Freezing garage door

I installed a new garage door this summer. Unlike the old one there is a weather seal on the bottom. There is a very slight dip in a 2 foot portion of the floor where the weather strip makes contact that collects water, which freezes and door is stuck. Does anyone know of a product that I can use to coat the weather strip with occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the ice? The water puddle would be less than 1\8 inch thick.

Silicone spray usually works pretty well.

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Changing your name to tctexassouth would help a bunch with that. :rofl::rofl:

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Problem is, I came up to Traverse City on vacation 35 years ago. Cost of living is so high I can’t afford to leave. Still saving.

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Buy some premixed concrete and fill in the depression in the threshold. It’s unusual to have a dip where the door meets the floor.

I agree with Docnick. In my younger days before turning wrenches I used to install overhead doors; mostly commercial but some residential also.

I have seen concrete floors offset from one side to the other and being out of the horizontal plane but have never seen one with a dip where the seal meets the floor. Sounds like someone didn’t have the concrete patted down as much as they should have and it settled while drying.

Speaking of out of the horizontal plane, I went out on one commercial job with a 14’ wide door. The concrete floor was off 4" inches from one door jam to the other. How in the world someone could make such a huge mistake I have no idea.
A wooden residential door could be scribed a certain amount to fit an uneven floor but not a steel commercial one.

Some of the anti trip cord protector might work.
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I’ve done commercial concrete work for 15 years. It’s been my experience that topping off concrete with anything, is going to crack and chip out in very short order, especially in freezing climates. This floor is pretty good except for one small 3X3 foot area where it has less than 1\4" puddle. It’s right in front of door and partially in door. If I chose to repair the concrete the most minimum fix would be to saw and chip out a 4 foot area at least 3\4 deep, then apply epoxy and finish with grout. That’s just too much of a job for what it’s worth.

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Put a gc treated 2x4 across the floor. Use a drafting compass to scribe a line onto the 2x4 that follows the contour of the floor. If you adjust the gap on the compass to leave 1/4" from top of 2x4 at highest floor point, then scribe the contour. Cut the custom spacer, remove the door seal, attach the spacer and reattach the seal. Your door bottom now perfectly matches the floor.

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@TwinTurbo That’s pretty darn slick. I’ll remember that one. But my problem is not that it doesn’t seal, the problem is that the seal makes contact on a wet surface, then freezes the seal to the floor. I think I’ll try the silicone spray for a while. It won’t be long until there will be no wetness. It will always be cold enough to freeze any moisture, or I will be able to shovel the frozen moisture out.

Fill up the void with expanding foam then cut it flush with the floor.Won’t be pretty but who knows,it might work!

Expanding foam isn’t strong enough to be driving a car over it.

Yeah, I’ve had this problem before as well. When I was able to make a good seal to the floor, it kept the water on one side and was less prone to freezing to the floor.

My first place, I sawed a channel as wide as a galvanized pipe I had. Maybe 1.5", was a long time ago. Chiseled that out deep enough so the pipe was just a bit above concrete surface. Then mortared it into the channel. Created a flat surface for the door and was just high enough to keep water away from door seal. Car and everything else rolled easily over it.

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Have you looked at Garage Door Threshold Kits? Home Depot, Lowes and other hardware stores sell them. I don’t have your problem but I did install two of them because I had a very slight slope on the bottom and the kit takes permanetly care of it.

I have the rubber thresholds on all three of my garage doors. They are high enough to hold the water back so even if it freezes it won’t freeze the door down.

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The other thing as long as we are talking car garage doors, I have been very unhappy with the lousy quality of the steel door bottom seals. Commercial are better quality but the residential just don’t seal good enough to keep water and critters out. I finally found some great bottom seals from Northshoregarage. It is heavy rubber with an internal air tube. A little pricey but I put them on all of my doors. We’ll see how it works this winter.

@tcmichnorth My concrete guys were pretty good but still one end of my floor is about 1/2 " lower and collects water. I was planning on using a little concrete surfacer on it to level it so water from the car and snow blower doesn’t collect in the corner. If not that though, what exactly kind of grout are you talking about?

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It’s been many years ago so technology may have changed, but I would cut with masonry blade a saw cut around perimeter of affected area about 1" deep. Then chisel out area to 3\4" deep or whatever instructions say. Then thoroughly clean area. No dust. Then apply bonding agent. It was pink back then. Grout came in a bag about half the size of a bag f concrete. Mixed with water and filled area. It’s self leveling so you don’t trowel it. It was stronger than concrete. Tomorrow I will see if I can find the right stuff on internet and let you know.

Thanks. I think it might be better just to leave it alone. It’s been that way for 20 years.

You folks have any ideas on how to make my garage door into a rectangle again? It’s the one-piece type that swings out, rather than a sectional. Plywood on a 2x4 frame. Aged, it’s sagging at the middle point, the bottom edge is u-shaped, which is preventing the edges from meeting the floor.

It just might be loose screws on the hinges.

Heh heh. Haven’t seen one of those in a while. Pics? I guess depending there are several ways the elders used to do it. One of course is adding wood cross bracing on the inside. If you can get it back straight, then you can frame it and then X bracing-glue and screw. Another way is to use the metal rods with that screen door type of tightener. Or, get your welder out and weld a frame up with angle instead of the wood, or just start over and make a new one or buy one. I have about a 6’ gate that I just used 2x4 and X bracing with and it has stood up pretty well.