July 21, 2008

"My work here is done." With the siding and flashing are installed, I hand control of the project over to
a professional garage door installer I've known for years. The door on the left is 40 years old...
installed on the original garage when the house was built in 1968.
It was reused when the two-car addition and right-hand door were added in 1986.

Why subcontract the door installation, when I typically do the projects myself? If you've ever tried to
adjust a garage door to get it "just right," then you already know the answer. It's a headache I didn't
want. Plus, the new doors are pretty complex, so I wanted to use a professional.

A "before" view of the old doors shows the old rails and coil springs. The new doors include all new
tracks and tortion springs -- no more spring coils. The new doors will lift higher towards the ceiling, so
the openers will have to be reinstalled higher as well.

Another view of the old doors from inside the garage.

The first of the two doors is installed (right). It's a carriage style insulated door with higher windows.

Another view of the old (left) and new (right). The doors can include handles and hinges to mimic
the look of true carriage doors. Because it requires drilling into the brand new doors, we took
the conservative approach and opted for no hardware for now. It can always be installed later.

All that remains is the install of the left door and the weatherstripping of both doors.

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