Repair it or replace it: a Treasure Coast homeowner's way to decide about the garage door
Most garage doors should be repaired. A spring, a cable, an opener board or a dented section on a sound door is a few hundred dollars against a few thousand. But on this coast there is a second question most places do not have, which is whether the door you are repairing would hold in the next storm. Here is how to weigh both.
Five things to look at first
Is there a design-pressure label? Look inside the door on an end stile or the back of a section. No label means no wind rating, which is normal for doors before about 2006, and it means every dollar spent repairing the door is spent on a door that may not hold in a hurricane and earns no insurance credit. How many sections are damaged? One dented section on a door whose model is still made is a $300 to $850 repair. Two or more, or a discontinued model, and the repair approaches the price of a new door without the warranty or the rating. Is there rust through the skin? Bubbling paint is a section; holes along the bottom edge are the door. How old are the springs and opener? If the springs, cables, rollers and opener are all original on a 2004 house, the next three years of repairs will add up to a door. Does the door still fit your life? A noisy, uninsulated door under a bedroom, or a door the association has flagged, is a reason on its own.
The arithmetic
| Situation | Repair | Replace | Usual call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broken spring, rated door under 15 years old | $320 – $560 | $1,900 – $3,800 | Repair |
| Snapped cable and rusted brackets, unrated 1990s door | $210 – $440 | $1,900 – $3,800 | Repair now, plan the replacement |
| One dented bottom section, model still made | $450 – $850 | $1,900 – $3,800 | Repair |
| Two sections creased by a vehicle, track bent | $1,200 – $2,400 | $1,900 – $3,800 | Replace; insurance may apply |
| Rust through the bottom section, unrated door | $450 – $850 for a year | $2,200 – $3,800 rated | Replace |
| Opener board dead, 20-year-old unit, no battery backup | $225 – $350 if the board exists | $600 – $1,000 opener | New opener |
| Sound unrated door, owner wants a wind rating | $500 – $1,200 bracing kit, if approved for the model | $2,200 – $7,500 rated or impact | Depends on the door's age and the lot |
The half-the-price rule, with a coastal footnote
When a repair costs more than half of what a new wind-rated door would cost installed, replace. That is the ordinary rule. On the Treasure Coast add this: when the door has no rating and the repair is more than a quarter of a new door, start pricing the replacement, because the My Safe Florida Home grant can match two dollars to one up to $10,000 when funded and the home qualifies, and the wind mitigation credit on the premium runs every year afterward. Those two together can make a $3,000 rated door cost less over five years than keeping a $400-a-year unrated one alive.
What a repair should still get you
If the decision is to repair, it should be a complete repair: springs as a matched pair, cables with their brackets, rollers as a set, and a balance test at the end. A door patched one part at a time is how the repair column grows past the replacement column without anyone noticing.
What a replacement should get you
A door rated to the permit's design pressure, with its Florida Product Approval, installed by a state-licensed contractor under a permit, inspected, labeled, with new track and hardware, a written warranty, and an opener with battery backup if the old one is due. Anything less is not the replacement the arithmetic assumed. The costs are laid out in new door cost and the choice of rating in hurricane doors.
Who decides
You do, with both numbers in front of you. The technician's job is to lift the door, name what is wrong, price the repair, and say plainly whether a replacement would be money better spent, and then stop talking.
Questions on this subject
My door is 20 years old but works fine. Should I replace it anyway?
If it has a design-pressure label, no; maintain it and enjoy it. If it has no label and you are on an exposed lot or near the water, a replacement before the next season is a reasonable insurance decision rather than a repair decision.
Can a repair make an old door hurricane-rated?
Only a manufacturer-approved bracing kit fitted under a permit can give an existing door a rating, and only on doors it was engineered for. Springs, cables and sections do not change the rating.
Will insurance pay for a new door after a car hit it?
Often, under the auto policy's property-damage coverage if it was your car, or homeowners if it was a storm or a fallen limb, less the deductible. Photograph it before anything is moved and ask for dated photos and an itemized quote from the technician.
Is a replacement section a good idea on a door with no rating?
For a cosmetic dent on a door you intend to keep a few more years, yes. It will not add a rating, and the technician will say so.
How long does a new door last here?
Twenty to thirty years for a good steel door that is rinsed and lubricated, with springs replaced once or twice and an opener once in that time. Salt-exposed doors with no maintenance last noticeably less.
Keep reading: Panel replacement · New door cost · Rust and salt air · All repair prices