Garage door bowing in cold weather

brent_malibu · Nov 14, 2008

Has anybody had a problem with their garage door bowing in cold weather? I have a 18x8 Haas door and it bows pretty bad when the temps dip down, it gets real bad when the temps hit 10 degrees or lower. The company that installed the door gave me an extra wide seal for the top but it still wont be wide enough when it gets real cold.

Anybody else have this happen to them? what can I do? :headscrat

sberry · Nov 14, 2008

Yes, I will have to get a better pic but you can kind of see it at the top. I used conduit to form a truss and an all thread in the center to adjust it. I have hi lift doors though so its up out of the way. Did it on all 4 of them.

brent_malibu · Nov 15, 2008

Thanks sberry27!

Why even have an insulated door if you have a 5+ inch gap at the top, r-value is pretty much meaningless. Oh well, I hope the door company does the right thing and fixes it or replaces it with one that doesn't bow.

Blown71X · Nov 16, 2008

brent_malibu said:
Thanks sberry27!

I hope the door company does the right thing and fixes it or replaces it with one that doesn't bow.

Good luck with that, I have a 18x10 that I have been fighting since installation 4 years ago for this very thing, 2 different sets of brush seals from the original rubber ones, a half assed attempt by me to fab a seal on the top inside and multiple calls to 2 different companies, multiple service calls blah blah blah, and the minute the temp drops you can toss a cat thru the gap, It obviously is a expansion/contraction issue due temp differences but it is compounded by the fact that I also have A/C. and my shop is "controlled" 24/7 year round
Just the opposite happens in the summer, so I have to be careful and in extreme heat have had to adjust the top so it wouldn`t drag/catch.

Looking back now I wish I had never put in the one big door, while it is great at times, those times are few enough that dealing with this is not worth it.
I have been resisting having to "truss" the top panel with a preload system simply because I don`t want to have to look at it but am comming to the conclusion that there isn`t any other choice.

I would be open to any ideas if anyone has some.

Rick

tdkkart · Nov 16, 2008

Garage doors are very rarely made from all the same materials inside and out, so when they change temperatures something has to give. The doors were manufactured in a 70*+ factory, when you move them into 30* outside air the materials change size. Steel frames with lower expansion rates than the aluminum skin will warp, and the warpage will be more noticeable the bigger the door is.

Burl · Nov 16, 2008

My 9 X 7 old wood doors started that stuff a few years ago, I screwed split-down-the-middle 2 X 4 s to the inside on each panel, adjusted the springs, and that was the end of that.

Torque1st · Nov 16, 2008

What brand and type of door is giving problems?

The door is defective or else we would have massive problems with all garage doors. I would forget the adjustments and big seals and get the door replaced, if necessary by a different brand.

brent_malibu · Nov 16, 2008

Blown71X said:
Good luck with that, I have a 18x10 that I have been fighting since installation 4 years ago for this very thing, 2 different sets of brush seals from the original rubber ones, a half assed attempt by me to fab a seal on the top inside and multiple calls to 2 different companies, multiple service calls blah blah blah, and the minute the temp drops you can toss a cat thru the gap, It obviously is a expansion/contraction issue due temp differences but it is compounded by the fact that I also have A/C. and my shop is "controlled" 24/7 year round
Just the opposite happens in the summer, so I have to be careful and in extreme heat have had to adjust the top so it wouldn`t drag/catch.

Looking back now I wish I had never put in the one big door, while it is great at times, those times are few enough that dealing with this is not worth it.
I have been resisting having to "truss" the top panel with a preload system simply because I don`t want to have to look at it but am comming to the conclusion that there isn`t any other choice.

I would be open to any ideas if anyone has some.

Rick

Yeah its a very rare thing nowdays when a company steps up and does the right thing, but I got to give them a chance. This cant be normal, I have other friends with the same size door and they don’t have this problem. Its got to be some sort of design flaw. Is it because everything is bonded together so there’s no give for expansion/contraction? They way it is now I might as well just open the door when the temps drop below 40°F and try and heat the whole neighborhood.

brent_malibu · Nov 17, 2008

Torque1st said:
What brand and type of door is giving problems?

The door is defective or else we would have massive problems with all garage doors. I would forget the adjustments and big seals and get the door replaced, if necessary by a different brand.

Its a Haas model 710, I'm going to call the install company again and see what they will do and if that doesnt work I'll have to call Haas.

BorisMD · Nov 3, 2009

So I'm looking at the 710 for my garage -- what was the final outcome of your interactions?

Thanks,

Boris

Lake Elmo, MN

Low50s · Jan 27, 2019

Does anyone else have these issues with there haas doors? noticed about 3 weeks ago that mine are bowing so bad I have about a 1 1/2 gap at the top. I called the company that did the install and they told me they fixed it but still has a huge bow. I am going to be a thorn bugging them until I get this issue fixed. Just wondering if anyone else has problems with HAAS doors.

thammel · Jan 27, 2019

I had this same issue with my two 10' wide doors, especially in the wind. I installed a channel beam across the top to rigidize the doors; sort of a T beam, if you will. There is a door company on the web that sells kits so you can install these yourself. It is DDMgarage doors.com. Look for garage door struts. This solved my problem. I also put green hinges on mine. Now I still get a little leak at the sides when the winds get up to 30-50 mph....

Tom

jstroede · Jan 27, 2019

This is not an uncommon thing. The higher the R value of the door, and the higher the internal garage temperature, the more this is going to happen. It is also more prevalent in wider doors.

Here is an industry document that addresses this.

https://www.dasma.com/PDF/Publications/TechDataSheets/CommercialResidential/TDS185.pdf

John

Garage door bowing in cold weather

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