In Detroit's older neighborhoods, a house from the early automobile era often has a separate frame or brick garage at the rear of the lot, facing an alley. Out in Canton, West Bloomfield or Clinton Township, the garage is more often built into the house, with a wide double door that cycles all day. Both endure winters that thaw and refreeze under months of road salt, plus the odd summer downpour that floods the garage floor.
Reviving a back-lot garage that has sat closed for years
Plenty of city garages went a long stretch without the overhead door moving. Once the alley behind them choked with brush, fallen limbs and dumped junk, owners used the side door and the big door became a wall. A city program launched in 2020 had cleared more than 3,000 alleys by early 2024, hauling out dumped debris, trimming brush and lightly grading each one so it is passable again. Alleys are picked from requests by block clubs and neighborhood associations registered with the Department of Neighborhoods, so if yours was just reopened, ask your block club what upkeep help is offered now.
A door that has rested for years fails in predictable spots: springs rust solid, rollers freeze on their axles, old grease turns to paste, and mice gnaw the low-voltage leads to the wall button. Before the first full cycle, a technician should look at:
- Spring condition and door balance, tested with the opener disconnected
- Rollers, hinges and the bearing plates at each end of the spring shaft
- Lift cables and the corner brackets where each one ties in
- Jambs, header and the sill plate, since wood that sits near the ground softens from rot or insects
When the garage frame is the weak point
On a garage close to a century old, the door is sometimes the healthiest part of the building. A sagging header pinches the top section, a jamb that has wicked up water for decades won't hold lag screws, and a leaning wall drags the vertical track out of plumb.
Before rebuilding a wall, replacing the header or widening the opening, ask the city's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) whether that work needs a building permit. Once the carpentry is finished, hanging a new door is the easy part.
Wide attached doors from Canton to Lake Orion
A 16-foot double door weighs far more than the single door on a city garage, so it often rides on a pair of torsion springs. Springs are rated for a set number of cycles, which is why a household with three or four drivers wears through them years before the retired couple next door. Because the garage opens straight into the house, retire any fixed-code opener and keep the remote off the sun visor of a car parked in the driveway.
Many subdivisions in Oakland and Macomb counties have homeowners associations with rules on exterior changes. Before ordering, ask the association for its written standards: approved styles and colors, whether glass is allowed in the top section, and what the architectural committee needs to see before it votes.
What the June 2021 cloudburst taught about garage doors
On June 25 and 26, 2021, thunderstorms trained over the same neighborhoods for hours overnight. The National Weather Service reported three to five inches of rain across much of metro Detroit and six to eight inches in the worst spots, with Wayne and Washtenaw counties hit especially hard. Stretches of I-94 and the Southfield Freeway flooded, basements flooded across the region, and a federal major disaster declaration followed in July.
Garages took water too, and the harm often surfaced weeks later. The bottom section, its rubber seal, the foot of each vertical track and the lower corner brackets all sit in the lowest few inches above the slab. So do the photo-eye safety sensors, whose wiring corrodes after a soaking, while wood jambs swell and shrink enough to twist the track.
If high water returns, assume the door is hurt even when it still opens. Leave the opener unplugged if water came near an outlet, and don't touch the lift cables or corner brackets, which hold spring tension with the door shut.
- Photograph the water line on the jambs and walls before anything is cleaned or hauled away
- Copy down the door and opener model details while the labels are still legible
- With the power off, rinse silt out of the bottom seal channel and the lower track with clean water, keeping hands off the corner brackets
- Note any sensor light that blinks or stays dark, a sign the eyes or their wires got wet
Thaw, refreeze, repeat
A mild afternoon melts the snow on the driveway, the runoff creeps under the door, and by morning the bottom weatherstrip is frozen fast to the floor. Pressing the button again only makes the motor fight the ice, which can shred a plastic gear or crease the top panel. Break the bond with something plastic or warm air from a blow dryer, and leave the force adjustment alone, since turning it up weakens the safety reverse.
Brine works more slowly, seeping in from tires and the alley side to eat at the steel skin, the track feet and every fastener near the ground. When pricing a replacement, ask how the steel is coated and whether the maker's warranty covers rust-through on the lowest section.
Wayne, Oakland and Macomb communities on the service list
The places below, sorted by county, are ones a technician has already visited. Towns not shown may still be reachable, so mention yours when you reach out.
- Wayne County, in the city: Detroit (48206, 48221)
- Wayne County, western suburbs: Livonia (48152), Canton (48188) and Northville (48168), which also reaches into Oakland County
- Wayne County, Downriver: Lincoln Park (48146) and the island township of Grosse Ile (48138)
- Oakland County: West Bloomfield (48322, 48324), Bloomfield Hills (48302), Clarkston (48348), Lake Orion (48359, 48362) and New Hudson (48165)
- Macomb County: Clinton Township (48036, 48038)
Last updated by the American Garage Door Team.