Much of Gurnee is made up of subdivisions where most houses have an attached garage with room for two or three cars, along with a large retail and light-industrial base that depends on commercial overhead doors. Residential doors here tend to share a few traits: they face the street, they are often governed by HOA guidelines, and many of them are original to the house.
When a door reaches that age, the questions shift from a single repair to whether the whole system is due. Below is a practical look at the issues local owners run into, from homeowner association approvals to doors that have sat in floodwater.
Replacing a door in an HOA neighborhood
Homeowner associations in many local subdivisions set rules for what can face the street, and garage doors are usually covered. Typical guidelines address color, panel style, whether windows are allowed and sometimes the material. Getting written approval before the order is placed avoids the cost of swapping a door after installation.
Bring the association a manufacturer brochure or spec sheet showing the exact model, color name and window layout. If several houses on your street have matching doors, choosing the same panel style often speeds up approval.
If your garage took on water
Parts of Gurnee near the Des Plaines River have dealt with flooding during heavy rain. A garage door that sat in standing water needs more than drying out. Steel bottom sections can begin rusting from the inside seams, wood or composite edges swell, and the photo-eye sensors mounted low on each side of the opening are often the first electrical parts to fail.
Do not run the opener if water reached any outlets or the wall control until an electrician says it is safe. After that, have the bottom section, rollers, track ends and safety sensors inspected. In many cases only the lowest panel and the sensors need replacing rather than the entire door.
Cold snaps and northern Illinois winters
Winters here bring stretches of subzero temperatures, snow and heavy road salt use. Cold thickens old grease on rollers and in the opener, so the door moves slowly and the opener may stop and reverse because it senses too much resistance. Wiping off the old residue each fall and applying fresh garage door lubricant to the hinges and roller bearings keeps things moving.
Ice is the other culprit. Meltwater from cars refreezes under the bottom seal, gluing the door to the slab. Pressing the button anyway can rip the rubber or overwork the drive, so free the seal first, using a plastic scraper or warm air from a hair dryer rather than a metal tool.
Commercial overhead doors and openers
Retail stores, warehouses and service businesses around town rely on sectional and rolling steel doors that open many times each day. Those doors wear springs, cables and rollers much faster than a household door, and a failure during business hours costs real money.
We repair and replace commercial doors and openers, and we can suggest high-cycle springs for doors that run constantly. Regular inspections of cables, bottom brackets and safety devices catch most problems early.
- Sectional steel doors for loading areas and service bays
- Commercial-duty openers for frequent cycling
- Cable, spring and roller replacement on high-use doors
Three-car garages: a double door and a single
Many Gurnee homes pair a two-car door with a separate single door. Each door has its own springs sized to its own weight, so a problem on one says little about the other, but doors installed at the same time do tend to age together.
If you replace only one door, ask for the same panel design and color as its neighbor, and expect the new door to look a shade brighter at first, because years of sun fade the old finish. Choosing openers from the same brand makes it simpler to run both bays from one remote, one keypad and your car's built-in buttons.
Last updated by the American Garage Door Team.