# Installing garage door in sloped concrete



## RichVT (Feb 28, 2009)

If you spend enough time on these sites, you see questions like this come up fairly often. Customer wants you to do a job but doesn't want to do one of the steps necessary to complete the job properly. A common one is a customer wants crown molding but the ceiling is wavy and they don't want to pay to float the ceiling. You agree to the job and then come here looking for advice on how to do it without it looking like crap.

Bottom line is that as a professional you need to know when to say no. You can't let the customer dictate how the job should be done. Contractors as a lot don't seem to like to say no. They want to think that they can do anything and often they can come up with a creative solution to solve a problem. But not always.

I used to try to be all things to all people when I was starting out. Now if a customer doesn't want to do things the way I think they should be done, I walk away. Remember, you touch it, you own it. I have no desire to make someone else's problem my problem and I have no desire to put my name on a lousy looking job.

All that being said, there's a lot of useful advice here. I'd probably try a combination of trimming the bottom panel and using an extra fat weatherstrip. Start with one door before committing to all 3. If you and/or the customer is not happy with the way it looks, then someone is going to have to pay to do something different. Hopefully that won't be you and hopefully you won't put yourself in this position next time.


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

I wouldn't be fussing to make that work for free. 

Calmly hold your ground when they try to get the solution for nothing. It's them who caused it by insisting to keep it. Just say "It is what it is", or "Now we have to do what we have to do." If they still want it solved for free, just stare blankly at them like they just insulted your mother or something.

Frugal people are often not as stupid as they would have you believe. 
They just don't care all that much about giving someone else a headache or wasting _their_ time.


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

VinylHanger said:


> I'm not going to jack him on that. New to the trades, going for it. We've all been there.
> 
> Maybe something like this is a possibility. Not perfect, but it may work.
> 
> ...


No I've never been there. I have never let the client dictate what needs to be done. I think we all know if something isn't level or plumb it's likely to cause an issue, in this case there's no way to make it not look like ass. 

I don't understand the customer were they aware or were they not informed of this issue beforehand? Or did the OP not think this thru and now has to come up with a magic trick?


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## Seven-Delta-FortyOne (Mar 5, 2011)

One of the downsides to going on your own at 24.

You just don't have the experience, to know what you don't know. :thumbsup:

In this society nowadays, they tend to denigrate experience. They elevate this "fresh, young perspective" $#!t, and this idea that you can substitute schooling for experience, but it doesn't work that way. 

Not in construction at least. :blink: :no:


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## Mike-B (Feb 11, 2015)

When you cut the concrete for the footer, you should have continued the cut where the doors are.

You can cut it now, it will just be harder to get in there.

Remove the existing crete just in the door area and pour a new, level, "threshold" for each door. 

As a little bonus, it will help keep surface runoff from going under the door. 

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## JFM constr (Jul 26, 2014)

looking back i think what killed me was doing what they asked even though i told them it was not going to work . then when all is done it looks crappy dah - but now it is my work or skill level to blame . ahhh .How often growing up i heard the line "client is boss" .I am boss ! .


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## Aaron Berk2 (Sep 28, 2019)

RichVT said:


> If you spend enough time on these sites, you see questions like this come up fairly often. Customer wants you to do a job but doesn't want to do one of the steps necessary to complete the job properly. A common one is a customer wants crown molding but the ceiling is wavy and they don't want to pay to float the ceiling. You agree to the job and then come here looking for advice on how to do it without it looking like crap.
> 
> Bottom line is that as a professional you need to know when to say no. You can't let the customer dictate how the job should be done. Contractors as a lot don't seem to like to say no. They want to think that they can do anything and often they can come up with a creative solution to solve a problem. But not always.
> 
> ...



Most Fatherly comment of the year! :thumbsup:

Well said


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## bushjack85 (Jan 17, 2020)

I appreciate all the feedback, both critical and educational. I have learned a few valuable lessons, with plenty more to come. I lack a deep critical knowledge and made a mistake, but the you cant mess up if you are not working. 
After tearing down the existing carport and pinning the corners I measured the fall that wpuld be between the garage doors. I listed a few options to eleveate the issue, all of which were mentioned by you all. He didnt want to go with any of my options, which is when i should have backed out. Lesson learned, haha. I have a Fab shop cutting the bottom panel of the door to fit for each bay, so not too bad of a situation. The garage doors will look off, but at this point is all we can do considering the owner didnt take my advise in the beginning to redo the concrete. Thanks again for all the input

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## tjbnwi (Feb 24, 2009)

bushjack85 said:


> I appreciate all the feedback, both critical and educational. I have learned a few valuable lessons, with plenty more to come. I lack a deep critical knowledge and made a mistake, but the you cant mess up if you are not working.
> After tearing down the existing carport and pinning the corners I measured the fall that wpuld be between the garage doors. I listed a few options to eleveate the issue, all of which were mentioned by you all. He didnt want to go with any of my options, which is when i should have backed out. Lesson learned, haha. I have a Fab shop cutting the bottom panel of the door to fit for each bay, so not too bad of a situation. The garage doors will look off, but at this point is all we can do considering the owner didnt take my advise in the beginning to redo the concrete. Thanks again for all the input
> 
> Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk


Don’t forget you’ll need to cut the vertical track.the horizontal tracks need to be level with each other.

If this is a torsion spring system you’ll need one extra wind on the cable drum. 

My guess is you’ll need to be 1/2 spring wind short to get proper balance.

Pull springs, you’ll need to play with cable pull.

Tom


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

1 full wind per foot of door height for a typical sectional. 


Mike.
_______________


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## Fishindude (Aug 15, 2017)

TheConstruct said:


> I have run into this issue replacing an overhead door twice. The first time there was a huge dip in the center of the door. I took a piece of PVC 2x4 or something similar and scribed the shape to the bottom of the door, screwed it in from the bottom up and then installed the bottom seal track to it. It worked pretty well.
> 
> 
> The second door was closer to your situation where the slab sloped from side to side and didn't work very well. If I remember correctly it was closer to a 2 inch difference. I tried the same trick with scribing a piece under the door but after attaching it found that it hit the top jamb. I wound up making the scribe piece smaller and taking up the worst of the gap with an oversized door seal. I think most doors come with a 3"-5", you could look for a larger size but it probably won't take out that much gap.


Given your situation, these are pretty good ideas.
It's never going to be right, but one of these should seal up the gap.


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## Porterfarm (Apr 1, 2019)

RichVT said:


> If you spend enough time on these sites, you see questions like this come up fairly often. Customer wants you to do a job but doesn't want to do one of the steps necessary to complete the job properly. A common one is a customer wants crown molding but the ceiling is wavy and they don't want to pay to float the ceiling. You agree to the job and then come here looking for advice on how to do it without it looking like crap.
> 
> Bottom line is that as a professional you need to know when to say no. You can't let the customer dictate how the job should be done. Contractors as a lot don't seem to like to say no. They want to think that they can do anything and often they can come up with a creative solution to solve a problem. But not always.
> 
> ...


Well said


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## NicelyDone (Apr 4, 2020)

I think that a ripped PVC 2x4 attached to the bottom of the door and then flashed with the correct weatherstripping would have been your best bet. This way you’d still have your level rail at the bottom and if you got a large enough rubber weatherstrip it would just look like it was scribed to fit.


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

Wonder what he ended up doing...


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## bushjack85 (Jan 17, 2020)

Have everything done besides gutters and doors. I have a Fab shop customizing the bottom panels on the doors, so all is well. Well, besides the fact that the damn COVID put the garage door manufacturer on hold for 3 weeks now. We will get them sooner or later. Thanks for the help and advice again.









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## Randy Bush (Mar 7, 2011)

That is still unbelievable that they would want a floor that way. building looks nice though.


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## builditguy (Nov 10, 2013)

I understand starting out. I also understand getting into a situation where the customer is dictating how to do your job. He got away with it, because you’re young. 
You would have gotten this job, over me, because I would have planned ahead, to take care of this issue. 

Now for education. 
In 6 months, the homeowner will want new concrete. You having door panels fabricated, to fit the existing concrete is not a good solution. When the homeowner gets new concrete, then they will need new door panels and will blame you. 
Bolt down pieces of treated lumber, to the existing concrete to make it level. Use wider pieces, bolted well, so they can drive over them. Even make a small angle on the 3” side so a car can drive over easier. 

You can have this done in a day, instead of 3 weeks. Collect your money and move on. 

Sorry for the annoyance. I’m going to lose a good garage project because I’m going to be $10,000 higher than a 24 year old that isn’t figuring the foundation correctly. I tried to explain it to them, but they only see a $10,000 savings. 

Not the best picture. This one sloped 1 1/2” in 16’. 










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## builditguy (Nov 10, 2013)

The garage does look good though. I'm not sure about the header situation. Someone questioned one jack stud. Looks like you added a 2x4 on the interior and another block for the garage door opener. Furred it out, to the inside? Whatever works for you, I guess.


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

Getting those doors to operate is gonna be trouble. You will end up having to tweak the weatherstrip by a lot to make the door operate correctly. Will be even tougher if you install an opener.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

You may need to add half a turn more to one spring. 


Mike.
_______________


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## nesc39 (Nov 20, 2014)

Just remember whenever you ask for advice, everyone in these forum has never made a mistake before. Their first build was a custom 10million dollar home finished early and they know everything about every trade. Except for me, I’ve made a lot of mistakes but I learned from them and I look back on jobs and change my approach for the future. 

I say good for you. 24 years old and working? With your hands? That’s amazing by itself. Should you be out protesting life isnt fair? 

I think you did good. You got paid right?Customer got what they asked for right? Then don’t worry about what other people think you should have done. I have a few friends that are all self made worth 100million and you know what they have in common? They had NO CLUE what they were doing when they started and they didn’t give a flying **** what anyone thought of them. They figured out every job, aftert they accepted the job, and completed it with mistakes, luck and hard work and NEVER turned down an opportunity. 

The bottom line is you were working when most people werent. You took on a bad job, made some mistakes and then solved the problem the best you could with what you were given. When you have jobs lined up nonstop for a year out, then you can start cherry-picking the best ones and telling customers to beat it. Until then, keep doing what your doing and your gonna be fine.


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