Winter Attached Garage Door(s) Problem

[snarkisland]

Two years ago I had my cement driveway leveled by hydralically forcing cement under the slabs. This included the slabs immediately in front of my attached garage.

Now, in the Winter, the doors are hard to open. The openers stall and I have to manually open them with some effort.

Are the two related? Any suggestions?

[HayZee518]

in the winter the ground freezes and in doing so lifts up as the water in the ground freezes and expands. (frost heaves) there's little you can do now.

[snarkisland]

What should be done?

What do you think should be done come this Spring or Summer? Or isn't there much that can be done?

[Joseph]

I'm guessing that you have the swing up doors versus the roll up type Y/N?
Also are there any visible signs of binding?
How about your garage slab, any cracks?
I'm assuming that the seal located on the bottom of the doors rest upon the garage slab when closed, correct?

It would seem that they're related, but it could be coincidence. Further inspection and information would be required for determination.


Joseph

[snarkisland]

More info.

The doors (2) are roll up and yes there is signs of binding, the floor has a large crack, and the doors when down rest on the garage slab.

A bit of history. We have been in the house since 1975 and the garage area has always moved in the winter. Not much but some. This has resulted in drywall cracks in a couple of places and slightly binding entry doors. Nothing serious.

Two years ago we had the concrete drive leveled using hydralics. This included the slab immediately in front of the two doors.

It appears that one spot, at the corner of one door is the spot that is moving. A small piece of concrete has broken off. This would explain why the doors are binding as one side lifts while the other does not. BTW the door by the broken concrete is far worse than the other.

[Joseph]

I take it that the foundation is exposed along the side that has the worst movement. Frost goes down 18" here where I live, which is at Latitude 39° 8' N. So any foundation footer which is shallower than 18" is subject to increased movement from the frost layer, keep in mind that there is always some settling of foundations.

I'd say that your movement is definitely from frozen water/moisture because it only happens during the winter, I'm sure the drive fix has had an impact as well.

If the movement's been consistent prior to the drive lifting and is appearing to be consistent after, then it's probably the frost layer. If inconsistent then you may have a problem with trapped water which can be cured with drainage tiles.

Here are a couple possible fixes as I see it:

If it's water, install drainage tiles around the footer with the tiles slightly below the bottom of the footer.

If it's frost, build up the grade so as to place the footer below your maximum frost layer depth.

In either case I'd determine exactly in which direction the binding is and adjust the garage door roller channels so that their placement is midway between the winter and summer position. Or there may be a way to mount them so there's play allowing them to slightly move depending on the season. Of course I know of no such hardware. Some research may uncover something on the web.


I hope this helps some.


Joseph

[snarkisland]

Thanks

Thanks Joseph. You've given me something to go on.

For the time being, we are solving the problem by going to SC until Spring. That is if we can ever get dug out.

Enough is enough!