garage door question?
- Thread starter plplayer
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pattenp
Well-known member
Weather stripping is needed on the top and sides and will take care of the light. The door bottom should already have a rubber strip on it so there should be no light shining under the door unless your door is not properly adjusted and is not closing tight to the floor.
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
Your jamb seals are missing I would say. These are the plastic or wood pieces that go along the sides and top that has the rubber flat seal on them. It also looks like you don't have the bottom seal on the door. Did you do it yourself or have it installed by a door contractor? If it was a company that installs doors on a regular basis, they should have included all of that as part of the installation.
So without the stripping it's normal for there to be a gap? The spring wasn't properly adjusted, they're coming back out tomorrow to fix it. Looks like they put an additional full turn on it. I can raise the door a foot and it will stay there. I bought the door from one company and had it installed by a totally different one. The place I bought it from wanted $276, and there was no way I was going to pay that.
pattenp
Well-known member
Yes it's normal to have a gap if no seal trim is installed. Not a huge gap, but maybe no more than a quarter inch or a centimeter.
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OK, cause the last door didn't. I also notice this one seems to move some when I close the back door, almost like if wind were blowing on it. I was thinking maybe the track could be slightly misaligned. Not sure though, I know very little about garage doors.
Charles (in GA)
Well-known member
If you get the door too tight to the jam, it will have so much friction that it cannot be lifted up by hand or with an opener. It needs that slight gap all the way up the sides.
I need a top seal for mine, stopped and asked a door company to come by and look at it an advise me, they took all the info (address, etc) and never have showed up (that was a couple of months ago) Kinda frustrating, you cannot even give people your business.
Charles
I need a top seal for mine, stopped and asked a door company to come by and look at it an advise me, they took all the info (address, etc) and never have showed up (that was a couple of months ago) Kinda frustrating, you cannot even give people your business.
Charles
pattenp
Well-known member
I have two garages and the doors on both of them (two different brands) have wheel slop in the tracks. When I open the man door to the garage the air suction rattles the garage door. The weather strip fills the gap and flexes with the slop. The only way to eliminate the slop is to put the track closer to the jam but that puts too much pressure on the weather strip and causes the door not to open and close easily.
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
As others have stated, there needs to be a small gap at the jamb and the door. Also the bottom seal should have came WITH the door. I have never seen one without it. As far as the seals on the sides, if the contractor wants extra to do it, or wants to charge an arm and leg to do it, just do it yourself. Any of the box stores (Lowes, HD) sell the seal. It comes prefinished and in 10' lengths. Just cut to appropriate length and fasten up with trim nails. For a door that size, you are only looking at 20-30 minutes tops to finish it out.
tcianci
Well-known member
Yes there should be a small gap between the jamb and the door. The gap is adjustable by the position of the brackets that hold the wheels. Each wheel is positioned in a hole in one of the hinges, each hinge has a specific offset between the hinge pin and the hole where the wheel fits. This is because the door is designed to be close to the jamb only when it is completely closed, the minute it begins to open, it also moves away from the jamb otherwise it would bind on the way up or down. Look at your track, you will see that it is closest to the jamb at the bottom and further away from the jamb at the top. This taper along with the different positions of the wheels with respect to the hinge pivot puts the door up against and parallel to the jamb only when it is fully closed. The gap can be adjusted by moving the hinges on their slotted mounting holes. As stated, you will be ok with about a quarter inch gap to be closed off by the weatherstrip. If you use the common flexible lip moulded to a rigid vinyl weatherstrip, you will still see some light after it is installed because it is translucent. Before you change anything, make sure the door is fully closed because the lower the door is positioned, the closer to it will move to the jamb.
Well I had the door adjusted this morning, it was about 1/4 turn too tight. I also installed weatherstripping around the doors, which definitely solved the problem. I also found some extra time to get my LM 3800 installed 
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