MikeB wrote:
On Sep 27, 5:40 pm, (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:
In article , MikeB wrote:

It is a double-sided garage door made of wood with foru windows along
the top. The door is quite old, if it is as old as the house, it is
upwards of 25 years old. We were actually thinking of replacing it,
since it is starting to rot through at the bottom.
Don't spend a dollar on repairs in that case. Just replace the
doors. Wooden doors suck anyway, IMO. They're heavy, they rot,
they sag and they break. Definitely replace the tracks too
although you can probably re-use the existing opener if it's
in good condition.

Replacing our wooden garage doors with some good quality
insulated metal doors was the best thing we've done on
our 20 year old home. It didn't cost an arm or a leg either.

Around here at least, the smaller independent garage door
contractors will do the job better and quicker than Home
Depot et al. Just be sure to check references etc. because
there are some cowboys in that game.

OK, so as I said, I got this 24/7 guy from CL to come out. He told me
up front that he did not have the right spring and that I would have
to wait until Monday afternoon if he had to get a spring. Anyway,
since I was going to replace the doors, I told him to just come on
over and open the door and we can talk about replacing the doors.

About an hour later he came on over and between the two of us we
lifted the door up and moved it until the automatic opener engaged to
hold it in the open position. Fastest $100 I've ever spent (and
probably for the least effort from another person - oh well.

He quoted me about $1,600 to replace both the 16' and 9' side garage
doors with 24 gauge steel doors. Since that was a lot cheaper than the
original quote from the other guys, I thought I'd take a flyer and go
with this one. The electric opener is quite new and he said it could
be reused.

He looked a little on the cowboy side, just a guy in a truck and he
asked if I could pay in cash, but I figured WTH. Take a chance
sometime. I'll wait and see - he said he'd be back Friday to replace
the doors. I got his DL#, his truck's registration and a business card
(with no business address). I'm kinda wondering how this will work
out. However, he has a US Marines sticker on his truck and he says his
brother is in Pendleton and going to Afghanistan in January. So I'm
gonna give him a bit of a break. If he screws up I'll just get the
other guys back in - how bad can you screw up garage doors?

A row of red flags like that, and you keep on trucking? No address, and
I bet the phone number was a cell. There are a dozen different ways I
can think of to screw up a garage door install, and I'm no expert. And
with a fly-by-night off-the-books installer like that, forget about any
warranty claims. Is a contractor license required in your state? If he
screws up during the install and gets hurt, does he have insurance to
cover it? What are you gonna do if halfway during the install, he
suddenly says it is going to cost a lot more?

IMHO, better to pay a real installer up front, and be done with it. But
if you have your heart set on going with him, I'd insist on riding along
when he goes to pick up the door- don't just give him a fistful of cash.
Pretty certain he doesn't have a line of credit at the supply house, so
he'll probably want material costs up front. Are the doors double-layer
and insulated, or single skin bare metal? What finish is on the steel?
The price he quoted doesn't sound much lower than Google ballpark
prices, but I don't know how costs run in your area.

--
aem sends...