Hail and Storm Damage to Garage Doors

Wichita sits in an active severe-weather corridor. Here is how to tell a cosmetic dent from one that is actually a problem, and how to document it properly.

Cosmetic versus structural

A dent in the flat field of a panel, away from hinges and away from the track, is usually cosmetic and the door will keep working. A dent that reaches a hinge line, deforms the panel edge, or bows the section is structural. It changes how the door folds and it will start binding.

The test

Open and close the door slowly and watch it, ideally from inside with the light on. If it hesitates, shudders, or the rollers visibly load against one side of the track at the damaged section, the damage is affecting geometry and is not cosmetic.

Document it immediately

Photograph the whole door straight on, then each damaged area close up with something for scale, then the data plate inside the top panel. Do it the day it happens. Photographs taken weeks later are much less useful to anyone assessing it.

Section swap or whole door

Whether a single section can be swapped depends entirely on whether the manufacturer still makes that panel profile and colour. Long-running profiles from the major brands are often still available years later. Discontinued profiles usually mean the whole door.

What we will not do

We will not tell you a cosmetic dent is structural. If the door works and the damage is in the flat of a panel, we will say so.

Free estimate — no charge for the visit

Tell us what the door is doing and we will tell you what it normally means in Wichita. Every job is quoted in person and in writing before any work starts.

Call (316) 749-2780 Request a callback