Garage door has a gap at the top when closed?

[jeff000]

I tried to get a picture, but hard to see whats going on.

But when my garage door is closed, there is a 1" gap in the center at the top, it's tight on the edges though, and opens up to 1" in the center.
How do I fix this?

 

[kbs2244]

Is the door bent ?
How wide is it ?
There should be a "T" shaped reinforcement along the top edge to prevent this.

 

[ronr80]

Try and bring the outside rubber in a little , if that does not work you may need to get a wide one . Ron

 

[bwitt]

I have the same thing. My door is bent. One of my kids tried opening it with the electric opener while I had the door locked. The opening force on the opener was set too high so it created all kinds of bends and kinks in the door. You can even see the kinks in the outside panels on the top of the door. Only solution was to try to bend the door back by hand. I managed to get it somewhat straight but I will never be fully straight again.

 

[jeff000]

Is the door bent ?
How wide is it ?
There should be a "T" shaped reinforcement along the top edge to prevent this.

It's 18' wide.

There is a T strip at the top.


It is bent, but I think it's from sagging when open. I can't move the weather strip any more than it is already.

 

[Burb]

Try putting spacers between the strut and door(with longer bolts obviously) in the middle to push the door back straight.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

It's 18' wide.

There is a T strip at the top.


It is bent, but I think it's from sagging when open. I can't move the weather strip any more than it is already.

The T-Strip is a joke...and I highly doubt gravity caused the bend.

Mine got bent...shortly thereafter wife & son finished it off. Told myself never again so I had a fab shop I deal with bend me up a piece of 10 gauge "Angle" iron.. legs were 1-1/2 x 8" long...so its as thick as the door across the top and comes down 8" on the inside. Welded tabs to the plate for the opener attachment, and screwed it into the frame. For good measure I spanned the whole thing with a piece of the channel the door MFG gave me. Solid as heck.

All my doors in the garage got 3800's so I didn't need to mess with any of it anymore.

 

[jeff000]

The T-Strip is a joke...and I highly doubt gravity caused the bend.

Mine got bent...shortly thereafter wife & son finished it off. Told myself never again so I had a fab shop I deal with bend me up a piece of 10 gauge "Angle" iron.. legs were 1-1/2 x 8" long...so its as thick as the door across the top and comes down 8" on the inside. Welded tabs to the plate for the opener attachment, and screwed it into the frame. For good measure I spanned the whole thing with a piece of the channel the door MFG gave me. Solid as heck.

All my doors in the garage got 3800's so I didn't need to mess with any of it anymore.

It wasn't there last year. And no one hit the garage. Maybe the opener is pulling it a bit to bend it?

Your angle iron idea gave me a thought though, could I use some steel cable, attach it on the sides with turnbuckles, and have a 5" block in the center or something, then just tighten up the turnbuckles till the gap closes?

I don't know if my opener would like a piece of steel ridged enough to span that distance.

 

[LifeSTAR]

I have the same issue on one of my 8 foot wide doors.

 

[Wizzard]

I think this is inherent of 18' wide doors. Our 18' door does the same thing and it is relatively new...tight as can be on the sides, but a small gap on the center top.

 

[Jlbc212]

Yup, gravity. The angle iron suggested is a good method. The turnbuckle suggestion is good, but the attachment points on the door may not be strong enough to withstand the tension required to straighten it.

 

[OldmanB]

You can get away from this problem with 18' and 16', you can ad braces until they come out your *** and through time they are going to sag.

 

[Elginz]

My 16' x 8' is 22+ years old and no gap, no sag. Can the opener put a little close pressure on it? It may not be coming forward enough.

 

[NathanDetroit]

It wasn't there last year. And no one hit the garage. Maybe the opener is pulling it a bit to bend it?

Your angle iron idea gave me a thought though, could I use some steel cable, attach it on the sides with turnbuckles, and have a 5" block in the center or something, then just tighten up the turnbuckles till the gap closes?

I don't know if my opener would like a piece of steel ridged enough to span that distance.

Have you checked that the torsion spring is intact? If the damage wasn't there last year then something must have changed to cause the damage (assuming the door is more than a year old).

 

[Slednut]

My parents had a garage with an 18 foot wide door. If we new it was going to be open for extended periods we propped it in the center while it was open.

 

[RossABQ]

If your lifting arm is too far away from the door when closed, it is pulling nearly straight back instead of pulling it along the curve in the tracks.

 

[gg2k2k]

I have 18 ft door with same issue. Gonna try some of these ideas to see if I can fix it. Thinking it got bent when I tried opening it when spring had just broken - garage door opener was pulling it backward and I could see it bend. If I push it at top middle when it’s closed, the upper panel seems to close most of the way (maybe a close adjustment is in order). One more thing I noticed is my garage floor is now higher in the middle as I can see light coming in on sides of bottom when closed. Maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[Rc_Guy]

The T-Strip is a joke...and I highly doubt gravity caused the bend.

Mine got bent...shortly thereafter wife & son finished it off. Told myself never again so I had a fab shop I deal with bend me up a piece of 10 gauge "Angle" iron.. legs were 1-1/2 x 8" long...so its as thick as the door across the top and comes down 8" on the inside. Welded tabs to the plate for the opener attachment, and screwed it into the frame. For good measure I spanned the whole thing with a piece of the channel the door MFG gave me. Solid as heck.

All my doors in the garage got 3800's so I didn't need to mess with any of it anymore.

What is a 3800?

 

[jstroede]

What is a 3800?

Early model Liftmaster Jackshaft opener.

 

[Sno-Pro]

It wasn't there last year. And no one hit the garage. Maybe the opener is pulling it a bit to bend it?

Your angle iron idea gave me a thought though, could I use some steel cable, attach it on the sides with turnbuckles, and have a 5" block in the center or something, then just tighten up the turnbuckles till the gap closes?

I don't know if my opener would like a piece of steel ridged enough to span that distance.

That’s exactly what I did with my 16’ door. That took all the bow out of the upper strut support.

 

[firebirdparts]

You guys are posting in a 10 year old thread.