What to Do if You Find a Crack in One of Your Garage Door Panels

Found a crack in your garage door? Don’t panic and start thinking you’ll need to replace the whole thing quite yet.

Each garage door is different. From size, materials, and the location of the damage, different garage door panels can be fixed and repaired through garage door panel maintenance, while others will require panel replacement.

We’ll cover what you can do to fix a cracked garage door in the article below.

Repairs for Different Garage Door Types

The majority of homes have garages, as they’re essential for safety and limiting bad weather from entering your home.

Modern garage doors are primarily made of steel, steel and vinyl, or occasionally aluminum. Older doors are often made of wood. Each has its own difficulties for garage door panel repair.

Wooden Doors

So let’s start with the easiest to fix: a wooden garage door. Small cracks are fixable with wood fillers and adhesive. After a quick sanding, you’ll be able to paint and hardly notice the crack was ever there.

Metal materials are a different story.

Steel, Vinyl, and Aluminum Doors

Some garage doors, like the Wayne Dalton for example, are made of two layers. The first is a steel and the second is vinyl-backed styrofoam insulation. There are also steel-back insulated doors. A dent in either of these doors can not be hammered out, and because most doors have a texture on it, filling the dent will require you to also mimic the texture or have an unmatched finish. Not impossible, but rather tricky to do. Dents in a hollow back door can be hammered out and depending on the severity of the dent, may never look new again.

Even small dents can weaken the door over time ultimately turning into a crack. Cracks left unattended in a hollow or vinyl-backed door will grow due to the strain of using the door. This often requires a garage door panel replacement in Katy, TX, or a full garage door replacement.

Steel-backed doors are steel on the front and back with insulation sandwiched in the center. A dent in a steel-back door, although not ideal and depending on the size of the dent, is less likely to turn into a crack due to it’s increased strength.

Have a steel door and welding experience? It is possible to weld the damaged areas back together. However, most doors are made of lighter gauge metals, which are particularly tricky to repair.

Aluminum doors can rarely be repaired once cracked or broken.

Dealing With Large Cracks

If the damage on your garage door has grown past a quick hammering or simple wood filler, it may be time to replace the panel. The pros at Ohana Garage Doors specialize in garage door panel replacement and repairs and will first check the overall condition of your door to checking to see if your garage door is too heavy for your motor.

Possible repairs include installing struts that run lengthwise through your garage. This won’t fix the damage already there but can help alleviate tension on the cracks. This will add additional weight to your door and thus your springs may need to be adjusted, as well as the settings on your opener to ensure their lifespans aren’t adversly effected.

If it’s clear a garage door panel replacement is in order, depending on which panel has the cracks, and which type of torsion system your door has, this can be a quick switch out or a complicated one. If the damage extends through many different panels, a full door replacement may be the easiest solution from our garage door company.

Garage Door Panel Repair or Replacement

Hopefully you have an idea of the condition of your door. Small dent or crack? Monitor it and repair it quickly if possible. Large dent or crack? You’re going to likely need a new garage door panel installation, if not a whole new door.

Located in the Houston area, we can help you know what options are best for your door and your budget. Schedule garage door services with us today.