I Need to Replace my Garage Door and Opener
 

Standard 7' x 16' garage door been on the house since built in '93-ish.
Opener is 1/2 Genie chain drive that sounds like a speed metal band on lots of Monster drink.

I'll most likely sell the place in a couple years so I'm not looking for crazy elaborate set up. Just a general door and opener.

Just noticed the next door neighbor is having their door replaced. Asked the guy to stop by for an estimate when he's finished there.

He gave me some rough numbers to chew on while he wraps up that job.

$970 for door with 1 3/8" insulation.
$370 for 1/2 hp chain drive, $440 ( could be wrong on this $ ) for belt driven.

At minimum, I'll have the door replaced by a pro. Entertaining the idea of replacing opener and insulating the door myself.

Thoughts from the peanut gallery, er... I mean, Brain Trust?

It is certainly worth getting another quote. I find the personnel who do the install - it helps if they are friendly. I check online opinions on the company mentioned. How long is the warranty for? For some reason the opener on mine keeps blowing the bulbs(I do install the hd bulbs though). Am in the dark a lot! We have a Barcol 1/2 hp which works well on the two car/single door garage.

Regular oiling helps prevent problems. :)

If you have not done it before watch out for the big springs. I would not recommend touching those. Friend of mine got badly hurt doing it himself.:eek:

The insulated door is worth every bit of the extra few dollars.
Inside temps will be noticably better.
Panels are not hard to replace, it's the tensioning that makes the job (and keeps your motor lasting forever)

Buy it insulated. They figure the weight of the door when they supply the springs.

I would definitely get other prices, make sure they use torsion springs, and do the opener myself.

i remember when i was NOT a home owner, i found myself at a Home Depot.

they had a Wayne Dalton garage door and door opener display. it had a big button that said, "press here".

so being me. i started pushing the button. nothing happened. i kept pushing. in a few moments an associate walked up and asked if he could help me. i said, "yea..what does this button do?" he said, "it operates that garage door"..and he pointed above my head. they had a half sized door display up above my head and i had that thing opening and closing like an idiot. (me being the idiot)

that thing was smooth and silent! i never heard it moving. the motor was built into that shaft that the big coil spring was on. so no over-hanging motor out in the middle of the garage. very cool. it is strange, but i think that design never caught on. i never saw one in real life. in a real garage.

I have three of the Wayne Daltons working in my garage. Had them 10 years now and they work great! Quiet..fast..and no opener hanging from the ceiling...perfect!

My parents 1996ish house in Scottsdale was having garage door opener trouble. I looked at it and there was a bearing on the sprocket shaft that was totally worn out and screwing everything up. I got an oilite bearing from Ace and cut it down to size. It was pretty easy to install. It worked great until they sold it.

My friend has one of these and they are so quiet and pretty cool!

Direct Drive 3/4 HP Direct Drive Garage Door Opener with Smartphone Controller-1042V002 - The Home Depot

Oh yea. Fast!!!

They still sell anything similar?

Wayne Dalton still sells doors, but they quit the opener business. I think too many users were having trouble with the programming...which is more detailed than most...which led to returns.

I'm specifying an insulated roll up door for a warehouse space that I'm going to be building starting in a month or two. It has a motor that also sits on the wall. I have no idea of the make or model yet, but it's probably overkill for this app. I can chime back in when we've researched it. All I know right now is that I want a remote and security cameras all over the place when we open.

Don, I got a guy who's pretty good, but I'm not sure if he goes to your area. He's based around Glendale. IIRC, he quoted me around $700 painted and installed for my two car door, but I didn't ask about the opener. He was here to replace the springs only.

Don go insulated. Call the guys I'm texting you about. Great guys.


Get a lift master opener with myq

you can get very adequate openers at HD for $99-130. Easy install. less than an hour.

This is the best and super QUIET.....LiftMaster 8500 Elite Series® Wall Mount Garage Door Opener

This sounds very interesting.

Great openers. Jackshaft openers are the way to go. Nothing overhead and quiet. My 2 have been flawless for the 6 years they have been installed.

thanks for teaching me the word, Jackshaft.

better than what i called it above..:D

Just Wednesday I had a local guy who specializes in garage doors come over and give an estimate on replacing 2 7x9 doors. $1200 parts and labor and he'll install an optical door stopper and fix the non-operable door opener for free while he's there, plus he's sending over someone who might be interested in buying the house.
Home Depot wanted $1244 and would have them installed by one of their generic installers. Local guy says a big part of his business is fixing problems with big box garage doors and half baked installations.

I'm very happy with a Chamberlain belt drive opener that I installed at home a year ago. I meant to ask the pro door guy what he thought of belt drive. The belt is guaranteed for life.

that's what my 16ft door is. also one their openers. too bad, the opener is SOOOO easy to install.
its a motor mounted on the wall above the door with a pole going thru the middle.
so no hanging a motor and running chains or belts.

problem: the light quit coming on when you open the door.

put the door up yourself.
I put up 3 small doors and the 16 ft by myself.
the hard part for me was squaring the tracks in relation to the wall and each other.
but I get a bit anal about being exact.

I have 2 of these also self installed lots of features, very quiet, check em out

I've received 2 quotes for doors only. I've decided to install the opener with my son. Probably will get the Liftmaster 8500.
First quote is $1100.
Second is the guy Sid texted about. They came in at $1050.
Both doors are the insulated type.
A third guy is coming by on Monday.

More to come.

Go with the insulated door, they are more rigid and operate much quieter. The side mount jackshaft openers are also very quiet, but more expensive than the drawbar type openers.

Here is a basic breakdown of potential problems with both types of openers;

1. The jackshaft type opener turns the torsion shaft of the door. The springs, drums and cables are the components of this torsion shaft. If, for some reason (and there are many) your door itself doesn't want to close, the jackshaft opener can create enough slack in the cables that they will jump off the drums. This is a bad situation. There is a switch with an arm that comes with it to detect slack and stop the motor before something goes horribly wrong, but I have seen these switches malfunction.

2. The drawbar type opener relies on physically pushing and pulling your door from the top section. This is the most common type of opener. It is the least expensive, typically, unless you want the MyQ or similar technology so you can operate your door from another continent using your smart phone.
The biggest issues facing this type of opener is the potential damage that can be caused to your door. Now we all know that openers today have photocells that stop the door if there is an obstruction, that blocks the beam.....that is the important part....blocks the beam. If there is something like a brick or post on the ground below the photocell, the openers does not detect and obstruction. The same thing if there is something like the open tailgate of your pick-up sticking into the opening. The opener will not detect any obstruction that does not block it beam.
So, what happens to a drawbar operated door on a bad day. Well, if a spring broke and you try to open the door, the opener will still try to open the door by pulling on the top section of the door. If you have a very thin insulated door, or an uninsulated door the opener can ...based upon the sensitivity settings, wreck your top section. The same thing will happen if you run the door down on something that obstructs but doesn't block the beam. the door will stop but the opener will still try to close the door all the way.

No matter which way you choose, and neither is a bad decision, the situations I listed above are rare. You will most likely have about 10 years trouble free with a new door and opener combination. Remember, if your garage door faces the road it makes up about 1/3 of your house. Look for a door in style and color which compliments your "curb appeal"

Now there will be some here that will say I am full of BS, but these are the things I saw and had to repair while working in the garage door installation and repair industry.

Go screw-drive side mount opener.

I have a single car garage. I had a Hormann door and opener installed last year. $1200

My kitchen is located above the garage and you can not hear the door open.

We love it!

Residential Garage Doors by Hörmann
SilentDrive® Garage Door Openers

I have been on the fence for years. I am going to pull the trigger on a Liftmaster 8500 as part of my upcoming garage refresh. Flooring, cabinets, and workbench.

Don - I really like this guy. I've recommended him to several people for openers and springs.
Spring King

I've never understood the need to replace a garage door that isn't banged up. Nylon rollers and a new opener made ours seem like it was new again.

Had a few estimates and went with "On Track Garage Door Service". Chose the insulated door and installed it was $950, total.

Then, my son and I installed the LiftMaster 8500 that I bought on Amazon for $295.
Turned out great. The door is sweet, and the opener is very quiet. The opener install was fairly straight forward, but i needed to install an outlet near the opener. Not too bad, just had to crawl around the attic a bit. I still need to get the gateway set up for the app on my phone, but everything works great. I really like the clean ceiling with the opener on the side. I will say the door opens just a tad slower than a traditional type, but I'll take it.

Photo evidence...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464037161.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464037184.jpg

that is neat!!

so you didnt have to mess with spring tension?

No, not at all. I told the door guy that I was installing the 8500 so it was ready to go.

Similar installation...no overhanging opener. Wayne Dalton..$250
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1464047061.jpg

Put an LED bulb in it.

Looks good don! It's on my list! I'd like a true insulated one with no windows. Ours has two cracked panels that have been braced, should be good for 5 years or more, but when they start getting bad, I'm getting insulated!


Text me if you have any issues with the MyQ stuff. Pretty easy from what I recall, and I love the way it works. I don't take keys when I go out for a ride or skateboard, and just pull my phone out as I get close to home, hit open and roll right in. Even nicer when you have that oh crap we forgot to close the garage door moment. Just close it from anywhere or check and see how long it's been closed!

I looked into them when I started shopping, but found this...

"Wayne Dalton Garage Door Openers

Wayne Dalton currently only manufactures and sells garage doors, not openers. Wayne Dalton residential garage door openers were manufactured and sold by a separate company, which is now doing business under the name HomeRun Holdings Corporation. For technical information, manuals and warranty information for your Wayne Dalton garage door opener, visit WayneDalton support. . If you wish to purchase a new Genie opener, visit Genie Company Garage Door Openers | Garage Door Installation to find a dealer near you."

So I gave up. Heard they are good openers, tho.

My 9 year ownership and operation review.

No issues at all. Totally serious. The whole assembly is sturdy. All I can detect is minor noise as the door is moved. It’s just the structure aging and allowing a little flex. It’s very minor and, quite frankly, makes sense. Have you heard my knees? 😁 but they still work well!

I lube the torsion spring at least twice each year. Stop laughing…🤓
Then, I clean/lube the wheels and channels the same, but a little more often since they are more eye level stuff.

The MyQ App is the bees knees.

5 stars, would do again

10 years later...my Wayne Dalton is still going strong. Fast and quiet.
Gone through a few batteries for the remotes...otherwise no problems.

I don't know the styling of your home but I recently bought new garage doors. They are a huge bang for the buck. I got glass pane with frosted film. They really dressed up the front of my house and most importantly, let a ton of light into my garage.

They were not particularly expensive and I had many neighbors make positive comments on them.

Just a data point.

Good luck. I greatly enjoy my new doors.

My ex has the same Liftmaster that I installed almost 20 years ago with zero issues.

I had all new insulated doors put on a few years ago, one with high rise tracks for the 4 post lift and two Liftmasters. I really like them and would do it exactly the same again.

Glad yours are working well.

Steve,
Don't jinx yourself. Wayne Dalton stopped making that opener several years ago and they're known for the circuit board crapping out. I have the same one you have and know I'm living on borrowed time. I have two of the Liftmaster jack shaft openers as well. I wish someone would come out with a new version of the Wayne Dalton because I believe a lot of the complaints with that opener were installation related. If my Wayne Dalton craps out, it'll be replaced with the jackshaft opener from Liftmaster.