Bottom of garage door question

[Mike]

Hi all. My garage door is old (maybe 30 years) and probably needs to be replaced - but not right now. In the short term, I'm seeking a little advice from the good folks here. When the door is closed, the middle of the door makes good contact with the floor, but I can see daylight on both ends. I bought another rubber strip for the bottom of the door, cut it into pieces and nailed a few pieces to both ends, but that didn't really have the desired effect - I can still see daylight under the ends when the door is closed. Here is what I'm pondering - what if I remove the rubber strip(s) currently on the door, get some paint stirrers and staple them to the bottom of the door (3 stacked on the very end, then 2 next to the 3, then 1) to fill in the space. Then re-attach the rubber strip. The idea being to fill the gaps with the paint stirrers. A friend suggested maybe just nailing the paint stirrers to the inside (back) of the door at the bottom rather than attaching them to the bottom to block the opening, so that is also a possibility.

Any of you folks had to deal with such a situation? How did you fix it (short of replacing the door)?

Mike

[Jim Elbrecht]

How wide is the door & how much "daylight' can you see?

'rubber'? What kind of strips? A garage door bottom seal should give you an inch and a half or so of leeway. If the door is warped beyond that [or the floor is heaved that much] you have worse things to correct than seeing a little daylight.

Jim

[Mike]

The door is on a standard 1 car garage. I can see daylight on both ends for about 20 inches, widest gap between floor and door at the end and decreasing as it approaches the middle of the door which is touching the floor properly.

The rubber strips I added initially were just a standard "bottom of the garage door" thing. They helped a bit, but I can still see light where the nails are (as the nails push the rubber all the way to the door).

Oh, I do have more in mind than keeping out the daylight - I killed a rodent that had made it's way in (presumably) under the door (it's now getting cold here in the south and the rats are looking for warmth). I noticed the rat behind a small flat piece of metal that was leaning against the wall. I kicked the metal which stunned it, the piece of metal fell flat to the floor and I quickly used my foot to smash the rat between the metal and the wall. It's tail was wagging wildly for about 10 seconds. It wasn't a big one, body was about 4-5 inches long and the tail was probably twice that.

Thanks..

Mike

[Mike]

I do think the floor is flat. I'd probably make matters worse if I tried to shave some off the bottom, but I hadn't considered that angle. Will give it some thought. I have father-in-law coming in town in a couple weeks and he could help me do that. Thanks for the suggestion!

Mike

P.S. I always (and only) use google for posting/reading usenet. I like it. I can post from anywhere w/o needing a news reader. I used Outlook Express years ago, but find this easier. You must've seen the OP else you couldn't have replied, right?

[Frank]

Mine shows light due to floor settling. I've built up with a quick set cement. Does not look bad and car does not break it.

[jamesgangnc]

I think you are not attaching the rubber correctly. The nails are not supposed to collapse the rubber. The rubber strip on the bottom of the garage door has to be attached such that it is free to expand into the gaps. A new one will be able to cover close to a inch of imperfections in the door or floor. Look at how the old strip was attached. Replace the entire strip.

[HeyBub]

Why do you care?

If you're developing film in the garage, take a look at the new digital cameras.

[DD_BobK]

Is this a slab door or a sectional?

If the floor is flat, straight and level...then the problem is with the door.

Smitty's idea of shaping the door bottom will work...I've done it on two different door to improve the fit / seal and avoid replacing the door. In both cases the concrete was not straight or flat.....so I sculpted the door to fit; primed & painted it as well.

cheers Bob

[Mike]

It's not the light I'm trying to keep out, it's the small animals that can get under there.

Mike

[salty]

Just scattering a few moth balls will do more to fix the problem. Just a few.

[Mike]

For the additional rubber strip I added, I rolled up the strip and nailed it on top off (or below when the door is down) the existing strip. I was experimenting and it didn't really pay off.

Thanks for the response.

Mike

[Mike]

It's an old sectional door. It's in decent shape aside from the bottom. I'll consider sawing off part of the bottom to make it more closely meet the floor. That might be the ticket (short of buying a new door).

Thanks.

Mike

[Pavel314]

My first thought was to tack a 1 X 3 along the bottom to give a flat, level edge that meets the floor along the whole width.

Paul

[Oren]

Consider a power planer and shave the middle of the door a bit. Make sure nails are out, before you try it. Might be easier than a circular saw.

YMMV.

[clare]

If the floor is flat, lay a 2X3 on the floor and scribe a line that follows the line of door bottom, then cut the lumber to follow the curve, Glue and screw it to the bottom of the door, and the rubber seal to it.

[hrhofmann]

It's hard to believe that both sides of the door are higher, every case I have seen where this has occurred is where the weight of the walls on the side of the floor depress the sides of the floor and the middle is higher. If the center of the door is sagging, then a couple of wire ropes from the sides of the bottom panel to the top center of the same panel will return the panel to square.

[Mike]

What you say is true - the middle of the door touches the floor leaving both sides of the door about a 1/2 inch off the floor. Is the floor straight? I can't say with certainty, but either the floor is sagging near the edges of the door, or the door is getting warped. I'm just looking for a short-term fix to keep the rodents out for now.

As for the poster who suggested this -

What would be the best way to scribe the line? Perhaps clamp the 2x3 alongside the partially open door, trace the shape of the bottom of the door and then cut? I like this idea. Sounds more like something I could do (unlike planing off the bottom of the door).

Thanks again, everyone!

Mike

[clare]

That is correct. The reason the door is "bowed" is because it is only supported on the ends, and the weight of the main styles, and the rest of the door, pushes down in the center. In warm weather, soaking the door and then closing it onto a center support with the spring tension off will TEND to straighten the door, but it won't last. On the doors at a garage where I once worked we put

2X6 steel angle on the bottom of the door to keep it from bending - it has a pretty powerfull electric door opener on it so the weight was not a huge issue (over 100 lbs though!!!!!)

[aemeijers]

hr(bob) [e-mail] wrote: (snip)

Every case of a garage floor with a hump in the middle that I have ever seen, is due to frost heave. Very common on cookie-cutter houses where builder cheaped out and didn't put any footings under the front edge of the garage slab, and water got under it an froze. Usually very easy to see with naked eye, and may even go up and down with the seasons. Are there any cracks in floor, even in the molded-in expansion lines? Unless the walls were built on the slab (bad technique), there is no way for the walls to push the slab down. In a properly built garage, the slab rests on ledges on the inside of the footer, similar to the brick ledges on the outside of the foundation of a brick-skinned house.

I'd almost bet the floor does have a hump in the middle, or the door panels are sagging in the middle. OP is just lucky the tracks have stayed parallel, so the door still opens and closes. A hump or a sag this small may not be eyeball apparent. A long straightedge, or a couple blocks and some tightly-stretched string, and some large marbles, could quickly tell a tale one way or the other. As a cheap temporary work-around, the scribed 2x3 screwed to bottom of door is a safe reversible way to go.

-- aem sends...

[Joe]

I'm posting with Google Chrome using Google. Is this post visible?

Joe