Most new doors we hang here replace a thin, uninsulated steel door or a tired wood one, on a split-level with a bedroom over the garage or a detached garage off the alley. The right door depends on which. The estimate is free; the first step is a tape measure, not a catalog.
Tell us what the door is doing. The estimate is free and precedes everything else.
On the east side, a lot of houses have a bedroom or a family room built over the garage, and in January that room takes its temperature from the garage below it. An insulated door with good seals keeps the garage from dropping as far overnight, which the room above feels. It also makes the door quieter, which matters when someone is sleeping over it. Want daylight in the garage rather than more insulation? Our page on glass garage doors is honest about the trade. Doors for shops and plants are a different job, covered on our commercial garage door repair page. For a carriage-house look, in real wood or wood-grain steel, see wood and carriage garage doors.
A heavier insulated door needs its own springs and cables, and often a stronger opener. Those are planned with the door, not discovered after it's hung.
In the older neighborhoods, the garage is often a detached building at the back of the lot, reached from the alley, with a single door and not much headroom. For those, a lighter steel door on new track keeps the door easy to lift by hand, and a lock that works from the alley side matters as much as the door itself.
If the garage has power, an opener can go in with the door; if it doesn't, a manual door that's properly balanced is easy to live with.
What happens, start to finish.
Road salt, deep freezes and summer storms are hard on a door. A steel door with a thicker skin resists dents from hail and stray balls better than a thin one, a composite or steel door won't swell and stick the way old wood does, and a vinyl bottom seal stays flexible in the cold where rubber can crack.
Galvanized springs and cables and sealed rollers change nothing about the look and add years before the first repair call.
An opener that still has plenty of strength and rolling-code remotes stays, retuned for the heavier door. If it's struggling or dates from the fixed-code era, a new unit is written up as its own line, with battery backup for the storm season.
A new outdoor keypad is set up with a code you choose, and every remote and car button is paired before the technician leaves.
On the split-levels and ranches here, the garage door can be a third of the front of the house, so its style carries more weight than people expect. A plain ribbed door reads as utility; a carriage-look door with small panes along the top reads as part of the house. Darker colors hide road grime and salt spray better than bright white does.
Windows are worth it on a garage people work in; obscure glass lets the daylight through and keeps prying eyes out. Samples and color charts are held up against the siding at the estimate before anything is picked.
The east side, the North End and the older neighborhoods off the alleys, plus Loves Park, Machesney Park, Roscoe, Rockton, Belvidere and Cherry Valley.
Storefront and shop doors are part of the work too.
Is there a room above or beside the garage? Then insulation earns its place.
How much headroom is there? It decides the track.
Opener or manual? Both work on a balanced door.
Which look? Samples come to the house.
How is the garage used? A workshop, a gym or just the cars: it changes the insulation and window choices.
Yes, along with Roscoe, Rockton, Belvidere and Cherry Valley.
Yes if anyone sleeps or sits above the garage, or if you work out there in the cold months.
Yes. A properly balanced door is easy to lift by hand, and an opener can be added later if power is run.
One visit for most doors, once the new one has been delivered.
Most do. A foam-filled door on nylon rollers with fresh springs is far calmer than a hollow steel door on worn hardware.
Yes. The old door comes down and the new one goes up in the same visit, so the garage isn't left open to the cold.
Often, if it's strong enough and uses rolling-code remotes. It's checked at the estimate.
No, we take it with us.
Most steel doors come in several factory colors, and some can be painted. The samples at the estimate show the options for the style you pick.
Always, and it's written up once the garage is measured.
Set up the measuring appointment on the phone or through the form; a two-hour window is given and the technician calls when close.
Free estimate across the county, Loves Park and Machesney Park included.
We need three things: a name, a number, and what the door is doing. Everything before you agree to it asks nothing of you, across the whole of Winnebago County.
Easier to explain by phone? Call (815) 446-3251.
Tell us what the door is doing. The estimate is free and precedes everything else.