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Sagging garage door

Hi all,

The ~17' (wood, segmented) garage door is sagging,..bowed in the middle, ~25 years old.

I've heard it's from a high moisture environment...from driving in with a snowy/wet car & no fans/ducting to vent the "wet".

Plan on putting in vents this summer,.. also to cool the "shop" :-).

Question; There's kits available to straighten out the garage door;

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I was going to try to clone it with iron strapping, angle iron,threaded rod & turnbuckles. (low buck & wayy too much time here)

It looks like tha angle of contraction would bow the door even more..am I missing something..or just dim? I'm guessing the latter.

Opinions?

TIA, Bart

Reply to
Bart
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Standing inside the garage, does the door bow towards you in the center? If so, you can use the turnbuckle idea to great advantage. You need a center rest that will put pressure on the door when you tighten the turnbuckle(s). As the rod gets shorter, it will pull the ends, which are facing towards the outside, inward. Probably need at least two rods, maybe three, on top, one center, one bottom.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

The bow/sag is actually at the bottom panel & diminishing all the way up. They call it a "smile" or something. Looking from one rail to the other it's pretty much straight.

Bart

Reply to
Bart

Bart,

You plan should work just fine. I built something similar to straighten out rafters that had a 1 inch sag over a span of 10 feet.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

Ideally the tension should be applied to the horizontal center of the door frame pieces. Any off center-ness will tend to twist the pieces. That said, the referenced kit applies the tension at the surface of the door frame, which is about the best one can do and should work just fine.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

Tried the "clone" today, it didn't work very well. The sag MAY have been taken out maybe 1/4", but the bottom of the door seemed to curl inward. Not so good. I removed it.

Guess that's why they don't sell like hotcakes. Oh well,.. HAD to try.

Reply to
Bart

I would not give up Bart. Several things you can do here. First think about the physics If the bottom of the door was curving inward, that means the pressure you were applying was pulling the door inward.

The way I visualize your problem several things can be done to reapply the force the way you want it. One idea is to bolt a chunk of angle iron to the door this will redirect the inward force up as it is easier for the lower segment of your door than to twist the angle iron the hard way.

Another alternative is to use two truss assemblies. One is the way you had set up and the second is along the bottom of the door with a block in the middle so that when you tighten the lower one it applies force outward. This set up is commonly used on one piece doors so they don't sag down when the door is open.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

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