Tin garage door needs replacing

[Robb]

So I get home tonight and our skimpy steel double garage door is making alot of noise and buckling. It has an opener hooked to it (unhooked now) the door is only a few years old. It appears the top panel around a window has torn in a couple places and the last open/close cycle it went through it buckled. I think I could get away with just replacing the top two horizontal panels instead of the entire door. I'd like to do as little as possible to fix this just to keep the expense down. The door is 4 horizontal panels hinged together and I believe the bottom two panels are fine.

Does anyone here do this type of garage door replacement work?

[ray1970]

I had a similar issue years ago. I replaced the whole door and all of the tracks etc. I even went with an insulated door. Cost me less than $400 for the complete door at Home Depot. Figured since I was doing that anyways I might as well put in a new opener. Can't recall what that set me back. Probably less than $300. It was pretty easy to do. I would guess finding separate replacement panels might be difficult but I'm really not sure.

Best of luck whatever route you choose.

[Robb]

Ray, Did you install the door yourself? 2 person job? I'll do some research, maybe doing it myself is the way to go, outside of the springs I guess.

[ray1970]

I did it myself. Might have been a tad easier with a second set of hands. The springs aren't a big deal as long as you are careful and pay attention when unwinding and winding them. There are good videos on YouTube. I use two long 3/8 drive extensions that fit in the holes in the winding things well and give me plenty of leverage to control everything.

[Trout Hunter]

There isn't a lot to garage doors to be scared of except the springs on them and those to be honest if you are prepared for them aren't bad at all. Ive replaced a couple of doors on remodel houses and if you can follow a manufacturers installation instructions its easy. The springs are nothing to be scared of, read the instructions, watch a few youtube vids so it is clear on how they work and how to adjust them. If you were closer I would offer to help out on a saturday. For the $ you save on doing it yourself you can usually cover the cost of goinng from non insulated to insulated doors and still be under what you would pay some one to install the cheap ones.