Repair service
Garage Door Seal Replacement
The cheapest part on the door and the one that decides whether your garage stays dry, clean and free of vermin.
Quick answer
Garage Door Seal Replacement: what you need to know
A garage door seal is the flexible strip along the bottom of the door that closes the gap between the door and the slab, along with the weather strips down the sides and across the head. Bottom seals are typically a P-profile, T-profile or bulb rubber held in a retainer on the bottom rail, and they perish from UV exposure, ground moisture and being crushed by the door over thousands of cycles. Signs a seal needs replacing are water running under the door in rain, visible daylight along the bottom when the door is closed, leaf litter and dust blowing in, vermin access, or a seal that has gone hard, cracked or flattened. Where a garage floor is uneven or falls towards the opening, a taller bulb seal or a threshold seal bonded to the slab handles far more water than a standard replacement. Seal replacement is normally a same-visit job. Doormec replaces garage door seals across the Illawarra, Wollongong, Northern Suburbs and South Coast for a $170 service call plus parts. Phone 0490 774 111.
Signs
How you know this is the problem
- Water running under the door after rain
- Daylight visible along the bottom of a closed door
- Leaves, dust and grit blowing into the garage
- Vermin, spiders or snakes getting under the door
- The rubber has gone hard, cracked, split or permanently flattened
- A gap at one end of the door but not the other
Causes
Why it happens
UV and ozone perishing the rubber, which is normal wear over 5 to 10 years
Ground moisture sitting against the seal in low-lying and lakeside suburbs
An uneven or out-of-level slab across the opening, common on sloping Figtree and Mount Pleasant blocks
Opener travel limits set so the door never fully compresses the seal
A bottom rail that has rusted and no longer holds the seal retainer square
Our process
How Doormec repairs it
- 01
Check the slab, not just the seal
We check whether the floor is level across the opening, because a seal fitted over an uneven slab will leak again no matter how new it is.
- 02
Match the profile
P-profile, T-profile and bulb seals are not interchangeable. We match the retainer on your door rather than forcing a near-enough part in.
- 03
Size for the actual gap
Where the floor falls away we fit a taller bulb seal, and where the fall is severe we recommend a threshold seal bonded to the slab.
- 04
Reset the travel limits
The opener down-limit is adjusted so the door compresses the new seal properly without straining against the floor.
Answers
Garage Door Seal Replacement questions
How long does a garage door seal last?
Typically five to ten years. UV, ground moisture and being crushed on every cycle all work against it. Coastal and low-lying garages tend to be at the shorter end. It is a cheap part, so replacing it before it fails is a sensible bit of maintenance rather than an expense.
Water still comes in after a new seal. Why?
Because the seal was probably never the whole problem. If the driveway falls towards the garage, or the slab is not level across the opening, water finds the low point regardless. The answers are a taller bulb seal, a threshold seal bonded to the slab, or drainage outside the door. We will tell you which one your situation actually needs.
Can seals stop vermin getting into the garage?
A properly fitted bottom seal on a level slab closes the gap that mice, spiders and snakes use, yes. Where the slab is uneven, a threshold seal is far more effective because it fills the low spots rather than bridging them. Side and head weather strips matter too, and they are often missing entirely on older doors.
Related
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Read moreNeed seals & weather strips sorted?
Ring Doormec for a straight answer on what is wrong, what it costs and how soon we can be there. Standard service call is $170 plus parts, and emergency callout runs 24 hours.