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OtonabeeGarage Door ServicesOpen 24/7 (249) 494-2181
Gloved hands setting a black rubber seal along the base of a white garage door, holding a ribbed strip over paving stones. — Garage Door Bottom Seal Replacement, Kawartha Heights

Repairs · Kawartha Heights

Garage Door Bottom Seal Replacement

After a spring rain there is a puddle inside the door that reaches the tires. The driveway slopes toward the garage, the slab has a low corner, and the flattened old seal is not making up the difference.

In plain words

The bottom seal is one part of a weather line that runs all the way round the door. Vinyl-finned stop moulding seals the jambs and header, the section joints have their own tongue-and-groove or shiplap seals, and a threshold seal glued to the floor can meet the bottom strip where a slab slopes the wrong way. Bottom seal replacement addresses the piece that takes the most punishment, and while the technician is there the rest of the perimeter is looked over. Where the side or top strips are torn or shrunk, doing them in the same visit gives a garage sealed on all four edges rather than three.

Sound familiar?Kawartha Heights

The call
The gap under the door is a finger wide at one end and nothing at the other. The door itself looks straight, but the floor drops away toward the corner where the slab has settled, and drafts pour through the wedge.

NextHow the visit goes

Garage Door Bottom Seal Replacement · Kawartha Heights

How the visit goes

Kneeling technician pressing a black rubber seal along the base of a white garage door, with a coiled roll and drill beside. — Kawartha Heights
  1. Scene 1

    Which retainer and which profile

    Next the retainer along the bottom rail is identified. Most steel doors carry an aluminum extrusion with two channels that take the T-shaped or beaded edges of a U-shaped seal; some insulated doors have the channel moulded into a plastic bottom cap; older doors may have a single channel; wood doors often have a strip nailed straight to the rail. The technician measures the channel spacing and the T or bead size, checks the door width, and notes the height of the old strip. A seal chosen from these measurements slides in cleanly and holds, which is the difference between a replacement that lasts and one that works loose.

  2. Scene 2

    Closing the door onto the new seal

    The clamps come off, the opener is reconnected, and the door is run closed under power while the technician watches the bottom edge meet the floor. The down limit is adjusted so the seal compresses gently along its full length without the section bowing, and the force setting is checked so the door settles onto the new, taller strip without reversing. From inside with the lights off, the floor line is checked again for daylight. The reversing test with a 38 mm (1.5 in) solid object, or a 2x4 laid flat under the door, and the photo-eye test finish the visit, and you are shown the door closing before the ladder is packed.

  3. Scene 3

    A door that meets the floor in one line

    The first thing you notice is the absence of daylight. With the door closed and the lights off, the floor line is dark from one jamb to the other, and the draft that used to move across the floor is much reduced. The door lands softly, because the opener now stops when the seal is gently compressed rather than driving the section into the concrete. Leaves, grit and drifting snow are kept out far more often. If you crouch and look, the new bulb sits evenly along the slab, filling the low corner the old strip used to hover above.

In the van

  • Bead-style bottom seal
  • Silicone spray lubricant
  • Wire brush and scraper
  • Nail-on vinyl strip for wood doors
  • T-style bottom seal

What shapes the quoteOtonabee Garage Door Services

Door width
A single door takes a shorter length of seal than a double, and the widest doors need more time to feed the strip evenly across. The quote starts from the width measured on the day.
Wood door nail-on strip
A wood door with a nailed strip takes a different product and more fastening time than a channel seal, and adding a retainer to a wood rail is a further option to consider.
Season and conditions
A seal frozen to the slab, ice at the threshold or working in deep cold adds time for freeing the old strip, clearing the line and keeping the new roll warm enough to feed.

FeesSame any hour

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

(249) 494-2181

Frequently asked questions

How do I know which size and type my door takes?

Look at the end of the bottom section for the metal or plastic strip that holds the seal. Count the channels, note whether they are slotted or rounded, and measure the distance between them and the width of the door. A photo of the end of the retainer and one of the seal's cross-section is usually enough for the technician to identify the profile before the visit and bring the right roll.

Does the opener need adjusting after the seal is changed?

Usually, yes. A new seal is taller than the flattened one it replaces, so the door reaches the floor sooner. Left alone, the opener either presses too hard and bows the bottom section or senses the resistance and reverses. The technician resets the down limit so the seal compresses gently, checks the force, and runs the reversing test with a 38 mm (1.5 in) solid object or a 2x4 laid flat under the door so the safety features still behave as they should.

What is a threshold seal, and when is it worth adding?

A threshold seal is a rubber or aluminum-backed strip glued to the garage floor along the line where the door closes. The door's bottom seal lands on it, and its raised outer edge turns water, wind-blown debris and small visitors back toward the driveway. It earns its place where the drive slopes toward the garage, the slab sits below the apron, or the floor edge is too uneven for the bottom seal alone to meet cleanly.

Kawartha Heightsinformation

PeterboroughOntario

Town
Kawartha Heights, Peterborough
In business
23 years
Hours
Open 24/7
Nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Visits
On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

2021 census: what it means at the door

Every square is one home in a hundred.

  • 64 in 100 homes · older homes
  • About 64% of homes in Peterborough were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.Where most houses were built a generation or more ago, a good share of garage doors are still the originals: wood or early steel sections on extension springs. Those doors respond well to fresh pulleys, safety cables and a careful balance, and the technician carries the parts for them.
  • Single-detached houses make up about 57% of homes in Peterborough (2021 Census).Where housing is varied, security needs vary too. A detached home wants its garage door closing fully and its interior door respected; a townhouse or condo wants old fobs and remotes cleared and the shared entrance working. We address whichever applies at each door.

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile

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On-site assessment

Request a visit.

After a spring rain there is a puddle inside the door that reaches the tires.

(249) 494-2181, open 24/7.