Overhead garage doors

An overhead door lifts up and stores above the opening instead of swinging out. On a house garage that almost always means a sectional door: panels joined by hinges that let the door bend as it rolls from vertical to overhead. Carriage-house doors are usually the same sectional door with a decorative face. This page explains what matters about that kind of door and points you to the service page that fits.

Residential versus commercial use

Our work is residential garage door repair and installation: springs, openers, cables and track, new doors, replacement, panels and parts. If the opening is on a property that is not a house, call and describe the door, and we can tell you whether that visit is one we take. The commercial page covers that question. Everything below is about house garages.

Opening and headroom questions

An overhead door needs room above the opening for its track, its springs and, usually, an opener rail. When that room is tight, it changes the hardware rather than ruling the door out.

• Torsion springs sit on a shaft above the door. Extension springs stretch along the horizontal tracks and need less clearance. The technician confirms which one is on your door.
• Low headroom is a feature of raised ranches, basement garages and mill-city bays. Older carriage bays can be tight too.
• If an opener's ceiling rail would hit the joists or the pipes, ask about a wall-mount opener. It sits on the wall beside the door and turns the spring shaft directly, so there is no rail on the ceiling. Side clearance and the door's existing hardware decide whether it fits, and that is an on-site look.

You do not need to measure before calling. Measuring is part of the visit.

Supported repair topics

If the door is worth keeping, these are the repairs we handle on residential overhead doors:

• Broken torsion or extension springs, replaced, with the door balanced afterward.
• Snapped cables and bent rails.
• Off-track doors, where the door has left the rails on one side or both and sits at an angle, rubs, or grinds.
• Worn rollers that grind, seize or jump out of the track.
• Opener diagnosis and repair, and new installs including belt and chain drives.
• A dented or cracked section swapped without replacing the whole door.
• Bottom seals and the side and top strips that keep out wind, rain and pests.

Two safety limits apply to every overhead door. A loaded spring is not a homeowner project. And if one side of the door is higher than the other, stop running the opener: forcing the door can bend the rail further or tear a roller.

Replacement evaluation

A dent in one section does not always mean a new door. Replacement is worth talking about when the door is twisted, a run of panels cannot be matched, or the technician says the hardware is not worth rebuilding. We do not set a percentage of damage that forces replacement. That judgment is made at the house, before work starts.

If a new door is the answer, new door installation means the opening is measured and the door is installed and adjusted, with haul-away of the old door included. Insulation, windows and style are questions for that estimate. We can source and install doors from major manufacturers such as Clopay, Garaga, Wayne Dalton and Amarr.

Getting an estimate

1. Call (781) 602-0737 or use the contact form. Have the town ready.
2. Describe the door: one door or both, torsion or extension, belt or chain, a dented panel or the whole door, and whether it is stuck up, stuck down or hanging crooked. You do not need the part name.
3. On site we look at the door and write a free estimate before any work. Nothing is taken apart until you have it in writing.
4. After a repair we check the balance and run a full open and close, so the door travels evenly and the opener is not dragging a heavy door.

Most repairs come with at least a 1-year warranty, often longer. Ask what it covers when the estimate is written. MassGarage is family owned, with 15 years of experience, and we serve all of Massachusetts. Licensed and insured. Proof of insurance, license and 1099 available on request.

Not an authorized dealer for any brand. Licensed and insured, and we service and install all brands.

Written by the MassGarage team.