Scottsdale · The doors other companies decline
Scottsdale Expert Garage Door Repair
Any competent company can service a standard 16 by 7 steel door. Scottsdale has a lot of doors that are not that, and the word expert only earns its keep on those.
Above All Garage Door Service works oversized wood, full-view glass, carriage-house and low-headroom garage doors across Scottsdale, as well as standard steel. Arizona ROC338265, bonded and insured, $35 service call, torsion spring replacement $180 to $290, working the Valley since 2012.
- 5.0 stars from 49 Google reviews
- AZ ROC licensed and insured, license ROC338265
- Written price before anything is touched
- Nate C. wrote this
What the word should mean
Expert is a capability, not an adjective
Every garage door company in the Scottsdale results calls itself expert. The word is free, so it tells you nothing on its own. What it should mean is specific: there are doors in this city that a generalist will look at, quote high, and hope you say no to.
Four kinds, and Scottsdale has an unusual concentration of all of them. Oversized solid-wood and wood-clad doors, often custom-built and heavy enough that the original spring spec is the only record of what they weigh. Full-view aluminium and glass doors, which everybody assumes are light and which are not. Carriage-house and swing-style doors with hardware that is not interchangeable with anything on a standard van. And the low-headroom garages of the 1960s and 70s ranch homes in south Scottsdale, where there is no ceiling room for a conventional opener and rail.
If a company cannot work those, it is not an expert in Scottsdale. It is an expert in the other half of Scottsdale.
Why heavy custom doors go wrong differently
On a custom wood door the usual failure is not a part wearing out. It is a sizing decision made years ago catching up with the door:
- Weight that was never recorded. A custom door has no model number to look up. The spring has to be sized from the actual door, which means measuring rather than referencing.
- Wood that has gained weight. A door that has been refinished two or three times, or that has taken monsoon water into an unsealed bottom rail, is heavier than it was. The spring is now under-rated for it and burns through cycles.
- Hardware sized for steel. Standard hinges, rollers and bottom brackets are not rated for the load a heavy wood door puts through them, and the bottom bracket is the one that matters because it holds cable tension.
- Full-view glass. Aluminium frame plus glazing is frequently heavier than an insulated steel door of the same size, and it is the door most often under-sprung because it looks light.
Low headroom in the older south Scottsdale garages
In the 1960s and 70s ranch homes south of Camelback the garage ceiling frequently sits only inches above the door in its open position. A conventional opener needs rail clearance that simply is not there, and the standard answers are:
- A jackshaft or wall-mount opener that drives the torsion shaft from the side and needs no ceiling rail at all. This is usually the right answer and it is the one a generalist does not carry.
- A low-headroom track conversion, using a double-track arrangement so the door sits closer to the ceiling.
- A torsion conversion where extension springs along the side rails are replaced with a torsion shaft above the door, which both frees space and makes the door safer.
Being told your garage "cannot have an opener" is almost always a limitation of the van, not of the garage.
Four questions that tell you on the phone
You can establish whether you are talking to someone who can do your door in under two minutes:
- "My door is custom wood. How will you size the spring?" The right answer involves measuring the door and the existing spring wire, not looking up a model.
- "Do you carry jackshaft openers?" If your garage has no ceiling room, this is the whole question.
- "What is your ROC number?" Ours is ROC338265 and you can check it on the Arizona Registrar of Contractors site in a minute.
- "What is the service call and what does it cover?" Ours is $35 and it covers the trip and a written diagnosis. A quote given over the phone for a custom door, sight unseen, is a number designed to get the appointment.
What you get from us in Scottsdale
Above All Garage Door Service has worked the Phoenix Valley since 2012, holds Arizona licence ROC338265, is bonded and insured, and holds a 5.0-star rating from 49 Google reviews.
- Spring sizing taken from your actual door: wire size across twenty coils, inside diameter, length, wind direction and door weight.
- Torsion spring replacement $180 to $290 depending on size and count, with heavy custom doors quoted after measurement rather than before.
- Jackshaft and low-headroom solutions for garages with no rail clearance.
- A $35 service call named before we drive, and a written diagnosis naming the failed part.
- Hours of Monday to Friday 7:00 am to 8:00 pm and Sunday 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Questions we actually get
What Scottsdale homeowners ask
Can you work on an oversized custom wood garage door?
Yes, and the first thing we do is measure rather than look anything up. A custom door has no model number, so the spring has to be sized from the door itself: wire size across twenty coils, inside diameter, length, wind direction and the actual weight. Wood doors also gain weight as they are refinished or as the bottom rail takes water, which is the usual reason a previously fine spring starts failing early.
I was told my garage has no room for an opener. Is that true?
Almost never. The older ranch garages in south Scottsdale often have only inches between the open door and the ceiling, which rules out a conventional rail but not an opener. A jackshaft or wall-mount unit drives the torsion shaft from the side and needs no ceiling clearance at all. There are also low-headroom track conversions. Being told it cannot be done usually means that company does not carry the hardware.
Are full-view glass garage doors heavier than they look?
Yes, and this is the most common sizing mistake we see on them. An aluminium frame with glazing is often heavier than an insulated steel door of the same size, but it reads as light, so it gets an under-rated spring. If your full-view door has gone through more than one spring in a few years, under-springing is the first thing to check.
Why will you not give me a firm price over the phone for my custom door?
Because on a custom door any phone number is a guess, and a guess low enough to win the appointment has to go up in your garage. We will tell you the service call is $35 and give you the standard torsion range of $180 to $290 so you know the shape of it, then measure the door and give you a real figure in writing before anything is fitted.
Tell us what kind of door you have, not just that it is broken
Call (480) 405-0909 and say whether it is wood, full-view glass, carriage house or steel, and whether there is ceiling room above it when it is open. That decides what goes on the truck before we leave.
Where we work
Scottsdale and the north-east Valley
We cover Scottsdale from south of Camelback up through north Scottsdale, along with Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills, Rio Verde, Cave Creek and Carefree, which is where most of the custom and oversized doors in the Valley actually are.