Garage door replacement options

[Bryan11]

If you were replacing an 18' garage door, rails, springs, and other hardware from the 1970s in Iowa with something new, what design would you select?

After receiving a couple quotes, all have said I'd be best off replacing everything since repair costs look to be several hundred.

Do jackshaft designs throw chains and have issues? The garage has low ceilings and I'd prefer a side mount opener if they are equally reliable. Or I could skip the opener since we don't park cars in the garage. It's mostly a shop.

For an 18' insulated door, are there certain brands or designs that are best? I'd rather spend 20% extra now for better quality and never have to worry about it.

One installer mentioned preferring dual rail systems. Are those better or more reliable?

Any ideas or recommendations would be appreciated.

thanks,
Bryan

[Allen]

I just had a 7x16 replaced that was installed back in1983. I just had Lowes do the whole job. They replaced everything rails, torsion springs, all mounting hardware. If it was there before, they replaced it with new. They also hauled away all the old door, rails and so forth. It's a Sutherland 3 Layer steel insulated door with 5 windows. They came out took all the measurements, ordered the door, called me a bout a week later to set the install date. Guy came out did the whole job in about 3 hours. Cost me right at $1200 but it was worth it to me not to have to mess with any of it.

Al

If your door is that old you may have to deal with lead paint issues if someone else installs it.

[Robert Adams]

Make sure your new door has aluminum sheet screwed or riveted on the inside . I have seen 18' doors crunch themselves up without it when they close.

Personally I'd go with aluminum as well. Seen the steel ones rust pretty quickly up north.

For the opener a jackshaft opener is my preferred. Pricey but quiet longer lasting and out of the way too. This also eliminates the problem with the wide door crunching itself up. The only brand of doors and openers I would never own is Wayne dalton. They aren't very popular in much of the country though.

[Jeremy s]

I just had 1 3/4 thick premium Haas big door installed and got a new belt drive Liftmaster and the new style Liftmasters are electronic and it has malfunctioned. The first one malfunctioned so much i had them replace it under warranty. The second one has only malfunctioned a few times...i wish they still made the mechanical version..all this new electronic stuff sucks sometimes.

I like the thickest best insulated door.

[EdL]

I went with a Hass for the last door I had replaced on the shop...was only a few bucks more to go with the commercial
series. For an opener, the Chamberlain jackshaft is what I went with.

Don't regret either. Very pleased with the entire package.

Ed

[Bryan11]

It's down to two private contractors now and two doors that are very closely related with R-9 insulation and triple steel panels.

Option 1: Amarr Lincoln/Steel 3000 18' by 7' door
Option 2: Delden Delcraft Plus DC 200 18' by 7' door

Delden buys panels from Amarr, then use their own hardware so the two are very similar. Since I don't park a car in my garage and it's more of a shop building, I'm skipping the opener for now but having the rail system installed so it's easy to add it later if wanted. Two contractors don't like jackshaft openers at all, two say they're fine now but need to be installed correctly. One commented that the first two Liftmaster models for that didn't work well. The latest version is okay, but it has plastic gears and it's still $450 installed. A commercial version with heavier gears would be $850.

The Delden looks to be $1800 installed with all new hardware. I'm waiting on a quote for the Amarr.

[BillN]

I had the original 1951 shin banger replaced last spring by a local company that has a very good reputation. Cost us around $600 for a mid-range 7x8 foot door. I installed the opener (Chamberlain belt drive) myself, that took me about all day.

The old door wouldn't even seal completely at the bottom so I'm looking forward to seeing if the garage stays a little warmer.

[paulmaine]

I had a local company replace two doors on my basement garage. They are low..seven feet 10 inches. He modified the metal guides; the job took him 10 hours. The guy was very sharp and worked with one quick lunch break.
The new doors are C. H. I. Overhead doors with about 2 inches of insulation-a Liftmaster Garage door opener was used for each door. Overall the job cost $2300 three years ago. This would have been impossible to do as a D.Y. I. job.
My recommendation is finding the best company and asking for their best employee-likely the foreman to do the work. The doors are coated steel which were said to be the most reliable. Aluminum seems to me to not have enough strength. It is stylish to have no outside hand manual pullup-looks better but lose your electricity and you can not open the door-it happened to me
I recently saw the show "Hometime" where Dean and his daughter Miriam had a monstrous heavy wooden door hung and it may have been a double tracker door that they had.
It would be nice if you could convert the one huge door to two smaller doors.

[Robert Adams]

Funny you mention making it two doors instead of one big one... Our garage has two 7'6" tall by 9' wide doors. I hate it. One door is barely wide enough to get a car through. I'm seriously thinking about taking it all out putting a new beam across and going with one door. Might even drop the opening to the standard 7' but not sure how to make up the gap above and have it look right (brick house).

[Pirate]

Not sure about header needed, but I would hate to give up the extra 6"