Comfort and weatherproofing
Draughty garage door: where the cold is really coming from
Cold and wet getting into a garage is rarely about the panel. It is nearly always the perimeter: a compressed bottom seal, missing side brushes, or a door hanging slightly out of square so one corner never closes tight.
Good news — most of it is fixable without replacing anything major.
Find the gap
Close the door and stand inside in daylight with the lights off. Daylight shows you exactly where the gaps are, and their shape tells you the cause: an even strip along the bottom is a worn seal, a wedge shape is a door out of square or a sloping floor.
- Bottom seal split, flattened or hardened with age.
- Side brush seals worn away or never fitted.
- Head seal missing at the top of a roller box.
- Floor uneven or sloped for drainage, so a flat seal cannot bridge it.
- Door hanging out of square after track movement.
What actually fixes it
Replacing perimeter seals is inexpensive and usually transformative. Where the floor is uneven, a deeper or bulb-profile seal bridges the gap without dragging. Where the door is out of square, adjusting the alignment matters more than any seal.
If wind-driven rain tracks along a reveal on an exposed frontage, side seals plus correct alignment normally solve it.
When it is time for the door itself
If the panel is single-skin, corroded or the frame has failed, seals are treating a symptom. That is the point where an insulated door with full perimeter sealing makes sense — particularly if the garage adjoins heated rooms.
Questions we get asked
- Can you just replace the seals?
- Yes, and on a sound door that is very often all that is needed. We would rather fit seals than sell a door that is not required.
- My floor is not level — what then?
- A deeper or bulb-profile bottom seal compresses to follow an uneven floor. It is a standard situation, not a special case.
- Will sealing stop condensation?
- It reduces the draught side of the problem, but condensation also needs ventilation and, where the garage is heated, insulation. We will tell you which combination applies.
- Why do leaves keep blowing in?
- Almost always a failed bottom seal or a gap at the corners where the door sits out of square.
- Is an insulated door worth it for warmth alone?
- If the garage adjoins living space or you use it as a room, yes. On a detached, unheated garage the seals are the better spend.
Get the seals and alignment checked
A short visit usually identifies whether this is a seal job, an alignment job, or a door at the end of its life.
Based at 31 Mount Street, Dromore (BT25) · covering Northern Ireland · 24/7 emergency repairs