the door binds, stop using the opener.
• Do not remove the bottom section or its brackets yourself; they hold the lift cables under spring tension.
• A door with a cracked top section can tear free at the opener arm. Keep people clear until it is inspected.

Call right after the damage happens if the door will not close or runs crooked, because an open garage and a binding door are both problems at night. Doorup is open 24 hours, 7 days a week at (619) 666-6054. Cosmetic dents on a door that still runs straight can be booked for a convenient time.