I went from "someday I want to replace these" to "maybe I want to replace them sooner since I had to repair the door again after the seal froze to the ground and the opener tried to rip the door apart" to "maybe I should replace these like now-ish."
Called my local place just to see if they could sort of straighten me out and give me an idea of cost. Amazingly, they did. So I decided to visit since I was off yesterday.
My local place is Carr's Overhead Door on the other side of town. https://www.carrsoverheaddoorinc.com/
Ended up going with a Wayne Dalton 8300 which has about an R12 insulation rating. This is definitely a few rungs better than the crappiest hollow door. The doors are 8' by 6.5' which is a short door. I will do the vertical short panel style, with the 3 light style (6 total), in black. Going with black saves any temptation to spend $80 per door for magnetic hardware to dress it up. No point with black since the hardware is black. He suggested that black is the best bet for today's trends and what we plan to do with the house (white windows and trim, and then whatever siding color other than brown, SOME DAY).
Originally he thought I would need low overhead clearance tracks (it's a dual track system) but upon measuring this afternoon, we modified the plan. He said he can do regular tracks which saves $400. Torsion springs on both. Originally I was going to reuse my bay's opener but he said it would need to be mounted to the header (i.e. properly) or else it would rub on the new door (as the old door has done). So we decided to pursue jackshaft openers on both sides, which are $950/ea. I will have to add some 2x4 pieces for mounting and push some wires out of the way on my bay but this is simple and will be worth it. The clearance gained from the jackshaft openers plus the silent/smooth operation is worth it even though I have two functional openers now. I hate my Genie screw drive in Jamie's bay so that will be good riddance.
The final thing is he suggested redo all the trim around the doors since it is wood, the paint is failing at the top, and it's rotting at the bottom. This will add cost. But in the long run it makes total sense to just get it all done.
He is supposed to get me the revised quote and then we can move forward.
Originally the quote broke down like this:
Doors were $1300 each, for the 8'x6.5' R12 steel. I guess that was installed. These don't include any windows.
As I said the plan (before he came out) was to go with a low overhead clearance kit which is a double track. This would have added $200 per door but is no longer needed with the current plan.
$400 for the glass panels for each door.
So the doors and track alone, installed, is $3,400. Based on some basic research this is a totally reasonable price.
Then, the original plan was one jackshaft opener at $950 installed. But upon further discussion he convinced me to match the other bay and just enjoy the clean ceilings and silent/smooth operation. So instead of adding another $950, it's x2, for another $1,900. Already up to $5,300.
Finally, he was looking at my terrible trim condition and said it would make a lot of sense to do it all over with PVC and brickmold, and modify the design of the header to look more modern. He mumbled some numbers which could be on the order of another $1,200 but I think it does not make sense to do premium garage doors with old crappy trim. So I'm just gonna do it.
New garage doors
Re: New garage doors
Quote came back at $6,700 all in (trim came back as $1,400). Moving forward with it. By sometime in March this will probably be completed. They get 50% down for material and the rest upon work completion. Pretty typical.
Re: New garage doors
Finally remembered to install the 2x4s which the garage door guy requested for mounting the jack shaft openers. Just had to hammer some nails down on Jamie's side. On the other side it was more tight but I was able to shove some wires out of the way and remove the old alarm control panel. Had the wood in stock already at the right length. 4 screws per side. Hopefully one is enough.
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Re: New garage doors
Looking pretty sharp.
First impression: openers are very quiet. So nice.
Once I got in I began to inspect the install.
Initial items:
- Openers are not wired. My old ones were plugged into the ceiling using ungrounded lamp socket adapters. Given that the new openers are mounted on the sides, even using these would require precariously running some kind of extension cord along the ceiling. I understand why they left this. The opener on my side was at least temporarily plugged into an extension cord I had laying around that I think they used to test and setup both openers. So this will be a small project for me.
- They installed the right side bay opener in the location I expected, on the 2x4 door frame extension I added. But the left side bay opener was not on the side I installed the 2x4. Instead they installed it on the right side, between the doors. I actually like this location and they were able to graft it onto the track frame without adding any extension. I may remove the extension just to free the bay up for wiring things in the future. Just some screws.
- The openers are actually a lot smaller than I was picturing. I thought they were like 2+ feet tall for some reason. They are very compact.
- They did install the lights on the ceiling using the old lamp socket outlets. These respond wirelessly. They also have a cool, blue nightlight mode. - I removed the opener frame I had installed 11 years ago on the right bay to really free up ceiling real estate. Other than the light itself there is max headroom for vehicles on my Quick Jack. Nice. And I suppose I could unplug and remove the light in the event the remaining couple of inches was needed for some reason. - I thought cable tension was wrong. I checked the tension with the doors closed and particularly the left door, on the left side (closest to the house) was pretty slack. It took my brain a good chunk of the evening to process this. I am not used to torsion springs. With extension springs, each spring is independent and pulls on the door. With torsion, the cables move TOGETHER, because I believe it is one solid shaft. The reason one side was slack is because there isn't 100% identical length on the cables (or the door doesn't close quite squarely which is also quite possible). This adjustment may have been required to get the door to seal right. You can feel the tension slacken at the last moment before the door finally closes. Not a big deal assuming this is what was required to make it all work right. So I think cable tension is probably fine.
- The right door upper panel was a little loose against the weather seal. The adjustment of the upper panels were pretty different right to left and it does also look like the right side door doesn't close QUITE all the way for how the track is designed (again, blame my weird house). I was able to loosen the hinge adjustment and move the panel until I was satisfied with the seal (not too tight - tried to copy the other side). Took a couple tries but I think it's about right now. Not a big deal.
So yeah, this is looking good. Really need to get the electricity wired up so I can program all the cars and stuff, and get the doors into regular operation so I can confirm I am satisfied with all the adjustments. I am sure I could call them to come back if needed but not for a simple panel gap adjustment.
For power I think I have a plan.
I don't want to give up a precious breaker slot for this. Inside my basement to the right of my workbench I did install a quad 20A GFCI outlet some years ago on a dedicated breaker. I will simply open this box and pick up power from one of the outlets downstream of the GFCI and run it into the garage. I'll install one outlet right below the opener, and run more 12/2 over to the other side and do the same. Then I'll have two additional 20A convenience outlets in the front of my garage. That will be great actually.
I did consider doing something with the lamp sockets but there was no plan that I liked.
Once I got in I began to inspect the install.
Initial items:
- Openers are not wired. My old ones were plugged into the ceiling using ungrounded lamp socket adapters. Given that the new openers are mounted on the sides, even using these would require precariously running some kind of extension cord along the ceiling. I understand why they left this. The opener on my side was at least temporarily plugged into an extension cord I had laying around that I think they used to test and setup both openers. So this will be a small project for me.
- They installed the right side bay opener in the location I expected, on the 2x4 door frame extension I added. But the left side bay opener was not on the side I installed the 2x4. Instead they installed it on the right side, between the doors. I actually like this location and they were able to graft it onto the track frame without adding any extension. I may remove the extension just to free the bay up for wiring things in the future. Just some screws.
- The openers are actually a lot smaller than I was picturing. I thought they were like 2+ feet tall for some reason. They are very compact.
- They did install the lights on the ceiling using the old lamp socket outlets. These respond wirelessly. They also have a cool, blue nightlight mode. - I removed the opener frame I had installed 11 years ago on the right bay to really free up ceiling real estate. Other than the light itself there is max headroom for vehicles on my Quick Jack. Nice. And I suppose I could unplug and remove the light in the event the remaining couple of inches was needed for some reason. - I thought cable tension was wrong. I checked the tension with the doors closed and particularly the left door, on the left side (closest to the house) was pretty slack. It took my brain a good chunk of the evening to process this. I am not used to torsion springs. With extension springs, each spring is independent and pulls on the door. With torsion, the cables move TOGETHER, because I believe it is one solid shaft. The reason one side was slack is because there isn't 100% identical length on the cables (or the door doesn't close quite squarely which is also quite possible). This adjustment may have been required to get the door to seal right. You can feel the tension slacken at the last moment before the door finally closes. Not a big deal assuming this is what was required to make it all work right. So I think cable tension is probably fine.
- The right door upper panel was a little loose against the weather seal. The adjustment of the upper panels were pretty different right to left and it does also look like the right side door doesn't close QUITE all the way for how the track is designed (again, blame my weird house). I was able to loosen the hinge adjustment and move the panel until I was satisfied with the seal (not too tight - tried to copy the other side). Took a couple tries but I think it's about right now. Not a big deal.
So yeah, this is looking good. Really need to get the electricity wired up so I can program all the cars and stuff, and get the doors into regular operation so I can confirm I am satisfied with all the adjustments. I am sure I could call them to come back if needed but not for a simple panel gap adjustment.
For power I think I have a plan.
I don't want to give up a precious breaker slot for this. Inside my basement to the right of my workbench I did install a quad 20A GFCI outlet some years ago on a dedicated breaker. I will simply open this box and pick up power from one of the outlets downstream of the GFCI and run it into the garage. I'll install one outlet right below the opener, and run more 12/2 over to the other side and do the same. Then I'll have two additional 20A convenience outlets in the front of my garage. That will be great actually.
I did consider doing something with the lamp sockets but there was no plan that I liked.
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