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NottawasagaGarage Door Experts · Firth's CornersOpen 24/7(249) 559-1412Request a visit
Gloved person holding a black strip along the side of a sectional garage-door opening — Garage Door Perimeter Weatherstrip, Firth's Corners

Repairs · Firth's Corners

Garage Door Perimeter Weatherstrip in Firth's Corners

A length of weatherstrip along the right jamb has pulled away, nails and all, and it slaps against the trim every time the wind picks up. The wood behind it is dark and soft where it meets the floor.

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Garage Door Perimeter Weatherstrip

In plain words

A perimeter seal is only as good as the door it meets, so a technician looks at the door before the seal. If one side shows daylight and the other is tight, the strip may be fine and the door may have drifted: worn rollers, a track bracket that has moved, a top section that bows away from the header. Setting that right first means the new fin can be positioned with the same light contact on every side. Where the door is already square, the seal is fitted straight to it. Either way the result is a door that closes against a continuous line of contact.

Sound familiar?

After a windy night there is a fine ridge of snow on the garage floor along one side of the door, and another across the top step. The door was shut the whole time; the snow came in around it.

How the visit goes

Firth's Corners

How the visit goes

  1. What kind of seal is there now

    Openings carry different seals depending on their age and who last worked on them. Many older garages have a painted wood stop with a flexible vinyl fin nailed to its face. Newer installations often have a one-piece vinyl stop with the fin moulded in. Some commercial and premium doors use an aluminum retainer with a slide-in rubber insert, or a brush seal. The technician identifies which is present, whether the rigid part is sound enough to keep, and what the fastening was, because that decides whether a new fin goes onto the existing stop or the whole stop is replaced.

  2. The header piece goes on first

    With the door closed, the header length is cut to the full width of the opening and lifted into place, a two-person job on a double door. It is positioned so its fin lies against the top section with a slight, even deflection along the whole width, then fastened from the centre outward with galvanized or stainless nails or exterior screws at regular spacing, which keeps the length straight rather than letting it wander. The ends are left to receive the side pieces beneath them. Fitting the header first means both sides are cut to meet it exactly, and the corners close properly.

  3. Before the freezing rain

    In late autumn, wipe the fin with a silicone spray or a silicone-based lubricant on a cloth. It leaves a film that cuts the odds of meltwater bonding the fin to the cold door face during an ice storm, though a hard freeze can still catch it. Oil-based products are avoided because they swell and soften vinyl over time. The same wipe once or twice through the winter keeps the fin supple. If the door does freeze to the seal, a little warm water along the edge from inside, or simply waiting for the sun, frees it without pulling; dry the thawed spot afterwards so it does not simply refreeze.

Garage Door Perimeter Weatherstrip

In the van

  • Flexible vinyl fin seal
  • Epoxy consolidant and exterior primer
  • Exterior caulking and gun
  • Tape measure, level and square
  • Vinyl stop moulding with integral seal

What affects the quote

Same fees day, night or weekend

  1. 1Removing the old stop and paint build-up

    Lifting a wood stop that has been painted for decades, scraping old adhesive and knocking down paint ridges takes longer than pulling a loose fin, and the time shows in the quote.

  2. 2Trim, brickmould and caulking

    Re-caulking the joint between stop and trim, or dressing capping that channels water down the jamb, is small work done while the surface is bare and is listed on its own line.

  3. 3Number of doors

    Two or three doors on the same property share the set-up time and are quoted together, usually at less per opening than a single door on its own.

What to have ready

0 of 3 ready

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Garage Door Perimeter Weatherstrip: questions

Why is there daylight on one side but not the other?

It can be either. Worn rollers, a track bracket that has shifted or a top section that bows can move the door face toward one jamb and away from the other, and a seal that is damaged, shrunk, the wrong size or set slightly off the door face shows the same way. The technician checks both the door's alignment and the seal itself, corrects what is out of true, then fits the new seal to a door that closes evenly.

Do you adjust the door as part of the seal work?

Small corrections, yes. If a track bracket needs re-setting or the door needs to come plumb so the fin can meet it evenly, that is done so the new seal is fitted to a door that sits properly. Larger work, such as replacing rollers or a bowed section, is explained and offered as its own job so you can decide on it separately.

What are perimeter seals made of?

Most residential seals are flexible vinyl or a rubber compound formed into a fin that bends against the door. They come either as a flexible strip that is nailed to a wood stop or moulded onto a rigid vinyl stop as one piece. Commercial doors sometimes use an aluminum retainer holding a replaceable rubber insert, or a brush seal. Manufacturers make them to flex thousands of times as the door operates.

Repair & Maintenance

A person kneels beside the side track and hinges of a closed sectional garage door. — Garage Door Safety Inspection, Firth's Corners
Garage Door Safety InspectionA tenant mentioned the door is louder than it used to be.

Garage Door Perimeter Weatherstrip near you

The garage door services we provide in Firth's Corners range from a single adjustment to a complete new installation. In between sit spring and cable replacement, opener repair, roller and hinge work, weather sealing and safety checks, each one done carefully and explained before it begins.

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