Example scope · Lake house
Wood-faced doors for a shingled house
Two single doors with cedar facing on an insulated core, drawn to match the glazing of the house, sealed on every face, and hung with a wall-mounted operator to keep the ceiling clear.
Hartland, Wisconsin
Garage doors, properly fitted and faithfully maintained
Hartland Garage Door Service installs, repairs, and looks after residential, agricultural, and commercial doors throughout Lake Country.
- Residential
- Agricultural
- Commercial
- Lakefront
An introduction
A garage door company for a district of varied buildings
Hartland sits at the heart of Waukesha County's Lake Country, and few places of its size contain such a range of buildings. Within a short drive of the village center, there are nineteenth-century houses along the Bark River, shingled lake homes on Pine and Nagawicka, postwar ranches, new houses in every current idiom, working farms toward Merton, boat houses at the water's edge, and the workshops and warehouses of the business parks near Highway 16.
Each of those buildings has a door, and no two kinds of door present quite the same problem. A cedar carriage door on a lake house needs different treatment from an insulated dock door, and a machine shed in an open field needs different treatment again. Our work is to understand what a particular building requires and to supply it: the right door, correctly specified, carefully hung, and kept in good order afterward.
We hold to a few plain principles. We measure before we recommend. We explain what we find and what it will cost before we begin. We size springs, track, and operators from the door itself. We do not suggest replacement where repair will serve. And we test every door for balance and safe reversal before we leave it.
Measured, then specified
Every recommendation begins with the opening, the framing, and the use of the building. Nothing is proposed from a catalogue alone.
Matched hardware
Springs are calculated from the weight of the door. Track, rollers, and operator are chosen to suit it.
Plain advice
You will be told what is wrong, what the options are, and what each costs, in ordinary language.
01
Residential garage door services
For the houses of Hartland and the lakes
The garage door is the largest moving part of a house and, on most, its principal entrance. A household may operate it fifteen hundred times in a year. Our residential work covers the whole life of the door, from its first installation to the repairs and maintenance that keep it dependable, and at length to its replacement.
Garage door installation
A new door is measured for, specified, and hung in a day, and then lived with for a quarter of a century. The decisions made beforehand therefore count for more than the installation itself. We take the dimensions of the opening and of the space above and behind it. We examine the framing. We discuss construction and insulation, and in this climate, we recommend a three-layer insulated door for any attached garage. And we consider the door as a part of the house front, in its proportions, its panel layout, and its glazing.
Every door we install has its own track, springs sized for its measured weight, new rollers and hinges, and seals on all four sides.
Garage door repair
Diagnosis first, then the remedy
A garage door is a counterbalanced machine. One or two torsion springs carry its weight, cables and drums transmit their effort, and rollers in a pair of tracks guide its travel. Nearly every fault lies in one of those few systems. The difficulty is that different faults produce similar symptoms, and the part that has visibly failed is often not the one that caused the failure.
We therefore follow a fixed method. The operator is disconnected and the door is tested by hand for balance. Springs, cables, drums, bearings, rollers, hinges, and track are examined in turn. Only then is the operator considered. We show the owner what we have found, and we state the cost before any work is begun.
Where a door has failed in a way that leaves the house open or a vehicle shut in, we treat it as urgent.
Garage door replacement
When the sections themselves have failed
Hardware can always be renewed. Springs, cables, rollers, and track are consumable parts. The sections are the door itself, and when they have rusted through at the bottom rail, cracked at the hinges, or taken on water, further repair is poor value.
We begin with an assessment and say candidly which case applies. Where replacement is warranted, the old door and its track are removed from the property, the framing is examined while the opening is clear, and a new door is fitted with matched hardware. It is also the occasion to correct whatever was unsatisfactory about the old door, whether that was the cold, the noise, or an appearance that never suited the house.
02
Custom garage door options
Six styles, and the houses they suit
Lake Country architecture is unusually mixed, and a door that is right for one house is wrong for its neighbor. As a general rule, the door should take its cue from the house: from its windows, its trim, and the period it belongs to.
Carriage houseFramed and braced like the doors of a coach house. For farmhouse, Craftsman, and shingle-style homes.
Raised panelThe established classic, in short or long panels. For colonials, ranches, and traditional houses.
ContemporaryFlush faces and long horizontal lines in matte finishes. For modern and transitional houses.
Custom woodCedar, fir, or mahogany, built to a drawing. Unmatched in character, and in need of regular care.
All-glassAluminum frames and insulated glazing. For studios, lakefront rooms, and modern fronts.
Garage screensRetractable and sliding screens that open the garage to the summer air without the insects.
Garage door openers
Operators, their repair, and their accessories
An electric operator does not lift the door. The springs do that. The operator sets a balanced door in motion, brings it to rest, and reverses it if anything is in the way. For that reason, we test the door before we attend to any opener, whether we are installing a new one or repairing an old one.
For attached garages, we generally recommend a belt-drive operator with a direct-current motor, which is quiet enough for a bedroom above. For high or pitched ceilings, and for heavy wood and glass doors, a wall-mounted operator is often the better choice. Battery backup is worth having in a district where winter storms interrupt the power.
03
Commercial garage door solutions
Commercial, agricultural, and specialty doors
A commercial door is working equipment. It is chosen by asking what passes through the opening, how often, and what the door must keep in or out when closed. The same reasoning applies to the machine shed and the boat house.
Commercial installation
Sectional, rolling steel, and full-view doors, specified for duty cycle, clearances, and code.
Sectional and dock doors
Insulated doors on high-lift and vertical-lift track for loading docks and drive-in bays.
High-speed roll-up doors
Fast doors that keep a busy opening closed between passages.
Commercial fire doors
Labeled rolling steel doors, installed to their listing, drop tested, and documented.
Pole barn and barndominium doors
Large doors for post-frame shops, sheds, and barn homes, braced for the wind.
Boat house doors
Corrosion-resistant doors and hardware for buildings at the water's edge.
In a heated commercial building, the door is frequently the largest opening in the envelope, and its seals and its speed of operation affect running costs as much as its insulation. On a farm, the questions are wind load, framing, and the height of the tallest implement. At the lake, they are moisture and clearance. We specify for the conditions.
04
Every service
A complete index of what we do
Twenty services, each described on its own page. Select any entry for a full account.
Residential Service
- 01Residential Garage Door InstallationNew doors specified, fitted, and balanced for the house they serve.
- 02Garage Door ReplacementAn aging door retired and a better one hung in its place.
- 03Garage Door RepairSprings, cables, rollers, track, and sections put back in order.
- 04Garage Door MaintenanceSeasonal inspection and adjustment that keeps a door dependable.
- 05Emergency Garage Door ServiceFor the door that will not close, or the car that cannot leave.
Door Styles
- 06Carriage House Garage DoorsThe look of swing-out stable doors with overhead convenience.
- 07Raised Panel Garage DoorsThe familiar, well-proportioned classic, done properly.
- 08Contemporary Garage DoorsFlush faces, long lines, and restrained detailing.
- 09Custom Wood Garage DoorsCedar, mahogany, and fir, built to order and finished by hand.
- 10All-Glass Garage DoorsAluminum-framed glazing for light, views, and a modern front.
- 11Garage Door ScreensRetractable and sliding screens that open the garage to the summer.
Openers
Commercial and Specialty
- 15Commercial Garage Door InstallationOverhead doors specified for the work a building does.
- 16Sectional and Dock DoorsInsulated sectional doors for docks, bays, and warehouses.
- 17High-Speed Roll-Up DoorsFast-cycling doors for traffic, climate, and process control.
- 18Commercial Fire DoorsRated rolling steel doors, installed, tested, and documented.
- 19Pole Barn and Barndominium DoorsLarge doors for post-frame shops, sheds, and living spaces.
- 20Boat House Garage DoorsDoors built for the damp, the wind, and the water's edge.
Our installation and repair process
The same order of work, on every door
Method is what distinguishes careful work from quick work. Whether the task is a sensor adjustment or a new door for a machine shed, we proceed in the same sequence.
Inquiry
You describe the door, the building, and the difficulty or the project. A photograph, where one can be sent, is helpful.
Survey
We measure the opening and the clearances around it, examine the framing, and test any existing door by hand.
Specification
We set out what we recommend and why, with alternatives where they exist and the cost of each.
The work
Sections set level, track plumb and braced, springs calculated for the door, seals adjusted to bear lightly.
Testing
Balance at three heights. Travel through the full range. Both safety reversals on any operator.
Handover
The site is cleared, and you are shown the manual release, the safety tests, and the care the door will need.
05
Why choose professional garage door service
What skilled work provides
A good deal of garage door care is within the reach of an owner, and we say which parts. The remainder is not, for reasons worth setting down.
Control of stored energy
The springs of a double door hold enough energy to raise two hundred pounds through seven feet. Releasing and restoring that tension safely requires proper tools, a fixed sequence, and practice.
Parts chosen by calculation
A spring is defined by its wire, its diameter, its length, and its wind. Two that look alike may differ widely in capacity. The correct one is found by measurement.
Causes, not only symptoms
A cracked top section may be the result of weak springs. A failed operator may be the result of seized rollers. Treating the symptom alone invites a second failure.
Verified safety
Photoelectric sensors and contact reversal are tested on every visit. A door that will not reverse is a hazard that gives no warning.
Work that suits the building
Low headroom, pitched ceilings, old masonry, post-frame walls, and damp lakeside sites each call for particular hardware and methods.
An unhurried opinion
Where a door is not worth repairing, we say so. Where it needs only adjustment and lubrication, we say that.
Garage door maintenance and Wisconsin weather
A door for all four seasons
A garage door in Waukesha County works through a range of nearly a hundred and twenty degrees between the coldest night of January and the hottest afternoon of July. It contends with snow, ice, road salt, spring damp, and summer humidity. Its failures are not random. They follow the calendar, and maintenance timed to the calendar prevents most of them.
We recommend one thorough inspection a year, in early autumn, with a few simple observances by the owner in between. Insulation, perimeter seals, and a cold-rated bottom seal do the rest. We make no promise about heating bills, which depend on the house. The improvement in comfort and reliability is plain enough.
Autumn
Inspect and prepare
The annual service. Weak springs are found before the cold fractures them. Hardened seals are renewed while new ones are still easily fitted. Remote and keypad batteries are replaced.
Winter
Ice, salt, and stiff grease
Keep the threshold clear, so the seal does not freeze to the floor. Never run the operator against a frozen door. Rinse salt from the bottom rail and lower hardware when the weather allows.
Spring
Wash and lubricate
Remove the winter's salt from sections, brackets, and track. Lubricate hinges, rollers, and springs. On a wood door, examine the finish, beginning with the bottom rail.
Summer
Heat and humidity
Timber swells, and a door may run a little tight. Dark doors in full sun grow very hot. It is the season for refinishing wood, and for a garage screen.
06
Before-and-after project gallery
The difference the work makes
Three comparisons from the twenty on this site. Each pairs two licensed stock photographs to illustrate a kind of improvement. They are not records of work for particular customers.
Carriage house doors
Before
After
Sectional and dock doors
Before
After
Garage door replacement
Before
After
Pole barn doors
Before
After
07
Featured garage door projects
Three representative commissions
The following are typical of the projects we are asked to undertake. They are described as examples of scope, with reference photography, and do not depict named customers or addresses.
Example scope · Farm
Overhead doors in place of sliders
A machine shed reframed at two openings to take insulated sectional doors on follow-the-roof track, strutted for an exposed western aspect, with jackshaft operators.
Example scope · Commercial
Dock doors renewed in sequence
Four dock positions re-doored one at a time while shipping continued, on vertical-lift track with high-cycle springs, vision lites, and new perimeter seals.
Service areas
Hartland and the villages of Lake Country
Our work is concentrated in Hartland and the communities that surround it, from the lake shores of Delafield, Nashotah, and Chenequa to the farmland beyond Merton and the business parks toward Pewaukee and Sussex. The buildings vary a great deal from one to the next. The climate, and the care a door needs in it, are the same throughout.
- Hartland
- Delafield
- Pewaukee
- Merton
- Nashotah
- Chenequa
- North Lake
- Oconomowoc
- Okauchee
- Sussex
- Wales
- Dousman
Frequently asked questions
Questions we are often asked
- Which kinds of doors do you work on?
Residential garage doors of every style, agricultural and post-frame building doors, boat house doors, and commercial doors, including sectional, dock, rolling steel, high-speed, and fire-rated types.
- How is the cost of a repair or a new door determined?
By inspection and measurement. We examine the door or the opening, explain what is required, and state the price before work begins. We do not quote figures for doors we have not seen.
- Should my door be repaired or replaced?
If the sections are sound and the fault lies in the springs, cables, rollers, or track, repair is the proper course. If the sections are perforated by rust, cracked at the hinges, or can no longer be matched, replacement deserves consideration.
- Is an insulated door worthwhile in an unheated garage?
For an attached garage in Wisconsin, we believe so. It moderates the temperature of the garage, protects the rooms adjoining it, and makes for a quieter, stiffer door.
- How long do garage door springs last?
The standard rating is about ten thousand cycles. In a household that uses the garage as its main entrance, that is commonly five to seven years. Springs of higher rating are available.
- How often should a door be serviced?
Annually for a residential door, preferably in early autumn. Commercial doors and rolling fire doors have their own schedules, and fire doors must be tested at least once a year.
- Do you install doors on new construction?
Yes. We are glad to supply framing dimensions to the builder at the design stage, which is the surest way to a satisfactory opening.
- Is real wood practical for a garage door here?
It is, for an owner prepared to keep it in finish. It should be expected to need refinishing every two to four years. Composite and wood-tone steel doors give much of the appearance with far less care.
- Which communities do you serve?
Hartland, Delafield, Pewaukee, Merton, Nashotah, Chenequa, North Lake, Oconomowoc, Okauchee, Sussex, Wales, Dousman, and the country between them.
Estimates in Hartland and Lake Country
Tell us about the door and the building
Describe the door, the building, and what you would like done. We will reply with any questions and arrange a time to measure or inspect.
(000) 000-0000