Spring Repair
A snapped torsion or extension spring, a door that weighs a ton by hand, or a gap in the coil above the opening.
More on Spring Repair →Heat and drafts
Garage Door Insulation and Weather Seals
The R-value on a door brochure describes one foam-filled section, not the door as hung. In a DASMA example, a section figured at R-17.66 tested as a whole door at a U-factor of 0.094, which works out nearer 10.6.
Door builds
Which build fits your garage?
Next to rooms you live in, pick a steel sandwich with foam inside. For a detached garage, a single skin can do. Figures are makers' section numbers.
| Build | Inside the section | Section R-value | Trade-off | Good fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single layer | One steel skin, nothing behind it | About R-0 to R-2 | Lightest; heat passes straight through | Detached garages |
| Double layer | Steel, polystyrene, vinyl back | R-7.94 (one C.H.I. line) | No steel face on the garage side | Attached garages, moderate climates |
| Polystyrene sandwich | Foam board between two steel skins | R-9.65 (same line) | Lighter, usually cheaper | Attached garages on a budget |
| Polyurethane sandwich | Injected foam that grips both skins | R-16.55 (same line) | Heavier, stiffer, harder to dent | Extreme heat or cold |
Inland heat
Why does a valley garage need a better door?
Because an attached garage is a buffer between your rooms and the weather, and the door is its weakest wall. The Saugus Power Plant station up San Francisquito Canyon averages 94.3 F on August afternoons and 36.0 F on January nights. DASMA, citing ASHRAE, puts an unconditioned attached garage at roughly halfway between indoor and outdoor temperature, and calls an insulated door a key part of keeping the rest of that insulation useful. Clopay adds that an uninsulated door passes summer heat into the rooms beside the garage and can harm stored paint and electronics. Across Santa Clarita our work covers insulated door choices, bottom, side and top seals, threshold strips, and the spring check that follows.
Seals matched to retainer
Sun-tolerant materials
Springs rebalanced after
Reverse test retaken
Air and fumes
Is the big door the only gap that matters?
No. The wall and the small door between house and garage matter as much for the air indoors. California's energy commission files the garage with the attic and crawlspace as unconditioned space and wants the walls beside it sealed. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory guidance says isolating the garage keeps carbon monoxide out, and that a dryer or range hood running in a tight house can pull garage air in. EPA puts it plainly: never idle a car in the garage, even when a stuck door tempts you.
Every seal job
The door has to close right after
New rubber and new foam change how a door lands and what it weighs. Clopay warns that a thicker bottom seal can keep a door from closing properly, and DASMA lists added weight as a reason springs fail early. So on every Santa Clarita seal or insulation job the balance gets checked too, with a garage door spring repair if the springs no longer carry the door.
- Profile matched to the channel
- Material chosen for full sun
- Closed door checked for light
- Opener reverse tested again
- Balance checked after weight changes
- Old stripping hauled away
How can you tell a seal has given up?
Shut the door on a bright afternoon, turn off the garage light, and look along the floor and edges: daylight or a draft means the seal has failed. Sun is hard on rubber here. Clopay says vinyl outlasts it in sunny conditions and silicone stays flexible in heat.
Light at the floor
DASMA's checklist asks whether the closed door meets the floor with no gap. A line of light says no.
Cracks and tears
Rubber stiffens and cracks with age. Once it splits, air and dust follow the split.
Hard, brittle strip
A seal that has gone hard cannot press into an uneven slab, so the low spots stay open.
Crushed flat
A seal that stays flattened after the door lifts has lost its spring. Replace it.
Missing pieces
Where sections of the strip are gone, open notches line the bottom edge.
Dust, water, pests
Dirt, water or insects inside a closed door point to a path under or beside it.
How it goes
From a drafty door to a sealed one
1
Look
We look at the closed door from inside: every seal, the section build, the slab's level, and the serial label on the bottom section.
2
Choose
T-style or bulb, rubber, vinyl or silicone, a threshold strip where the slab dips, or an insulated door when the panels are the weak link.
3
Fit
We set a time that suits you anywhere in Santa Clarita. The bottom seal slides into its channel, then side and top stops go on.
4
Retest
The door runs on the opener, must reverse on contact, shows no light at any edge, and gets a balance check if its weight changed.
Repairs and installs
Garage door work in Santa Clarita
Six kinds of garage door jobs, each on its own page with the parts involved, the warning signs and what a visit looks like.
Opener Repair
Openers that hum without lifting, reverse for no reason, ignore the remote or stop halfway up the track.
More on Opener Repair →
Opener Installation
Chain, belt, screw and wall-mount openers fitted to the door you have, with the battery backup California requires.
More on Opener Installation →
New Door Installation
Steel, wood-look, carriage-style and glass sectional doors measured, hung, balanced and sealed in one job.
More on New Door Installation →
Track and Cable Repair
A frayed or slack lift cable, a roller out of the track, a crooked door or a bent section of rail.
More on Track and Cable Repair →
Insulation and Seals
Insulated door options, new bottom rubber, side and top seals for garages that bake in a valley summer.
More on Insulation and Seals →01
Insulated doors
Usually, when the garage shares a wall or ceiling with rooms you use. Clopay suggests R-10 to R-13 for attached garages, R-15 or more for extreme climates, and R-6 to R-10 for detached or mild ones; that is maker advice, not a code rule. A Santa Clarita bedroom over the garage makes the strongest case.
Less than it could, since DASMA says the buffer works best when the ceiling (about R-30) and walls (about R-13) are insulated too.
Polyurethane gives more R-value and a stiffer, more dent-resistant section, because it goes in as a liquid and grips both steel skins. Polystyrene is rigid board, lighter and usually cheaper.
Yes, though Clopay says foam put in at the factory gives a more even result. We have seen no maker or DOE figure for what an add-on kit achieves, so we will not promise one.
It can if nothing is adjusted. Clopay notes insulated doors weigh more and may need a stronger opener, so we check balance after the swap and handle any spring rebalancing or replacement on the same visit.
02
Seals and gaps
Most homes use a T-style seal that slides into a channel on the door's bottom; a bulb seal suits a rough slab, and bead-style is mostly commercial. The one that fits your door's retainer is the right one.
A strip glued to the slab where the door lands, most useful when the floor sits below the driveway or is uneven.
When it stops sealing, not on a calendar. Check it a few times a year in Santa Clarita's sun; cracked, crushed or stiff means done.
Find the cause first: a worn bottom seal, a dip in the slab that a threshold strip can fill, or a warped bottom section. Where a home sits in a mapped wildfire zone, new work must hold the gap to 1/8 inch at the bottom, sides and top. Much of the hillside edge of Santa Clarita is mapped that way, while central Valencia mostly is not, so we check the address before choosing a seal.
Sometimes. Clopay supplies a section only for models it still builds, read from a 15 or 16 digit serial on the bottom section, and weathering means the color may not match. Panel swaps involve spring tension, so leave them to a technician. If the model is gone, see new garage door installation for an insulated replacement.
Drafty or baking garage? Let us look at the seals
Call and describe the door
(661) 219-7632
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Sunday-Thursday 6:30 AM-11:30 PM, Friday 6 AM-3:45 PM