North end of the Valley

Garage Door Repair in Sylmar

USGS files the February 9, 1971 quake under two names, San Fernando and Sylmar, and says the north end of the Valley took the worst of it. About a third of today's homes in the 91342 ZIP area date from the 1950s and 1960s.

Stacked freeway ramps of a large highway interchange in a hilly pass

February 1971

Where did the 1971 quake do its worst damage?

In the northern San Fernando Valley, where USGS says buildings and utilities fared worst. The State Geological Survey puts the epicenter about six miles northeast, some seven miles down, with the fault tearing the surface for 12.5 miles toward Big Tujunga Wash. Most deaths came at the Veterans Administration hospital, and three of four five-story wings at Olive View Hospital fell. FEMA names lightly braced garage fronts a repeat quake weak spot. Bracing is framing work, so we anchor track and cable hardware to solid wood.

Every kind of garage

Why does the type of home change the job?

Because the 91342 ZIP area holds nearly every kind of home, and each one hangs a different door. About 62.8% of its homes are detached houses and 9.6% are townhouse-style attached homes. Mobile homes make up 7.2%, roughly 1,920 of them, and another 12.5% of units sit in buildings of 20 or more. More than half of all homes, 53.5%, went up before 1980, yet the 1980s were the single busiest decade. So we ask what kind of home it is when you call, look at what is really in the opening, and price that door rather than a guess. With about two thirds of households owning, we also confirm who signs off on the work.

Home type asked up front
Door inspected before pricing
Spring type identified
Owner sign-off confirmed
Reversal tested on a block
Old parts handed back

Blue house with charcoal carriage-style garage doors

On the map

Where in the neighborhood do we go?

We go to all of the neighborhood, plus the County canyons next door. The 91342 ZIP area covers about 98% of the neighborhood, yet the neighborhood fills only about a quarter of that ZIP's land, which also takes in Kagel and Lopez canyons.

Olive View

A named place on the federal map; in 1994 USGS studied the replacement hospital building here as one of three instrumented buildings shaken hard.

Rancho Cascades

Another populated place the federal names database puts inside the neighborhood line.

Horse-keeping streets

The City's community plan keeps lower density here to protect single-family and horse-keeping blocks and a semi-rural feel.

Kagel and Lopez canyons

Unincorporated County land inside the same ZIP area, about 19% of its land.

The northern canyons

Weldon, Grapevine, Limekiln, Wilson, Sombrero and Schoolhouse canyons all sit inside the line.

Hills and flats

Fire history differs street by street

Saddle Ridge Road: CAL FIRE starts the 2019 Saddle Ridge Fire here; it burned 8,799 acres, and its outline covers about 12% of the neighborhood.
Near Diamond Road: The Hurst Fire began nearby in January 2025 and burned 799 acres, so new door work on these hill streets gets an address check for the hazard map.
Kagel Canyon Road: The 2017 Creek Fire started just over the line north of Lake View Terrace and burned 15,619 acres.
Foothill Blvd near Polk Street: A point check here, like one on Glenoaks Blvd near Roxford Street, returns no Very High zone; the flats along the freeways have no recorded fire.

Repairs and installs

Garage door work in Sylmar

Six kinds of garage door jobs, each on its own page with the parts involved, the warning signs and what a visit looks like.

Single-story ranch house with a white two-car steel garage door at the end of a curved drive

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.

Opener Repair

Openers that hum without lifting, reverse for no reason, ignore the remote or stop halfway up the track.

Opener Installation

Chain, belt, screw and wall-mount openers fitted to the door you have, with the battery backup California requires.

New Door Installation

Steel, wood-look, carriage-style and glass sectional doors measured, hung, balanced and sealed in one job.

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.

Insulation and Seals

Insulated door options, new bottom rubber, side and top seals for garages that bake in a valley summer.

From Sylmar up into Los Angeles County

The same freeways that leave the neighborhood climb Newhall Pass, so we also cover garage door repair in Newhall and the other Santa Clarita communities above it. Every visit starts with a written price you agree to first.

Santa Clarita ValenciaCanyon CountryCastaic SaugusNewhallStevenson Ranch Agua DulceVal VerdeOld Town Newhall Fair Oaks RanchNorthbridgeSkyline Ranch Los Angeles County

Sylmar homes

Yes, it is part of our regular area, from the flats along Foothill and Glenoaks up to the canyon streets, and we go into Kagel and Lopez canyons too.

Look low on both sides of the opening for two small sensors facing each other; CPSC suggests mounting them 4 to 6 inches above the floor. Openers built from January 1, 1993 on must check a second safety device every time they close. If yours has none, or will not reverse, CPSC says to disconnect it until it is fixed. Our opener repair page covers the next steps.

Yes. Townhouse-style homes are close to one in ten of the area's homes and mobile homes about one in fourteen, so we see both. We look at the door first and price it in writing.

About 37% of its land on the County's layer, almost all of it on the foothill edges. Much of the neighborhood has burned at some point: about 36% lies inside a recorded fire perimeter, with the 2008 Sayre Fire, which CAL FIRE starts in Sylmar and which burned 11,262 acres, covering the largest share.

Where the hazard map applies, the gap around the closed door must stay at 1/8 inch or less on the bottom, sides and top, using tested weatherstripping, an overlap or metal flashing. Our new door installation page explains the three methods.

Booking and visits

USGS maps traces of the Sierra Madre fault zone across this land, both the San Fernando section that broke in 1971 and the Santa Susana section.

No. DASMA says a door with a broken spring should not be run at all, and spring tension can cause serious injury, so leave it closed and see our broken spring repair page.

Either can call. Among renters in the 91342 area, 36.9% live in a detached house, so plenty of tenants have a garage door to deal with. We give the written price to whoever pays and start once they agree.

The old San Fernando station just outside the line averaged a 92.2 F August high before its record ended in 1974. Heat like that wears rubber, and our bottom seal and insulation page covers the materials that hold up better.

We run the door through full cycles, check its balance part-way open, test the opener's reversal and leave the old parts with you.

Sylmar garage door acting up?

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