Florissant, MO · Garage Door Service
New garage door installs for Hazelwood's 1970-era housing, four miles from our Florissant base. Straight talk on the job, the wait, and what breaks on old hardware.
Hazelwood sits four miles from our shop in Florissant, close enough that the drive doesn't add much to how a job runs. We load the truck, we're there inside the same window we'd quote a Florissant address, and that matters because a swap-out is a same-day trip when the door and opener are on hand.
Most of Hazelwood went up around 1970, which puts it right in the middle of the 1960s-70s stock that covers most of this part of the county. That era means steel single-layer panels on standard-lift track more often than not, hung on hardware sized for doors half as heavy as what you'd put in today. A new install here usually means swapping the whole jamb-to-header assembly, not just the door slab, because the old track brackets don't hold up to a heavier insulated door.
We measure the opening, check the header for a header bracket that can take new track, and confirm the opener you're keeping (or replacing) matches the new door's weight. None of that is guesswork once we're standing in the opening - it's the same walk-through whether the house is a ranch or a two-story.
A straight swap - same size opening, no header rework - usually runs a few hours from truck-in to walk-away. Where it runs long in Hazelwood specifically is when the 1970-era header framing needs reinforcing to carry a heavier insulated door; that's an extra hour or two of carpentry before the new track even goes up.
We won't leave an opening uncovered overnight. If a job runs past a single visit for parts reasons, the old door goes back on its track until the new one is ready, even if that means a second trip out from Florissant.
Because we're covering Hazelwood from Florissant rather than sitting in it, booking works best when you can tell us the rough age of the house and whether the opener is original. That lets us bring the right header hardware on the first trip instead of a second one for parts we didn't know we needed.
We'll ask for the opening width and whether it's a single or double door, and if you know the house went up in the early 1970s like most of this area did, say so - it tells us what track spacing to expect before we're standing in the driveway.
A garage door install isn't a weekend job for most homeowners, and on a house built around 1970 it's riskier than it looks, because the header framing was never sized for a modern insulated door's weight. Get that wrong and the new door sags at the top corners within a year.
If you're set on doing the panel swap yourself, at minimum have someone who knows torsion spring tension check the header before you hang anything. We won't talk anyone out of DIY on a straightforward like-for-like swap on newer framing - but we will say plainly that reframing a 1970s header is not a first-timer's project.
For Hazelwood calls we carry header brackets and reinforcement angle sized for the older single-layer track spacing common in houses from that era, plus the torsion springs and drums that match a heavier insulated door on the same opening. We also carry weatherstrip and bottom seal rated for a cold-moderate climate, since a door that doesn't seal at the slab loses more heat over a Missouri winter than most owners expect.
What we don't carry as standard stock is custom-width door slabs for openings outside the common sizes - those get special-ordered, and that's the one piece of the job that can push a Hazelwood install past a single visit.
The most common surprise on a 1970-built house is a header that looks solid until you pull the old track off and find the wood has dried and shrunk enough that lag screws won't bite. That's not a defect specific to any one house - it's what forty-plus years of a cold-moderate climate does to framing lumber, and it's common enough in this part of the county that we plan for it rather than treat it as a surprise.
The other thing that catches people out is assuming the old opener will run a heavier insulated door. It often won't, and finding that out after the new door is hung means a second visit.
About four miles. It doesn't change how we quote or schedule the job - Hazelwood gets the same install windows as Florissant addresses.
Usually the opening width is fine, but the track hardware and header bracing from that era are often undersized for a modern insulated door. We check this on the walk-through before quoting.
Standard sizes, yes. Custom widths outside the common range get special-ordered, which is the one thing that can push a job past a single visit.
Only if it's rated for the new door's weight. A heavier insulated door often needs a stronger opener, and we'll tell you plainly if yours won't hold up.
Call now or request a free quote - same-day service on most repairs, upfront written pricing.
